Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

husqvarna higher end snowblowers have a high speed impeller.Honda impellers rotate at a higher rpm compared to toro,ariens simplicity etc.Is this just a company decision ?Are there reasons why an Ariens or Simp dont set their rpms higher?

Honda sets it fast because they are better than yours

thanks knee biter.you are so helpful.if you read my new year resolution,you would know that I am not going to respond to your childish comments.Thanks for your great insight.Enjoy your great machine.Happy snowblowing.

mikiewest wrote:

I believe this is the kit that gives you the high speed impeller on the lower end Husky, Poulan and Craftsman equivalents.

http://www.m-and-d.com/AY-187724.html

Basically a different auger pulley and belt. This used to be referenced on Husqvarna website last year but I don't see it now.

Also listed here:

"http://www.jackssmallengines.com/husqvarna_snowblower_accessories.cfm

"Designed for rural use where snow needs to be removed to a max distance. Not designed for residential use. Increases the snow throw 30%. Requires minor belt adjustment. Includes pulley, belt and instructions."

mikiewest wrote:
You mean these new year resolutions?

"Starting Jan 1,2010 I will not be boasting about how great my Simplicity Pro 11570E snow blower is.I will not be highlighting all of its great features such as the easy turn,cast iron auger gear case,B&S 11 1/2 hp ohv engine,c channel handle bars welded to the frame,all steel box frame,creeper gear ,ball bearing auger support,all steel construction,4 blade impeller,grease zerks,etc etc.Instead I will be highlighting how great other peoples machines are.Even yours AA and knee biter  ....Happy New Year everyone............"

and these?

"wow I better be careful,since I own a Simplicity Pro 11570E hehehe.I know AA has his eye on it....lol..."

Slow to learn, quick to forget.  Carry on chap.

malachi crunch

Have u seen nhmatt?

Read slowly AA.I know its hard for you,you're from the midwest yuk yuk(flyover country) lol.I said starting Jan 1.But now all bets r off.I do have the worlds greatest snowblower and u r a fool hehehe.And knee biter u r a douche.Dont be mad because Buckner blew it in 86.....

mikiewest wrote:
It's only Jan 9 and you're already throwing in the towel.  Over-promised and under-delivered.   Failed!

Lets hope for 2011, you can make some progress on that sophomoric behavior.

snowmachine wrote:

That says it all-The ability to throw great distances is not desirable where houses are set close together or in urban settings like New York City where the Sanitation Dept. will give you a Summons for blowing snow into the street.

 In addition you can't get something for nothing. If you adjust the size ratio of the pulley system to increase the rpm of the fan then under load you are going to need more HP to take advantage of the distance potential of the new pulley size. If they achieve a 30% increase with the same HP engine the unit must be over designed  to begin with. I wonder what happens when you hit the EOD with the high speed set up. If the available hp  is now being used to achieve high fan speed I don't think the end of driveway performance in plow packed conditions would be as good.  

Marc

thanks marc for the explanation.I was asking a question but knee biter and AA had to start.Malachi crunch lol .yea ok knee biter you better run along,Happy Days reruns start in 1 hr...geez lol.....

At least you are ok that it is all in fun

Changing the auger drive pulley to a smaller diameter will increase rotation speed. The effect is the same as changing sprockets on a motorcycle. The larger the diameter sprocket on the rear wheel, the greater the torque delivery will be and acceleration will also be quicker than with a smaller diameter sprocket. However, top end speed will be compromised even if the engine has the power to achieve higher speeds. When the engine has achieved it's maximum rpm, regardless if it's making tons of horse power, the bike's speed will be restricted by the relative gearing. In most cases, even strong engines can only pull so much gearing. That's why it's important to have a balance between acceleration and top speed through correct gearing. With a snow thrower, one can achieve higher impeller speeds in lesser increments than 30%. If a person want's more throwing distance, but does not want to sacrifice too much torque, an increase of 10 to 15% might not be noticeable. Another thing to consider is that if you really want the throwing distance, re-power and re-gear. Some snow throwers are difficult to re-power due to controls locations. I know it would be very easy to put a bigger engine on the Simplicity 9528. However, I have no issues with snow throwing distance nor torque with the engine and gearing it has. The last big dump we had, it plastered heavy wet snow two thirds the way up the 35' light poles down at the street. That's good enough for me.

snowmachine wrote:

I picked up one of the high speed impeller kits for half price off of eBay. I am going to add it to my unit as well as a Clarence impeller kit (also on order). Dry powder throwing distance of mine is probably around 30-35 feet. I'm hoping with these two add ons I can maybe get toward 50 feet.

Is that realistic?

The Husky kit alone under perfect conditions should get me to 39-45.5 feet.

Do you think the Clarence kit could give me 5-10 feet more? I probably have a 3/8 inch gap at the impeller.

borat wrote:
Great explanation Borat.  I agree with you completely.  For residential use, all of the 2 stage throw more than adequate distance.  There's no need for me to throw snow 50+ feet on my property, but it is fun to do it once in awhile.  Typically, 20-30 feet is what I usually aim for.  While throwing distance is not comparable to today's machines, the older 2 stage machines seems to perform well with their modest horsepower.  They are definitely geared lower and they make use of available torque.  They dive into end of drive piles and chew up that snow fairly well.

To answer mikiewest original question, I think Honda are designed to be used in rural area with large open space.  Therefore, distance is more important so that you don't have to throw the same snow over again.  I also noticed that it also has tighter stream of snow for less dispersion over long distance.  Because of the higher impeller rotation speed, this may also helps with dealing with slush, especially the almost liquid kind.  Not trying to brag but Honda was built to satisfy different performance requirements.  Given same hp rating, there's a compromise in volume to achieve longer distance.

Overkill on my part.... I am rural so throwing distance too far isn't an issue. It's more a "sleeper" competition with a guy down my road with the HS1132TAS. :-) He'll probably still throw further but I thought I'd give it a shot with a few bucks. aa335 wrote:

snowmachine wrote:
Hehe, I know what you mean.  There's a little Tim Allen in all of us.  Just make sure he doesn't have a nitrous bottle hidden somewhere.

Dude of course I'm just busting chops.Maybe u understand better cause u r from MA.MA people have that NY attitude and sarcasm.Why do I care if u own aSimp,Toro ,Ariens or Hondaor where u live??I own a Honda Accord.So I dont hate Honda.I also own a Toro 2450 and its a great single stage machine.But billy buckner did cost u guys the world series in 86 hehehe.Maybe u were not old enough to remember or dont care.....

My blower throws far enough but I was just wondering how they come up with impeller speed.Is it company preference or is it gov't regulated??Also it just looks nice when that machine is hurling that white stuff high and far...My home amp has 130W/channel rms.Never use that much power but it is nice to have.Usually 20 -30w is enough to listen to music.Same thing w/a blower.You might not need to throw snow 50ft but it's nice to know u can if u want to.

aa335 wrote:

I figure if I could get it to throw further and he asked I would tell him it was stock :-) :-)

mml4 wrote:

Last year when I was blowing 2-3 feet it seemed liked engine still had more to give. Of course pushing it beyond designed limits may make something else break. I only use this thrower 6-12 times during winter so hopefully it won't cut into longevity too bad. I'm a stickler for looking over my equipment after each use though.

snowmachine wrote:
Does this guy live in your neighborhood?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHNLbAW6j7k

Yes of course it's stock.  He had his snowblower in valet mode and using winter gas.  Still breaking in his engine with dino oil.  Plus, the deflector was stuck.  :)

snowmachine wrote:
Nothing wrong with modding as long as you know what you're doing.  Having spare parts around also helps too.

No stickers please.  I know they add horsepower, but $2 for 3 HP gain just isn't fair.  I had to spend $750 just for an extra 4 HP. 

Knee_Biter wrote:
I feel a group hug is in order.  Can we sing kumbaya?

I've been reading a lot about this subject here & would like to add my 2 cents. Since I am only a second year user, I am concentrating on understanding how to use my MTD 8-24 machine and it's limits. I have already re-powered up from 5 to 8 hp but I'm still not happy with the distance in general & specially for EOD. I have to take small slices to ensure it doesn't choke itself & bog right down. I have been considering impeller design among other thing as a cause. I noticed that my impeller has a large hook or hockey stick at the leading edge of the impeller (see photo). I postulate that this causes the machine to pull too much snow into the impeller too fast & helps cause the bogging.


If you look at some of the photos of other impellers a lot seem to have smaller hooks (except Simplicity). Also the better machines seem to  have heavier more substantial impellers in general. I'm thinking that like a car flywheel, the heavier impellers also help to keep up the speed of the impeller as you move through heavier or deeper snow.
Any thoughts?

left to right top, John Deere, Simplicity, Murray, Bottom: Toro, older Ariens, Craftsman ( they are all for 24 & 26" machines)

aa335 wrote:

That video is awesome!!! They could be brothers.

I'm thinking these hooks on the impeller do seems to gather snow better.  These hooks are beneficial for lighter snow.  However, for really dense heavy snow, this may have a negative effect.  I am thinking there's compaction of the snow which makes it more difficult for it to leave the blower housing.  Just a postulate and throwing out my thoughts for discussion.

aa335 wrote:

Or even some cheap orange Krylon in an attempt to make it more of a Husky :-) I think I have 30 shear pins now and have yet to break one. 3 belts and two auger pulleys. Clay from the "John Deere 1130 SE" thread even sent me some of the spare parts he had. He had one of these units before he got the JD.