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

Last year I bought a John Deere 1130SE snowblower and for the most part I was extremely happy with it's performance. I love the hand warmers, electric chute rotation, easy steer and the front end weight just to name a few.  The only problem I had, which was pretty significant, was the intermittent transmission slipping.  After sealing the transmission housing with silicone and some weather stripping, the problem was completely gone.  The remainder of the winter was very pleasing and I always looked forward to using the 1130.  I also had a second snowblower that I'm trading for a new 1330SE.  So now I'll have the 1130 and the 1330.  The 1130 will be for my business parking lot.  Some of the interesting features of the 1330 is the addition of an electric deflector control and dash area integrated headlights.  So now the chute is totally electric (both rotation and the deflector).  The slipping transmission should be resolved from water getting into the rubber/aluminum disc drive.  To fix this problem, Deere added a rubber gasket between the engine mounting plate and the transmission housing.  I'll try to post some pictures in the future.
BTW, my second choice would have been an Ariens since they seem to give people on this website support from at least one poster.  I wish Briggs, Simplicity or Deere would give the same support.

Good observations and suggestions, JohnWI. Thanks.

Right, Easy Steer does not have levers. As you said, it is easier to disengage power and turn the 180s. Whether Easy Steer helps on other turns is hard for me to tell. If so, it's not dramatic. I'd prefer what Troy Bilt calls their "Power Steering," which has a lever on each handle: pull the right lever to disengage the right wheel and the left wheel continues driving to make a right hand turn for you, and vise versa. I haven't used it; but it sounds like a good approach. Overall, though, I think I prefer the JD over the Troy Bilt.

I think I will tweek the skid shoes for a better compromise between the nose digging in vs scraping snow as close to bare concrete as practicable. This particular snow storm started with sleet/freezing-rain/snow-showers before turning to all snow and lots of it. So there definitely was an ornery layer of ice under the snow.

Thanks again. 

Hi everyone. I had my Troy Bilt snowthrower quit after 18 years Thanksgiving. I had some trouble deciding on a suitable replacement and finally just made the decision to buy the 1330. So far I have no complaints on it's performance it really is a beautiful machine. The easy steer was a must as you might agree the solid axle is some work to maneuver. I noticed no traction problems at all. Turning is a breeze and this is one mighty machine. I like the electric chute although my gloves sometimes get caught between the switch and the handlebars. I really have found no other problems so far. We had two solid weeks of nuisance lake effect snow right after she was delivered but I only worked maybe two heavy downfalls. All work was done early before work so I have not had any fun weekend snowfalls to really get used to the machine. I love the power, quality, electric chute and the easy steer features. It's a big and heavy machine and a little hard to move in the garage but I'm getting old I guess. The front stays down on the driveway and the auger makes dust out of ice chunks and hardened packed snow. Of course there is the beautiful green Deere look too. I am surprised they left off a simple voltage regulator to prevent the lights dimming as mentioned previously. It's the only quirk I've noticed. I like this machine so much I'm considering a Deere rider mower for next spring. Ron

Thought I'd throw in my 2 cents as this site was a big help in deciding on which new blower to purchase. I picked up the 1330SE to replace my 11 year old MTD 8-26. So far, I'm pleased with the new unit. As mentioned before, the heavy front end weight does help in holding the machine down which is a plus but can make it a little harder to control on rough concrete. As far as performance, it considerably cut down plowing time compared to the old MTD. The heated grips worked better than I thought, didn't find myself holding my hands in front of the muffler very often. I (like others) was kind of skeptical about the electric chute motors, but once you have them you'll never never go back to the old manual system. If they ever go out, I'll simply replace them, (nothing lasts forever.) These things are great time savers as you can make adjustments without stopping. One thing worth mentioning, 6th gear on the JD seems to be noticably slower than my old MTD, but I was still able to clear my 4500 square feet in record time.

Overall, I'm happy with my purchase and would recommend this unit. There's a few things shown in the pictures I'm not to crazy about but I guess they just don't make em like they used to.

Under the dash: Misssing plastic conduit, wires rubbing against sheet metal edges.....Although I shouldn't have to, it's an easy fix.

Gas valve: Now I ask, sinse when is "off" in the vertical position? That will take some getting used to.

Just a shot of the drive system.

Plastic cover removed from motor. No clip on the gear, the cover is what keeps it in place.

Plastic tensioning wheels, the MTD had steel and two drive belts on the auger.

Catt wrote:

What clearance do you have your skids at???

Moeman,
Good post with pictures.  I certainly don't disagree with any of your points.

Chxbeachva wrote:
I'm probably running about .125" of clearance.  It most likely depends on your surface and how uneven that surface is.
I'm thinking of making new skids in the future because my sidewalk has an edge that I catch quite easily.  I'd like to have the front lift a little earlier when arriving at that sidewalk edge and keep it raised a little longer.  If I weld a strap under the existing skid it will accomplish this.  Then I plan to adjust the clearance with the blower sitting on that sidewalk edge.  I'm running modified skids on my garden tractor snowblower  and it made a big improvement reducing catching uneven edges.

Here are skids I saw on the web that somebody modified. 

Catt wrote:
Here's one you can purchase.  Check this one out.  It is very stout and should hold up to abuse very well.  It has longer leading and trailing edge which is what you wanted to achieve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtYR0xbFSsk

aa335 wrote:
Thanks aa335!  I just placed the order.

Catt wrote:
You're welcome.  I met up with Bob, the person in the video, about 2 years ago.  Good guy.  His product has improved markedly since then. 

When I read your post, I knew he had exactly what you were looking for.  Let us know how it works for you.

I recently added a chute liner to my 1330.  I used plastic from a trash can and the deflector liner is aluminum.  I have one on my 1130 that I installed last year and it's been working great.