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

Steve,

I went to see another Honda dealer today, and told him of my plight, and lo and behold, the guy offers me $100. off,,,, and free delivery. It ain't much mind you, but it's a starting point. He'll also throw in the light for free.......... I smell blood.

Another development too;  He has a client who's returning an HS1132 TCD which he bought last winter, because it's too big for him. We had the lightest snowfall on record last year, and the guy barely used it. I'll have more details on that one by Monday, and possibly as early as tomorrow. That machine has a throughput rating of 65 metric-tons per hour. It's a beast. The salesman says it looks brand new, and that I can probably get that machine for roughly $3500, delivered, with full balance of warranty for 1 year. Hmmmmm. The plot thickens.

From there, I went to visit the new Yamaha machines, and they're quite a sight to behold. Their 928 sorta resembles a mini-Zamboni. There's a housing that surrounds the motor and gas-tank. This housing reduces engine noise substantially. VERY quiet machine.

Yamaha has put some really nice small touches on this series. For example, the top of the gas-tank sticks up slightly above the top of the housing, and surrounding the edge of the gas-tank(seam), there is a built-in drip-pan, for catching any fuel that accidentally drips on the machine. The fuel is then diverted to an opening on one side to channel fuel away from the motor, and/or  allow for possible recovery.

Yamaha has also lined the interior of the chute, as well as the impeller housing, with what appears to be Teflon. The pieces are user-replaceable. Simple idea, and a great idea too. The sheets look to be roughly 1/8" thick.

There is also a "pin" on  the left front track drive-wheel shaft, and that pin can be pulled, making the tracks independent. of one another, which allows you to turn the machine easily on a concrete floor. Mind you, the guy had a tough time reinserting that pin.

I also learned some very neat tricks today, for turning the Honda track machines on a concrete floor, with almost no effort. One finger, and voila.  Another cool thing was that the machine easily climbs stairs, in the event that you want to clear a walkway, or a deck. Kewel.

Edit; Oh yeah,  I forgot to mention that the Yamaha dealer claimed that their 928 throws up to 75'.

Well I'd say you are all set as long as the guy returning the 1132 didn't drive it into a big rock. It's a big machine tho and it will handle differently in snow than in a showroom.

It sounds like you have some good options up there and if not you can always buy in the US if you need to. The Yamaha is overkill but looks great. Honda makes a mega machine for Canada that has tracks and can steer them indepentantly, shame it costs like $8,000USD!

Be sure to post whatever unit you end up with. i'm sure you'll love the Honda as long as you don't have a small wife like mine. :)

Will do Steve. I'm still hunting though. I'll use these proposals to try and wangle a bit more of a deal from my local dealer here in town. These guys by the way, claim that they only make $50. profit on a machine, and that if it was up to them, they wouldn't sell them at all.     I was waiting for the guy to try and sell me a bridge in Manhattan.

drifter wrote:

You can be sure they make more than that if Honda does anything resembling typical retail. Also they get service and warranty work so they make money on the back end as well. But like a car dealer you never really know how much is really made on each unit. I never worry about the dealer, if there wasn't money in it they as a dealer wouldn't sell them and as a sales person they'd find another job and clearly neither is doing that.

drifter wrote:

Please elaborate further....

FrankMA wrote:
He walked into the Honda dealer, pointed to the corner in the opposite side of the showroom and said "I would like to see what it looks like over there."

I already have the furniture dolly so I hope that's not the solution.... Kind of hoping for some sort of revelation as far as moving my 928TA without the engine running.

You can disengage the transmission from the axle by sliding that little lever near the foot pedal to the side.  The tracks will roll. 

It's not a relevation, but it works if you only need to move it 10 feet.  Any further, I'd go with the dolly

drifter wrote:

I'd like to see this one. 

FrankMA,

I don't recall exactly which levers and handles the guy used, but basically aa335 covered it. Reaching down and sliding a lever at the back of the track-assembly, disengages the transmission, and the tracks roll freely. That was only a part of the salesmans' demo. He also "lifted the augers" somehow, then, by applying a small amount of lift under the handles, he's able to tilt the machine forward slightly. This puts all of the weight of the machine on the front-end of the tracks, and he was able to rotate the machine VERY EASILY. He said to me, "here, you try it,,,, using only 1 finger". I did, and it worked like a charm. This was on a smooth concrete floor in the showroom. I believe the transmission was engaged for that part of the demonstration, because the tracks weren't "free-rolling".