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

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".

aa335 wrote:
Yeah, me too. 75 feet is a longggg way. Maybe downhill, when the wind is "just right". like this guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE4Ke2OFg3E&feature=related

or this guy; with his 928;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc87ChvVF7A&feature=related

drifter wrote:
Thanks drifter and aa335: I know about the tranny disengagement lever to "freewheel" the tranny but the using one finger to move it thing has me puzzled. I'm in pretty good shape and there's no way I could move my 928 with one finger - the machine weighs about 250 lbs. as it is. Just curious as to what he did to be able to accomplish this task. aa335, are you able to pull this off somehow with your machine? 

FrankMA,

Have you tried lifting your augers? With the augers lifted, you just apply a small amount of pressure under the handles, This rocks the machine forward, and it's very easy to lift the back of the tracks off the ground. The tracks are on their "tip-toes" so-to-speak. The full length of the track is not contacting the floor,,,, only the forward tips of the tracks are touching the floor. Now, you simply rotate the machine, and there's very little resistance.

drifter wrote:
Don't forget the Ariens 2232 :)

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

I can't do it with one finger.  Even with the transmission disengaged, it still require considerable force to push or pull on the handles.  You can get it turn easier by putting all your weight on the handlebars to lift the bucket off the ground.  Then just pirouette around the back end of the tracks, instead of the full length.

I guess you can pivot around the bucket, but that puts a lot of weight on the skids.  You would risk scratching your floor.  Never used this technique though.

I have a dolly if I want to move it around a lot.  I can get the snowblower on the dolly without using the engine and tracks to crawl up.  :)  It's easier than you think, but requires some creative work.  It's all leverage and technique.  If you muscle against a 250lb tracked snowblower, well, u get a good workout.

drifter wrote:

I  must be missing something? There are 3 positions that I'm aware of on these units high, middle and low. High is transport mode where the bucket is slightly off the ground, middle is where the scrapper bar makes contact with the ground and low is where the scrapper is really digging into the ground. I just went down to my garage and tried what you described but the best I could do was to get the bucket to contact the ground and kind of spin the whole machine using the bucket as a pivot point. Is this what the salesman did?

I think the salesman stepped on the pedal and locked the bucket up in transport mode, lift up on the handle bars. The bucket will drop slightly, the weight of the snowblower shift to the front of the tracks, then turn on just the small track contact patch.

Yep, that's it aa335. I don't think the bucket was touching the ground, and in retrospect, I'm quite sure it wasn't. I was just looking at the tracks, and only the portion of track under the drive-wheels was contacting the floor. From there, it was simply a matter of rotating the machine left or right. No heavy lifting at all.

For clarity's sake, I should also point out that the 1-finger method, was simply for rotating the machine. It had nothing to do with displacing the machine to another area..

drifter,

While we're on the topic of moving up and down the bucket in 3 different positions, I just remembered something about the HS928TCD that the bare bones 928TA does not have.  It is the hydraulic assist and lever to actuate the bucket up and down.  The US version, non - TCD, have the pedal instead of the lever.  While it does the job, I would prefer a lever because trying to step on that pedal while you're on ice covered ground puts you at risking of slipping. 

If the salesman hasn't already demonstrated this feature, it may be worthwhile to check it out to see whether it's worth the additional cost of the TCD models.

You're already seriously considering the Honda, a little more $ for the TCD may be better in the long run.