Abby’s Guide > Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) > Discussions > Advice on snowblower purchase?
Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions |
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jyanno
Joined: Nov 27, 2010
Points: 5
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Advice on snowblower purchase?
Original Message Nov 27, 2010 3:37 pm |
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I am looking at purchasing my first snow blower. My local shop carries Toro's and Ariens. I live in northern NJ (morris county) and we had a lot of wet heavy/icy snow last year, so the wife has finally given in to the purchase.
Our driveway is about 125' long and most of it is a about a single car lane, but it opens up to about 3 wide at the bottom. Also my neighbor's drive way is adjacent to it and its about two cars lanes wide in front of their house and one car wide between the two houses. So I'd have to throw the snow straight ahead when I am in the section between the two houses.
I'm currenty thinking of purchasing the Arien's 920013 (Compact 22). Do you think a 6 HP engine will cut it, or should I be looking at a 7 HP?
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Steve_Cebu
 
Joined: Dec 17, 2009
Points: 888
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Re: Advice on snowblower purchase?
Reply #16 Dec 1, 2010 6:43 pm |
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Canadian Winters would probably be significantly easier than what places like southern New England and Long Island get. We almost never get the light powder you see in a snow storm. That is because you have temperatures well below freezing while ours are often above freezing at ground level during the storm. As a consequence, We get wet sleet, even when it does snow light powder, the storm will often begin as sleet or freezing rain or end that way. This combines with salted roads plowed into our driveway means the snow the machine must move itself into is denser, far heavier, and tends to clog the machine. This so taxes the drive mechanisim that within a short time you end up having to 'push' the snowblower into the snow because the drive plate and friction wheel slip. I never went longer than 2 years between swapping out the rubber on that friction wheel, and after 5 years the drive plate had to be roughed up with a sander, no easy task for a part not designed to be removed from the machine for regular service. Now you know why I paid the buckaroos for a Honda with No Friction Wheel. Municipalities where I live, including my town on eastern Long Island buy Honda's HS 1132TAS and heaviest and priceyest Snow Blower, about 3 times the price of an Ariens with a friction wheel. We do get a lot of the wetter snow here but they also get it up in Canada above us in Quebec Province. Some states tend to get a lot of powder but many States get crappy wet slushy snow. Higher elevations tend to get more powder, but not always. We rarely get powder and I'm in Central NH. The only way I can see wearing my Toro's drive plate out quickly is if I was running it full tilt into 3 foot high snowbanks of packed snow. Most pro's up here use Toro and Honda tracked machines. Drive an hour south and I have no idea what they use. Our city uses a beast of a machine for sidewalks. It doesn't throw it far but it will throw pure slush. It might throw further but they never do.
"If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in New England." "If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in New England."
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trouts2
Location: Marlboro MA
Joined: Dec 8, 2007
Points: 1328
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Re: Advice on snowblower purchase?
Reply #17 Dec 1, 2010 6:47 pm |
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This so taxes the drive mechanisim that within a short time you end up having to 'push' the snowblower into the snow because the drive plate and friction wheel slip. I never went longer than 2 years between swapping out the rubber on that friction wheel, and after 5 years the drive plate had to be roughed up with a sander, no easy task for a part not designed to be removed from the machine for regular service. Now you know why I paid the buckaroos for a Honda with No Friction Wheel. Municipalities where I live, including my town on eastern Long Island buy Honda's HS 1132TAS and heaviest and priceyest Snow Blower, about 3 times the price of an Ariens with a friction wheel.
What snowblower did you have? In eastern Mass the snow is more than twice what you get and friction disks last from 10 to 30 years. I've never heard of a drive plate having to be "roughed up", Cleaned yes. The sense of "never went longer than 2 years" suggests you probably went through a rubber in one year. No machine built is that bad. MTD is the worse I know of and down where you live an MTD friction disk should last 10 to 15 with proper use. They do that up here.
Your machine must have had a defect and/or way out of adjustment. If you kept replacing friction disks all the time it's like following the elephant with a shovel and not curing the problem. >>"no easy task for a part not designed to be removed from the machine for regular service" It's very rare for the drive plate assembly to ever need repair. Sometimes a bearing but anything more would be extreamly rare i.e. drive plate surface. I"ve seen lots of 30-40 year old machines and never had a drive plate surface problem unless there was some other cause which messed up the plate surface like using the machine with the rubber gone so metal to metal on the drive plate surface. Making a negative generalization about friction disk based systems based on your experience is not justified. The crop of friction disk snowblowers in use today probably makes up 99.8 percent with Honda and the rest of non-friction disk systems making up the rest.
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jyanno
Joined: Nov 27, 2010
Points: 5
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Re: Advice on snowblower purchase?
Reply #21 Dec 2, 2010 5:33 pm |
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So, is the (921019) ST24E (24") 211cc Two-Stage Snow Blower w/ Subaru Engine good enough? Or should I be looking at the the Deluxe Platinum ST24DLE (24") 249cc (921017)? I don't think I really need to go up to the professional grade.
My dealer still has a 921019 which is about $350 cheaper, but from what I am hearing, the platinum features and the bigger engine would be worth the price difference.
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gotoguy
Joined: Nov 8, 2010
Points: 12
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Re: Advice on snowblower purchase?
Reply #22 Dec 3, 2010 4:12 pm |
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This message was modified Dec 3, 2010 by gotoguy
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trouts2
Location: Marlboro MA
Joined: Dec 8, 2007
Points: 1328
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Re: Advice on snowblower purchase?
Reply #23 Dec 3, 2010 9:36 pm |
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So, is the (921019) ST24E (24") 211cc Two-Stage Snow Blower w/ Subaru Engine good enough? Or should I be looking at the the Deluxe Platinum ST24DLE (24") 249cc (921017)? I don't think I really need to go up to the professional grade.
Your area is 125 foot 1 car wide drive with wide entrance. You get 40-50 inches average a year which is not all that much. It's 12 -15 less than what I'm used to. You don't need a lot of power. You mentioned one place where you have to toss ahead which would end up causing maybe 30 feet of partial double throw. For the rest you would only have to throw from one side of the drive way to your land side. No requirement for big power.
The 211cc is a nice engine and the hp around 6 - 6.75 (probably the high side). The tourque on that engine is claimed to be a bit higher compared to a similar Briggs. The 921019 is nice and has the basics with 14 inch augers and 14 inch impeller. It's got the XS gearbox which is great. With the three car EOD you might have to take a thinner cut on some storms but will get the area cleared without a problem. I would think you'd be fine with the 19.
You might want more power and features in other models. You could go 622, 724 or 824 and be fine. With a long thin drive you won't need be turning much so no need for differential or other easy turn features. Snowblowers are pretty easy to turn with both wheels locked.
This message was modified Dec 3, 2010 by trouts2
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