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

I moved to a new house, top of a hill, with farm land across from my driveway.

This is our second winter, and my MTD is not up to the task of clearing the packed snow that blows into my yard, sometimes daily.

I have been looking for a couple weeks, and had made up my mind to get the Honda. I had been to the Yamaha dealer previously, but they were not willing to deal.

Well today a new twist, I went back to Yamaha, and was offered the YS928J for the same price as the HS928TC.

Specs are very similar, with some different features. The Honda has full Joystick control on the chute, and is 100 lbs lighter.

The Yamaha has plastic coated chute, manual up/down. Has no shear pins, which may be a bonus, if the 'Shock Protection' works correctly. Also the Yamaha is quiter.

I have been reviewing this site, however, there is limited information on the Yamahas, likely because they just came back to Canada in 2009 (15 year Hiatus) and I am not sure if they are available in the U.S.

Has anyone out there used these models? Can you offer an Opinion?

rubinew wrote:

I'd rather have 3 vanes that work and throw the heavy snow very far than a snowblower with  10 vanes that clogs and throws the snow 10 feet.

To paraphrase an old saying "It's not the amount of vanes in your snowblower but how you use them."

Steve_Cebu wrote:

That is the truth!!! These 3 vanes had no problem tossing snow to the other side of the road!

The Plastic Liner is about 3/16 of an inch thick, took a couple of scratches from a few rocks, but looks durable. The liner is removable (2 screws, 2 edge plates held in with nuts), so it can be replaced once beat up!

Hey that gives me an idea. Instead of the Clearance impeller kit, why not line the impeller housing with the plastic to reduce the gap? Two in one

rubinew wrote:

My entire chute is plastic!

Still it must be nice to have a Yamaha. Scratches in the chute and inside the bucket are no biggie anyway. Have you seen any of my videos on YouTube? How does your Yamaha throw compared to the Toro?

Steve_Cebu wrote:

My old MTD has a plastic chute!! It has been there for 14 years!

Yes I have seen your videos, great job on those! Hope to make a few of my own, when it warms up!

The Yamaha would throw as well as the Toro, I was getting about 40 feet today, could easily make the snow land on the other side of the road.

rubinew wrote:

Thanks glad you liked them.

With the wind I was easily throwing 60 feet in open areas with the Toro. I'll have to measure it when the wind isn't blowing. I would think your Big Blue would easily out throw my Toro in a side by side comparison.

Steve_Cebu wrote:

The specs are for 16 meters, which is about 52 feet. So I think under ideal conditions, it would hit that!

Your Toro is throwing very well, I think they would be close, from what I could judge.

Steve_Cebu wrote:
Then you should line it with metal.    Heck, most of the impeller housing plastic too.  I'm surprised David didn't make fun of that a while back. 

Speaking of which, the chute not David, I see it's pretty easy for you to change the direction of the chute on the Toro.   Do you feel any resistance when the snow is blowing through it?  On my 421Q, it's pretty hard to change the chute direction while blowing heavy snow.  I either have to slow down or stop to rotate the chute. 

I had an MTD with an all plastic chute. Once the top part was clogging up with sticky snow so I gave it a bit of a cuff with the back of my mittened hand. The whole thing fell off the blower. It wasn't broken, just had to be re-installed. I always said that in one small way that blower was like a high performance race car....I'd use it once and then have to rebuild it for the next event. At a retail price of about $1100 + tax I couldn't expect too much of that old MTD. Now I've got an Ariens that ruined most of $2500 and it falls apart too. Not much plastic on it though, i will say that. 

Rubinew, congrats on the Yamaha, that is one wicked looking machine!! I'm envious.

billywhiskers wrote:

Well I can tell you this, if I experience similar issues with this Yamaha, like you have had with your Ariens, I will SNAP!

This unit seems well made, like a tank, so I expect it to wear well.