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

Just wanted to contriibute since I learned a lot from reading the posts here.  Cliff Notes: JD 1028E 2 Thumbs Up.

I just bought a John Deere 1028e on Monday and used it after the last Noreaster on Wednesday.  We had about 20" inches of medium density snow perfect for making snowballs not to too slushy and not too fluffy. 

My budget for a snowblower was about $1k so I had to strech a little to get the Deere paid about $1170, but don't regret it one bit.  I looked at almost everything in the $800 - $1300 range new and used, no loyalty to any brand just wanted the most for my money.  Not much for selection in the used stuff around here at this time of year, too much $$ for too rusty of a machine.

So far I'm loving the JD. The snow was over bucket height and was able to take a full 28" swath without even a hint of it bogging down.  Doesn't have the greatest throwing distance but it's more than enough to throw the snow across my driveway(2 car wide, 2 car deep), which is all I care for. What impressed me the most was the volume of snow it throws at at a given time.  I wonder if that's the reason why Ariens has a small chute opening versus the wide open chute in the JD, is it just for marketing throwing distance?  Just watching the thing spitting out the snow left a huge grin on my face.  EOD snow was no problem either, was able to do full swath without bogging down or clogging. Finished my driveway in about 10 minutes, took longer to clear out the steps/deck to my front door than it did to do the whole driveway.

The engine.  Two pumps to prime and started on the very first lazy pull, was able to take it off of choke immediatley after starting.  Most snowblowers in this class have the b&S engine so not much to write about here.  It does it's job fine.

The heated hand grips. Couldn't really tell if they were working but I also had thick gloves on so it didn't matter, maybe they take awhile to heat up, I may have just finished up too quickly to notice.  Wasn't a selling point for me so I don't care, it's more like a free extra. 

The electric chute rotation.  I initially thought it was just a gimick and considered it as a con on my pros/con list due to added complexity, but after using it I love it.  You never have to let up on the auger while making a U turn just hold down the chute rotation button while turning 180* and you keep blowing snow in the same direction while turning.  Now I wish I bought the Snapper model with the electric delfector too.

Pin lock axle, not really the most ideal thing I initially wanted a differential.  Using the snowblower I didn't really need to unlock the wheel while there was snow on the ground, just pushing the handles while the wheels were moving was enough to turn it easily.  Only time I needed to unlock the wheel was on dry pavement while the machine was off, too much traction to easily turn it.  After using it, I no longer consider a differential a must have feature.

Upright handles.  They seem like they won't give enough leverage, but they actually do very well becasue of their height, also saved me from slipping and falling a few times as I was able to hang on to them and not tip over the snowblower as I slid under.

Dual lights on the dash are good but again don't care I have flood lights to light up the driveway.

Overall quality of the machine seems to be very good can't spot anything of concern.  I guess only time will tell though.

You should check the impeller/auger drive belt for correct tension.  I have a Simplicity which is pretty much the same machine as yours and it bombs most snow a good 40' no problem on a calm day. 

good luck on the new jd,   i'm on my 2nd full year with my jd 1130se with zero problems i sometimes wish i bought a smaller model. its a job getting it out of the garage with both cars in. the hand warmers do work well,  i snowblow with no gloves and my hands are always toasty. your concern on the chute opening compared to the ariens is why i bought the deere because of that very issue,(and a few others). keep in mind that when you blow HEAVY snow you might experience the chute not turning, thats because the weight of the snow fighting the electric chute motor,  just stop a second, let the bucket empty itself then hit the chute switch and carry on.  mine has the diff. and it is a breeze to turn.

Borat good point I'll check that.

Larry, I wanted something even smaller than the 28" I got.  I wanted something in the 24-26" range with HD construction and big engine similar to the Ariens pro 26 but it's about $700 more than I was willing to pay.

I bought the 1028 in September and since using it twice, I was very impressed.  Lets see how this machine holds up.  So far seems very solidly built.

I was at the JD dealer (I had purchased an x540 from him last year) buying parts and noticed their snowblowers. I was impressed by the design and construction and considered them, but he was too far away and the John Deere dealers around here actually get insulted if you ask for a discount. Anyway, funny story, they had one of them in the showroom so I asked for a demo. As soon he started showing me how it works, and in the middle of explaining to me how this is a very well-built machine, most of the handles/fiddly bits actually fell off the brand new machine. He didn't know what to say, and he and I spent 5 minutes finding all the parts and putting it back together.

He gave up selling me on the machine at that point (which had nothing to do with why I didn't choose it).

UPDATE:

Checked the belt and it was a bit loose, adjusted to specs.  Now it easily launches the snow over  the 6+ ft high snow drifts we have, I can even get it into my neighbors driveway if I choose which is probably about 50ft away.  I'm loving this snowblower and even happier because I was going to hold off until next year but glad I bought when I did, it has snowed about twice per week in MA since I bought it.