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

I live at a bit over 6000' elevation in an area that, despite being in southern California, can get heavy snow (3' in a storm).

My driveway is about 120' long and steep, and naturally when the snow is deep the plow leaves a small mountain of it at the foot of my driveway. When the blower was on wheels, I had two main problems. First, it rolled too easily and if I stopped going uphill on my driveway it would roll back on me. In general it was hard to control on a steep slope.

Second, when the auger teeth would bite into the hard berm left by the plow the blower would pitch backward. Since I'm not very big (and not very young), my shoulders would take a real beating trying to control the thing.

After the installation of the tracks (which was easy), I can stop going uphill and the blower just sits there, it no longer rolls back.

Even better, because of the track angle foot pedal, the blower no longer pitches back when it bites into ice. It also has better traction in heavy snow. The fairly hefty price for the track kit was well worth it for me.

The downside is that it's now more work to turn the blower, but since I spent 20 years with a Craftsman blower on tracks that really doesn't bother me, despite the fact that the Ariens weighs half again what the Craftsman did. I also find that I need to use the track angle pedal to lift the auger housing pretty much whenever I back up. Not a big problem.

One hint. Since I did the installation alone, I had to make a little stretcher to help me get the tracks over the bogies. I used a roughly 8" long (eye-to-eye) turnbuckle with a little wood block with a notch bolted to each eyebolt.

To stretch the track, I just put the contraption between the shafts (I had to do each track separately) and turned it until I could engage the track tension adjustment nuts. The lashup looked ridiculous, but worked fine.

Incidentally, the blower itself has been pretty good. The no-adjustment carburetor isn't great at 6000', and since my blower lives under a tarp sometimes a bit of moisture can get into the cables that control the chute and the deflector. Once it freezes the chute can't be adjusted unless I warm the cables with a heat gun.

To anyone who is trying to decide on an Ariens, there is one way it is VASTLY better than the Craftsman. It can throw snow (especially powder) easily twice as far. Since I live on a hillside, and part of my driveway snow has to be thrown uphill, it makes a huge difference.

It never ceases to amaze me how far it will throw snow. In general, a good blower and the tracks were a worthwhile addition due to my steep driveway and heavy snow