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

Does anyone know of any new snowblowers out for 2012? Looking to trade in my Toro 826OXE for something with a larger motor. I am leaning toward a larger Toro but  I am open. Any suggestions?

le$#%*now wrote:
Yes, I found it on their website, on support pages rather than on their snowblower line up though.

My theory is since China makes engines for many companies, why not source it directly from the manufacturer rather than branded Briggs equivalent, especially if you got the volume buy with competitive pricing.  Skip the middle man unless the buyer has a warm and fuzzy confidence having a Briggs sticker on their engine.  But then again, if Briggs is making snowblowers too, why slap their label on your snowblower unless they pay you.

If Briggs did indeed mfr the new Toro engine, and it is being branded as Toro opposed to Briggs, my guess is that  the quality standard/quality requirement for the mfr of the engine is lower (cheaper components, more defects allowable per X number of engines, etc) than the Briggs quality level, so rather than potentially tarnish the Briggs name with a sub-standard engine, they agreed to make this engine specifically for Toro with the Toro label. In the end, Toro probably decided that the new "Toro" engine is still a significant upgrade over the competition (MTD chinese engines), that it is a small risk for them and a potential huge upside in that they can sell the snowblower for a more competitve price at the big box stores thereby increasing market share. A win- win for everyone except the guy who can't start his Toro in the middle of a blizzard. And to add to that, and maybe this is a bit of a stretch, BUT, realizing that  their snowblowers are averaging a lifespan of 16yrs and MTD is 8yrs (arbitrary numbers), they wouldnt mind dropping the lifespan to around 10-12 in order to sell more "replacement" machines to the Toro faithful.

I would like a 10hp in a 26" wide unit, not about to sell mine and dump another 800 only for 1hp!

aa335 wrote:

Do you guys ever watch the show "How It's Made"?  The monologue is rather dry, but the show gives a fresh perspective on manufacturing.  Now, remember when VCRs were very popular and millions were being sold every year, under hundreds of different brand names?  There were like four factories in the world manufacturing all of these VCRs.  If you're a retailer, all you have to do is purchase X number of products from a manufacturer to be able to put your name on them (my uncle was an electronics dealer, so I learned this at an early age).  The mfr. doesn't care so much whether their name is on it, they get to move more product which keeps their factories running at capacity which makes for a higher profit margin in the end.  If you've ever run a construction company, you know that downtime is more expensive than uptime, because your equipment is not working and turning a profit.

All this is to say that there are maybe a half-dozen major snowblower manufacturers in the world, and maybe two or three major engine manufacturers that build engines specifically for winter use (snowblowing).  MTD is likely the largest snowblower manufacturer and their machines are sold under a half-dozen or more name brands (Craftsman, Cub Cadet, White, Bolens, Troybilt, etc.).  

Now, when these machines (or engines) are built in the factories, they typically are not continuously running down a conveyor belt with workers adding parts along the assembly line.  Rather, they are built in batches (or runs, designated by serial numbers), mostly by robots, with a few human workers in there to add parts that would be too costly to program robots to do, and to do quality control / quality assurance.  As each batch gets run, they can alter the components, such as types of metal, thickness of metal, metal vs. plastic, cast vs. forged, etc.  Therefore, a single factory can manufacture low-quality units as well as high-quality units depending on the components they use.  They can adjust their manufacturing components and end-products to meet the specifications of a large retailer, hence the minor differences in otherwise identical machines.

All of the rest is marketing...

stresst wrote:
Perhaps this question should have been asked earlier.  What aspect of snow removal performance are you not satisfied with the current Toro 826OXE?   Volume or distance?

Dont get me wrong my Toro had 1/2 of my block drooling watching mine cut through the 26"+ inches and 4' EOD mounds but I want more. I have a semi detached house with a narrow driveway (houses both sides) and I would like a bit more throwing distance which I guess goes hand in hand with more power.

I am not sure how the Husqvarna 14527E & 1827EXLT turn compared to the Toro but I really want to check them out. I also know Snapper/Simplicity make some monster motor machines as well. Any adivce on the Husky's or Snapp/Simp's?

A bigger engine doesn't usually mean more throwing distance.  A bigger engine just means it will be less likely to bog down if you hit a full bucket of heavy stuff.  This in turn will get you more distance for heavy and deep snow, but if you are not loading it up enough to bog the engine down you are going to have the impeller spinning at the same speed no matter what size engine you have.  Now if you do get a bigger engine you can go with a different "gear ratio" on the auger pulleys to spin the impeller faster and that will get you more distance.  The down side to this is more wear and tear on the machine and it requires more torque to keep from bogging down.  In a stock configuration you are going to see the same performance no matter what size blower you get.  You engine is probably rated for 3600 rpm +/-150 so maybe get yourself a small tach and check what rpm your engine is at and maybe yours is running on the low side around 3400 rpm and you could bump it up to the 3600 - 3800 range.  This will spin your impeller a little bit faster and get a little more distance.  Obviously the faster the engine spins the faster it will wear out.  Anything over 3800 RPM and you are probably chancing blowing the connecting rod so don't go crazy with it.

What Shryp said. Impeller speed sets the throwing distance. If you're not bogged down more power won't help.

stresst wrote:

If you want consistent long range throwing distance, consider a Honda. I had a HS624WA (6 HP) for 10 years and now own a HS928TA (9 HP) and both will throw the snow 45'+. The biggest difference I see between the 6 and 9 HP is that the 9 HP does not bog down like my 6 HP would on the EOD garbage. Both will consistently chug right through heavy deep snow but the 9 HP has the guts to keep up the RPM's when tackling the EOD slop and continue to toss the snow/slop a respectable distance. I never had a problem with either the 6 or 9 HP going through virgin deep snow unless it was seriously wet borderline slush type snow.

stresst wrote:
Based on your driveway and house situation,  I would look hard into fine tuning your technique to reduce or not having to double throwing the snow with your existing machine.  Look at it this way, if you can't get around a tight race track with a Mazda Miata fast enough, a high powered Corvette or Ferrari isn't going to be any faster. 

With that said, if you decide in the upgrade in horsepower or a more powerful machine, you won't know if the new machine will solve your problem.  You may get 5, 10, or 15 feet (optimistically) more throwing distance than your existing snowblower.  That's some cash to gamble.  Is this additional power often needed for most snowstorms, or only a few major ones?

As others have said, more horsepower doesn't necessarily mean more throwing distance.  Engines are governed at specific RPMs, and the impeller speed has a fixed ratio.  With a bigger engine, the snowblower will be more comfortable processing heavy, packed snow without slowing down ground speed.

Another technique that most single stage snowblowers (with smaller and less powerful engine), use is to go out and clear the snow more often.  They don't let the snow pile up that will overwhelm their machine.