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

This thing is a monster!  Though it's huge the balance is awesome. Also I can't emphasis enough how smooth this engine is.  Very impressed.  Can't wait to give her a go!  

Congratulations!  Nice looking machine.  The engine is huge, so is the blower section.   Not sure if that's a small driveway or the machine is really huge.  You may have to do the neighbor's driveway just to warm up the engine.  :)

I'm having engine envy, although my current one already have 337cc for a 32" wide bucket, it's not a slouch.  But wow!   420cc on a 28" bucket!   

it's probably a little of both.  My driveway isn't very large.  That will be fixed next year when I get my place in the country.    Anyway, for now this will shut my neighbor up.  There will be no more laughing at me and my little Toro this year!

Nice machine for sure.  Please post back about the ATC use in real conditions. 

O

I have to say that I'm liking what Ariens did to this machine.  Everything is built for heavy duty use, nice and tidy too.  I always have a liking for that teardrop bucket shape, looks strong and purposeful.

Congratulations! That's a nice looking machine. I'm looking forward to hearing how well it does this winter.

It does look like overkill for your small driveway tho.

Congrats on your new purchase Mvedepo.

Thanks for spending your hard earned dollars for a Wisconsin-made product.

Your driveway should extend accross the street.You must own consecutive lots, thus the need for this monster?

At least you did not buy your winter OPE in the springtime like I usually do.... You won't have to anguish as much as I did through spring, summer and fall. Good Luck with your new toy - looks like it'll be up to anything that Mo Nature can dish out!

blumonster wrote:
I definitely do not need a machine this size for my driveway.  However,  here is how I justify this beast:

1. What do you don't see is that I am on the outside of a curve and when the plow goes by there will be a 3'+ berm of heavy wet garbage that's a pain to remove. 
2. I am planning on buying 10 - 20 acres and building or moving to the country next year.
3. My neighbor informing me that he always laughs at me when he sees me out tackling the berm with my single stage Toro.  He has a 28" Simplicity with 250 cc 11.5 tq machine.
4. Because I have just a touch of Tim Taylor in me. (In the straight way.) 
5. I wanted it.
   

mvedepo wrote:
#1 and #5 excuse would work just fine for me. 

I have driveway similar to yours and I have 3 snowblowers.  I truly understands. 

mvedepo wrote:

'I wanted' is the best justification.You do not need more. lol

Concratulations on getting the Ariens Pro 28.  .  With  21 ft lbs of torque,  420 cc and only 28 inches, it should be a high performance machine.  Does it have a hydrostatic transmission? 

Great pictures too.

royster wrote:

From the pic he posted of the dashboard it looks like it has notches so it's unlikely to be a hydrostatic trans.

Steve_Cebu wrote:
Yes, I just noticed the notches now, Thanks.

Please give us a review. I'm looking into the pro track 28 model with the same engine

Steve_Cebu wrote:

If that looks small you need to see mine! Wow that just sounded really effin GAY! LMAO

Nice machine, actually REALLY NICE MACHINE! How is the steering on the PRO's? I looked rather overlooked this feature 2 weeks back when I was at the dealer.......

stresst wrote:

They require muscle to manuever around I tried out a similar model at the Ariens/Toro dealer and they are impossible for my wife to steer. My back does not need the workout this would give it. It will blow the snow really well. I have a lighter and easier to steer machine versus this one which is much harder to steer depending on your individual situation. If you are a big strong guy and can easily move this around like a toy then great, it'll work a treat. But if you have a bad back and a small wife and want to do an easy job on your 220 foot long driveway with a big section for parking off of that then the Toro at least for me was a better pick.

I test drove a bunch of machines and nothing that I tested was as easy to use as the Toro. My wife couldn't turn any of these machines at all, just the Toro.

But if you just want power this has plenty of it. I can do my driveway 2 times on 1 tank of gas so it's pretty economical as well.

I wonder how much fuel the Ariens Pro 28 uses?

Nice machine but, why so much engine?  That's 115cc larger than the 305cc engine on my Simplicity and it has plenty of power.  Just wondering where the "over-kill" threshold is?

borat wrote:

Probably when it starts knocking small planes out of the sky.

Steve_Cebu wrote:
Well being that I am a pilot I would definitely draw the line a hair before the snowblower becomes AAA.  

I will make sure I get a review done and some video shot. 

borat wrote:
I already have my sights on my next blower once I get moved into the new place!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD0HZE6jXF0

Well after screwing with trying to get the hyperlink to work for 10 mins I gave up. 

mvedepo wrote:

A video would be cool.

I'm hoping this year to be able to use myToro's joystick controlled shoot to nail those PITA chipmunks that we have everywhere. It won't kill them but I'm hoping it will make them move before they finish destroying my yard.

Yes, definitely make some videos of the Pro 28 in action.  The worser the snow condition, the better. 

I am surprised that they only put the 4.8 inch width tires on this machine as the bigger  pro30 and pro36 use the 6.5 inch width tires. Maybe to keep the cost  down.

My Husqvarna 27 inch has the wider 6.5 tire.

   

Though I like the looks of the wider tires I think these will get better traction.  We will see.

mvedepo wrote:
Yes, under certain conditions, the narrow tires could have better traction.

mvedepo wrote:

Narrow tires cut through snow better even if it's a car tire. Wider tires tend to ride up onto the snow which is why 4x4 mud tires are very wide, so they ride up onto the mud. My Toro has 4.8" tires and I have no problem with traction. If i take too big a bite then the front end can ride up but it still grips really well.

Steve_Cebu wrote:

Yup thats why the old army jeep used "pizza cutter" (super narrow tires).

mvedepo wrote:
Wow.  Nice machine.  I agree with the idea of you posting some video of the Pro 28 in action.  Also, please let us know how the ATC functions, that is, is it easy to use and to turn left and right, turn on a dime?, etc.? Thanks.

Steve_Cebu wrote:
Yeah.......

You sure they're not squirrels?   Any chipmunks I've seen hibernate during winter.  Never seen one out in the snow yet.  Show us some pics of your winter chipmunks.  I'd like to see that. 

borat wrote:

Every so often you'll see one out in the winter but not often. They do hibernate but right now we have an awful lot of them prepping for winter. If you want to see a video of chipmunks right now it's easy as they are all out in force. They were out during that freak snowstorm we had last month as well. When I blow teh leaves I see a great many holes from them, sure some are probably mice and snakes but we have a LOT of munks here. If I can get a video of them in the winter I'll post it on YouTube and put the link on here.

Be very VERY careful with that.  Just look at wat happened to Mr jrtebor!

  After seeing your  PRO 28 here, I wanted to see one . I went to my Husqvarna-Ariens -MTD  dealer.   This is a large dealer with over 60 machines in the showroom,  something for everyone.

He had a Ariens PRO 32 on display.   .The  PRO32  model in Canada is powered by a Briggs 342 ,1650 torque engine.  (not Polar Force)   Surprisingly,  he only had a few  MTD machines that had Chinese engines, and he said that the Chinese engines are flatly rejected , people demand a Briggs engine.

All of the Husqvarna and Ariens had   Briggs engines,  . And the Briggs 342, 1650 is the largest engine engine available in the Husqvarna and Ariens models

Your machine with the 420 would have more power than the PRO models here.  

My feeling is that if the the engine said Polar Force by Shanghai Engines then I would be concerned.  The fact that Briggs puts their name on the engine tells me that there is quality control being done by Briggs at the point of manufacturing.  I doubt they would want to attach their name to a junk engine.  As for the Polar Force name it means nothing,  Briggs has nothing to do with that.  Polar Force is the name Ariens attaches to the engine for marketing purposes.    So don't get confused and think that all Polar Force engines are made in China.   In fact I do believe that the only snowblower engines from Briggs are AREN'T made in China are the 305 and 342.  If that is wrong I am sure Snowman will set it straight. 

royster wrote:

There is no such thing as a Pro 30, you must be referring to a 32 or 36. Also, the models sold in Canada are the same as in the US. You were either looking at a non-current model or a 12V keystart model (the 12V start version of the Briggs model 25 snow engine is not yet available). That is, the Briggs model 25 snow engine (420cc) is available in Canada on Ariens Pro machines (120V start only).

You are right,   I went back to the dealer again, It is a Pro32

I was wondering if you got a chance to use it yet? I'm sure all of us want to read your review of your beast and see it on u-tube.

Hi Bus 708

I also have an Ariens 2011-12 Professional 28 with a Briggs & Stratton 420cc motor. I am from Montreal, CANADA and recently we got little over 10" of snow...The snowblower is very agile and easy to manoeuvre...the Hilliard Auto-Lok differential works great and very easy to turn/steer. The motor is very smooth and starts very easily with only one light pull. Overall I am really happy with the machine and don't regret buying it...However, I must say that I am somewhat dissapointed with the way the chute operates...I find the design poor and not quite suited for a commercial grade machine...It is flimsy and doesn't lock in place properly when blowing snow. I went over the service manual and tried to adjust it...but it is what it is..I am considering perhaps in modifying it or install the chute system from the other Ariens models like the Deluxe model...It is a turn crank system from the top and it is rigid and stays in one place. Besides that....it is a very beautiful machine. Haven't considered making a video yet..maybe one day I will...Take care!...scopes01

scopes01, I played with a Pro machine in a store a month or so ago. I was curious how that chute-steering system worked, since you only had to move the lever left/right, but you did not have to, for instance, squeeze anything to unlock it first. If I remember correctly, there was a little locking mechanism underneath the control panel, which was spring-loaded. As you started to push the lever, the spring-loaded lock pulled away, and you could aim the chute. When you stopped applying pressure to the lever, the lock re-engaged. Am I remembering this right? Is the problem that it doesn't really lock back into place, and the chute can rotate on its own, while blowing snow?

It's sort of funny you mention possibly going to the Deluxe method. I actually looked at the Deluxe approach and thought it seemed like a rather non-ergonomic design. You had to kind of lean forward, beyond the control panel, and turn a crank using a little offset section in the middle of the rod. It didn't really strike me as being an improvement over the old method of just having a crank on the control panel, say. But maybe it's at least more secure than the quick-lever on the Pros.

Please don't take any of this the wrong way, they seem like awesome machines (especially with the big engine), and are much more advanced than mine. But it does seem like perhaps the different companies are still working to try and perfect the new-style chute controls.

RedOctobyr wrote:

Hi RedOctobyr...Your exactly right!...this systems works exactly the way you described it in your message above. I have the service repair manual and tried to make adjustments to this system...unfortunately the design limits me and connot optimize it's function. I was kind of made aware of this weaker design...but chose to buy the machine anyway. However, I had already thought of replacing the system with the crank style as used on the Deluxe models...Yes I would have to lean over to crank it...but I was also considering having a longer rod and crank it from the rear as used on older Ariens models. I think that the original idea is good on the Pro Series machine...but Ariens needs to make more adjustment possible to increase the load to the locking mechanism. The other flaw is that there is too much play between the teeth and the lock mechanism. Therefore, making the chute less sturdy while blowing snow. The size/thickness of the teeth on the gear or the mechanism locking piece should be increased a little to lock into each other better. Besides the chute issues...this machine is awesome...I have added the 10 lbs plate option to prevent it from lifting...but I think it could use another 10 lbs to keep it down a bit more...

On my pro 26 model I have to lift the chute lever up in order to move it from side to side and then when I let it go it doesn't move at all know matter how much snow is coming out of it. It seems to unlock when I lift up a little before turning it, hope this helps.

On my 2005 926DLE I did add a washer in the gears area under the black cover atop the chute. Can't remember exactly where but I bet if you look in there you may find some slop than can be tightened up with another washer. That "hole" chute system is a crap design but with some persistance and very fine adjustments of the chute cables under the dash you can get her to be adequate. I would rather have the crank type controll.  I remember that chute going bonkers before I fine tuned the pos.

O

 

Did you get a change to use it this year? Give us a good review

Did you get a change to use it this year? Give us a good review