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

In the U.S., in 2012 I have NOT Seen any Brands of  TWO STAGE Snowblowers that advertise a Hydrostatic Transmission.  In The U.S. has that changed at all ?  I also have yet to see any brands that supply the diameter of the Friction Disc, or the Diameter of the Drive Plate, as well as the width of the rubber 'tire' that is the part of the Friction Wheel that makes contact with the Drive Plate to produce the friction grip needed to turn the tracks or the tires.   The size of the tires, the number of tires and the Horsepower and Torque of the engine become meaningless if these Friction Wheels and Drive Plates don't transfer that power between the engine and the wheels or tracks.  This is why I went to Honda, despite the extra cost.  Is that still the same ? ?

+ 1 on a hydro tranny. i have no experience with them though.  What are the negetive points of a hydro other than cost and complexity?  For me the cost would be worth it. Put a differential drive on a Honda or a hydro tranny  on an Ariens and  a guy might have something.

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aa335 wrote:
EngineCylinder  Displacement means nothing unless the power from that engine can be successfully transferred to the wheels or tracks when the machine is under severe load.  The slippage all too common with the rubber faced and easily worn 'friction disc' that must grip the metal drive plate attached by belts to the engine drive shaft makes a hydrostatic transmission a  much more reliable, albeit more expensive, way to move a snowblower.     I just want to know if the Husqvarna transmission drives their machines as powerfully, and reliably as do the Honda snowblowers.  
 

New_Yorker wrote:

Why don't you buy a Honda so you can tell us?

Yes, the Husqvarna models with hydrostatic drive have been around for 3-4 years in Canada.   Up until this year Husqvarna  built 2 different hydrostatic models for Sears. 

They were the most expensive snowblowers sold by Sears.  They were identical to 2 HUsqvarna models except they were painted red instead of orange.  Unfortunately the 2011-12  Sears models in Canada are built by Briggs or MTD.  .

I have used the 27/1450  and the 30/1650  and I liked  the hydrostatic transmissions  , I could go much slower than the disc drive, but still have full power. in heavy snow at the EOD. never stopping ,

New_Yorker wrote:
My 1983 8/26 cub cadet with a 11hp honda clone, positraction axle and original friction disk will pull me down the driveway on dry pavement.  A properly maintained snow blower should not have oil or grease on the friction disk or drive plate ever. I am 6'3" tall and weigh 215lbs.  This snow blower weighs 305 lbs stock and with the 20lb weight kit up front it weighs in excess of 325lbs. This machine has never had a traction problem as long as you understand that you cant go 5 miles an hour into 24" of snow.  Only 5 to 10% of the engine power is used to move the machine forward or backward and 90 to 95% of the power is used to move the snow.  Unlike a race car that must transfer it all of its power to the wheels a snowblower only needs to transfer a small amount of power to its wheels and most of the power to the business end, the auger and impeller. My cub cadet has a 16" Auger and a 14" impeller on a 26" machine with less than 1/8" impeller to housing clearance and can move a lot of snow. Proper understanding of the machines ability to remove any amount of snow in front of it is critical to the smooth easy operation of any two stage machine Honda included. 
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I've owned blowers with both types of drives.  A Honda 928 and my current Ariens 1332.  I've also worked on many other friction drive systems.  As far as getting power to the wheels.  I noticed no difference.  Both would spin the tires if you purposely buried the bucket in an EOD pile.  If the friction wheel gets to worn or out of adjustment you could experience some slippage.  You would obviously never have that problem with a Hydro drive that was functioning properly. 

I would assume the Husqvarna transmission drives function and perform just as well as the Honda's.  Why would they not?  Reliability is another question.  But that answer would have to be
based on a number of qualifiers.  Most of which would have to center around user not the system itself.  Any piece of equipment can suffer breakdowns if it's misused.  Or not given at least
minimal maintenance. 
Hyd. drives/transmissions don't slip unless their is something wrong with them.

" The slippage all too common with the rubber faced and easily worn 'friction disc' "
Saying slippage is common really isn't a true statement.  Slippage occurs not because of a design flaw.  It occurs because of incorrect adjustment.
The disc will wear if it is allowed to slip over an extended amount of time. 

Without question the Hydo Drive is a better drive system.  And the ability it gives to match your forward speed with the snow conditions is it's greatest reward.
But as you said the cost is high.  And any repair or parts replacement on the system would be extremely expensive.  Having said that the system is pretty bullet proof.
As long as it's kept sealed and full of fluid (but not overfilled) there really isn't much that can go wrong with it.

 

Honda HS50, HS55 and HS80 are not hydrostatic but they move just fine without a lot of issues for the past 30 years.  I have no problem buying either HS55 or HS80 today given how they are built and have performed over the years sans the hydrostatic transmission.  If you look at SS snowblowers, it is a simple friction driving the auger and nothing more whether you buy Toro or Honda. Sometimes simple-tech is nice and just as good. 

Yamaha... Not sure what extra cost it would take for me to bring one into WA state from BC. Something to think about if my Husky clone dies.

I live on a major county highway.  Last winter 2010 it was not uncommon to have a daisy chain of 7 plows lined up one behind the other going up and down all during the storm.  Salt spreaders are always out early, so the first snow to hit the road is slush which is then eventually covered by the snow.  When this mix gets piled high and deep into my driveway the work is brutal for any machine.  This is a typical snowfall for me, and the friction drives all needed new rubber every two years, occasionally I got three.  Pushing a 200+ pound machine into semi-solid ice and snow is what happens when the disc slips.  The belts really never slip, and because the tires on the ariens I had wore chains, they never slippped, nor did the tracks on my MTD-Sears Craftsman so the friction disc was always the weak link in the drive system.   Really cold climates often get lightweight powder to clear, when you live farther south the snow is almost always wet, and in my case salt laden which makes the work of the snowblower far more difficult.  This mix is often so heavy that even when the machine was working well, and crawling through the EOD pile the throw was less than 6 feet .  The Honda has outperformed the previous machines so far, time will tell how long it can keep this up.    I'm getting too old to push the snowblower ever again, those days are over.  This is why I love the hydrostatic transmission, the power from that great Honda engine goes where it 's needed, every time.

I would say if a snowblower has tracks, hydrostatic transmission is a mandatory requirement.  Put the bucket in the lowest position, dial in the exact slow speed, and the snowblower rarely climbs over that EOD pile.  It will dig in and chew like a gopher.  :)