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

Well I've spent a lot of time researching new blowers and came very close to bring home the JD 1330se today but got cold feet after reading about the slipping drive issues. I'd be very interested to hear any long term reviews on this unit as it appears unchanged since 2010. I do have a JD dealer 10 miles from home so prep and support should be better than a Lowes units? Also if there is another blower 30ish inches I should consider please let me know. I live in northern MI with a 150' drive see a fair amount of snow. I dont mind paying a premium for quality if it makes for years of trouble free operation. Thanks for your input

Dr_Woof wrote:

Yes, the hydrostatic is by far the best drive system,  I really would not want to go back to the friction disc

but  Just think how many thousands  of snowblowers  are working out there with the friction disc.  

Ariens are usually considered to be the best snowblower but they have never offered anything but the friction disc.

I owned two Craftsman machines for a total of twenty years.  Engines and friction disk drives were working as good as new when I got rid of them due to the chassis rattling apart and cracking at the welds.  Not once did I have to do anything to the friction drive system.  My present simplicity also has friction disk drive.  I've owned it for over five years now and it's been flawless other than when water would leak inside and get on the disk.  Fixed that problem by sealing the belt cover better.

What is truly annoying is when people condemn a simple, economical, reliable and proven mechanical system because they may have had a problem with theirs.   My machines have seen lots of hard work over the years, threw tons upon tons of snow and the disk drive never failed provided it was kept dry.   I'm certain that there are literally millions of disk drive system owners out there that share the same opinion as I yet, every once in a while, an "expert" has to tell us all that the system is junk.  

Friction disc drive system = simple mechanism
                                             occasional replacement due to normal wear
                                             works very well assuming operator doesn't abuse it (causing excessive wear due to not stopping before changing speeds, allowing
                                                  grease/oil/water to get on it, etc.)
                                  
Hydrostatic drive = more complex system, but easy enough to understand how it works
                               long-term reliability
                               infinitely variable speeds without stopping
                               expensive to replace if something happens to go wrong

Each to their own.

You got that right