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

I've seen it mentioned that one implementation of the Auto Lok was better than another, due to gears vs chains (as I recall). I'd never seen pictures of either system. Now I have (thank you guys for posting those). But, forgive me, I'm not understanding how a chain vs a spur gear should make any difference in the operation of the differential.

The outside body of the differential is turned by the drive system. As with the open differential on my older Ariens, there are two splined outputs, one to each wheel. It would appear to me that those are the system's only connections to the outside world. The hardware inside the body of the differential (the guts that make the auto-locking magic happen) have no idea whether there is a chain on the outside, a spur gear, or a series of small but powerful hamsters with cranks :)

It has been mentioned (perhaps by you, scopes01, but I don't recall for sure) that one system (Ariens') performed better than the other (John Deere) in some testing. I have no reason to doubt the observation. But borat has talked about the lubrication on the system being important making it function properly. Is it possible that the difference was because one machine was set up better than the other?

If there's more to this that I'm not understanding, my apologies, I'd love to learn. I just don't quite understand how a chain vs a gear on the differential will make a significant difference in how the Auto-Lok performs. And it sounds like a really cool system, by the way, in theory providing the best of both worlds.

My Ariens has an open differential, which I'm looking forward to trying out. My MTD had the basic system where you can lock both wheels together, or let 1 wheel freewheel constantly; I always kept them locked together. My only concern with my differential is how much the machine will be constantly trying to pull to one side, to whichever side has snow on it, making me fight it the whole time. I am assuming that you can reduce the tendency to pull to the side by using a slower ground speed, and taking a more complete cut, so that the snow's resistance is more balanced across the width of the machine. That is, going fast, and only using 1/4 of the machine's width would make it pull to that side harder. Go slow, and almost fill the bucket, and I presume it will go straighter.

In my opinion the main difference between a spocket and chain system vs. a pinion and spur gear drive is that the gear system is much more efficient. The constant contact surfaces between the teeth of a pinion gear to the spur gear makes it such that motion is continuously steady and direct. As for the chain and sprocket similar to a drive system on a conventional bicycle is less steady because of the constant slack on the chain. Therefore, when it is applied to the Hilliard Auto-Lok system there is more play in the drive and will not have constant drive when going straight especially when there is resistance while blowing heavy snow. With optimal and continuous adjustment in reducing the chain slack , the drive will become much more efficient. However, the gear system is definitely a superior set-up. It is definitely more expensive in manufacturing costs to have instead of a chain and spockets on a snow machine. Also, we would need to take a closer look on how the Hilliard Auto-Lok is configured on the John Deere vs. Ariens'. This could also be another factor in the performance of both snow blower tractions besides the gear drive mechanisms. Here is a photo that I found of a Hilliard differential taken apart...this will give you an idea on how this unit is made and works...Take care!...scopes01

scopes01 wrote:

Nice picture and great info here. Just for clarification,what is the white color on the drive plate

borat wrote:
Thanks, borat, for this good tip.

From Stainless :

borat wrote:
If the left wheel is disengaged, it would seem to me that turning left would be easier than turning right.  When you're turning right, the right wheel is still receiving power, correct?

From borat:

Stainless wrote:
With one wheel disengaged, it turns easily in both directions.


My experience so far with my Toro 1028LXE is that I can use either the left or right trigger and turn either direction.  It's just more natural to turn left with the left trigger releasing the left wheel, and turning right with the right trigger releasing the right wheel.  I was surprised how easy it is to turn with only the inside wheel powering the machine.  It's easier in a lower gear, but, of course, no one can't whip around fast on a tighter type of turn, anyway, so it's a moot point that a lower speed is needed.  If you're just making a gradual turn of some type, then a fast speed would be fine if you use the powered inside-wheel-only to make that turn with a Simplicity, or another brand that has the same turning feature. 

I finally was able to see my first new Simplicity blowers just over a week ago at the only dealer that actually has any to look at (some near-local dealers are Simplicity dealers, but only display John Deere, since both are made by Briggs), and they are exactly 200 miles from where I live.  Too bad they're so far away, but, nonetheless I knew immediately I liked the Simplicity models  better than the John Deere models.  They only stock the 4 Pro models.  Nice blowers!  I would think the Simplicity blower would have made Dr. Woof a happy camper.

royster wrote:
With one wheel disengaged, it will turn easily in both directions.

Think I already said that. 

borat wrote:

But doesn't it turn easier in one direction than the other.

Stainless wrote:
I think he meant that if the friction disc isn't engaged and power isn't sent to one wheel.

aa335 wrote:

My experience with my Toro 1028LXE, with triggers on both sides, is that if I turn in speeds 1, 2 , or 3 on sharper turns, I can turn pretty easily with power only on the inside wheel.  It's no big deal, really.  When trying to handle a gentle turn in speeds 4, 5, or 6, I can still turn with power only on the inside wheel.  I only tried it because I was so curious about how it would work out.  But of course, with my dual trigger system, I don't ever have to worry about that inside wheel issue.  I'll just use the left trigger for left turns and the right trigger for right turns.  However, It made me not fret about blowers that only have the left-wheel release trigger.  I'm thinking of the Ariens Deluxe models and the Simplicity models with those left triggers.  In both cases, you have to stop the machine, pull the trigger, then re-engage your motion forward or backward.  To re-establish two-wheel locked drive, you stop again and the pull the trigger, then re-engage your motion forward or backward.  With the Toro and Husqvarna models, or any others with the two-trigger system, you can do the triggering on the fly--no stopping needed.  Whichever you like, you'll be okay.

Iscopes01 wrote:

In This Photo you see the problem with these Friction Wheel Drives.  The Rubber faced "Friction Wheel" is already looking like a Bald Tire on this machine. This photo shows that rubber wheel and how it is able to slide across the axle it rides on, and that powers the wheels when you squeeze the handle and it rides on the metal disc that sompne has painted grey in this case, and the friction has worn off the paint in the center where the rubber faced friction wheel rides most of the time.  That drive plate has a V-belt that comes off the engine to make it rotate and supply the power to move the snowblower.  Those sprockets with the gears and the chains are just how the friction wheel carries the power to the wheels on this machine.

The speed lever simply runs a cable that makes the rubber faced friction wheel ride across the drive plate,(on that well greased hexagonal shaft on which the rubber faced wheel rides) and when the cable makes the rubber ride on the opposite side of the drive plate, the machine is in reverse.  That rubber faced friction wheel and the drive plate it rides on is what passes for a transmission on these types of snowblowers.  That is all there is to them.  You can see how the width of the rubber would matter, just as how large the wheels are that transfer the engine power across this device.  Yet no one gives that as a specification for us to measure one brand versus another.