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

No snow here in Ct. since the October blizzard Nor' Easter. We had 24" and 3 days with no power (4kw generator helped). No snow in the near future either!! Happy New Year everybody!!!!.......

Ya snow will be welcomed around here aswell!!!.... lm in southwestern ontario canada and there calling for 4-5 inchs :)....its not alot, but is better than nothing as we've pretty much had nothing so far this year..

Same weather report down here in Cleveland.  It is about time.

Happy New Year everyone, so far we are predicted to get a measly inch tomorrow night.

they are predicting high wind warning and a Lake effect snow warning for us we could get 1-2 ft they say in persistant bands so who knows I finnally broke the cub out the other day to clean up 3 inches off the blacktop and sun came out melted the driveway off so......

Yeah, still waiting here, too.  Boring winter so far.  Only 9 inches to date at the airport, compared to a normal of 20 or so.  All the snow we've gotten so far has disappeared. It might be one of "those" years. At least most of December was cold enough for snow. We had a stubborn high-pressure system for over three weeks, so we had sun and some high clouds, with a bit of fog sometimes. Happy New Year, everybody!

Jt, I was hoping for more snow, since I live in the same area you do.  I got up early and wasn't enough to get my husky out.
Oh well, I'll just have to wait.  I heard we are getting warmer weather towards end of the week too.

Got about 8 inches of drifted snow, temperature was -2   .  Used my  Husqvarna  27 inch,  with Briggs 14.5  Hydro .

It was easy to do , new paved driveway is 110 ft long and 18 wide  and  a paved parking area  24x26 .

Then the weather got warmer, went up to +8  , then it rained hard and took off all the snow.

Oh well, I got a chance to blow some snow.

royster wrote:
It was 8 degress and it rained?  Wouldn't think that was possible.

jrtrebor wrote:

Maybe its celcius

jrtrebor wrote:
He is up in Canada     EH!

jrtrebor wrote:

Sorry   ,  We use the Celcius scale in Canada

-2 Celcius is 28.4 Fahrenheit       Water freezes at 0 deg Celcius or   32 degrees Fahrenheit

+8 Celcius is 46.4 Fahrenheit       "EH"

No snow to report and none expected anytime in the near future according to the weather guru's. Its finally gotten colder (highs in mid 20's, lows in single digits) but it's expected to warm up a bit towards weeks end. What a difference from last winter - we were buried at this time last year and ended up with one big storm right after another.

Our "Big Storm" with up to a foot of snow expected left enough to use a broom on...

Got a light dusting of snow and lot of wind.  Nature's wind took care of the blowing so I don't have to.  Today it is cold, 14F, slightly warmer feeling in the sun. 

My snowblowers are looking bored.  They might get combustion apathy from non-action. 

aa335 wrote:
We're waaaaay behind in our snow this year.   November was one of the driest months on record and Decmeber delivered less than half of what we normally get.  We've recently received about six inches of light snow.  Not nearly enough to get my snowmobile out of the back yard.    Need snow bad!

No significant snow yet as of January 2012.    Feels weird saying that.

I like steady, regular 5-8" accumulations, not the big 12-24" big dumps that cripples the city for a day or two.

Can I make a suggestion... either put your location in your "profile" or let us know where the bloody *ell your writing from are in your message! 

No real snow here yet.... 





oh yea... Vermont...

Intruder wrote:
Chicago, Illinois.  .25" snow accumulation up to date.  Too much rain lately.

Snowblower sales are really tanking this year.  Time to go on CL to check out on bargains.   

Same here, waaay behind the norm. Used the scraper a couple of times. Maybe I'll get out the leaf blower on the dusting we'll get today just for my OPE fix!

Other than the freak October Nor'easter, we got nothin', nada, zilch.

aa335 wrote:
CL is loaded with used snowblowers/snowthrowers for sale. The same one's keep being posted week after week (or every few weeks) so it would be a good time for bargain hunting. I've been seeing machines that were originally posted for $ 450.00 now being offered at $ 350.00 or less. All it will take is one good storm (or threat thereof) to get things moving.  

Really behind on snow this year, 2 little storms , 6-8  inches , but after each storm , it got warmer and rained, taking away the snow.

This is unusual for New Brunswick, Canada.  for this time of the winter, no snow anywhere right now.

But last winter  we got most of our  snowstorms in  February --------

Ridiculous weather up here on the north shore of Lake Superior.

It's been going to above freezing the last couple of day and the forecast is for more of the same with rain!  That sucks.  If it's winter, gimme winter.  We have very little snow as it is.  Haven't run my snowmobile once yet this year.  Truly sad. 

Well, I'm kinda like this weather.  It's been warm and rainy.  No snow and freezing weather means no salt to attack the roads and my car paint, which also means no pot holes to swallow up my wheels. 

As soon as I say that, I'd bet we'll get a big dumping soon.  :)

OK, bring on the snow.    I got 3 snowblowers and one month old gas waiting for it.  

I know it's bad to tempt Mother Nature, but if it's this nice lately, can I at least get some green grass. 

A friend of mine is an x-navy-seal and lives in a farm.

When I informed him of my brand new Toro 1028, he laughed and commends:

This year you’re buying it?! You won’t need it this year; you should have gotten it last year!!

So I asked why??!!

Because he can read it out from his “horses” and other animals.

Every year before winter they grow them self’s hair which acts like a coat to protect them from the cold.

Last year; they grow bigger than average long hair. = last year’s big snow winter.

This year; they only grow very tiny hair!! Well below average = Summery Winter…

According to him and his readings, he suggests one of the 2: Or a real warm winter, or a crazy natural disaster.

So far he was right…

We got the early October crazy snow storm AND its 2012 with no snow…

So between the horse's hair and the ground hog shadows, they are more accurate in predicting the weather than an army of meteorologists, multi million dollars Dopplar radar, and supercomputers.  Amazing! 

Any such organic predictors for the economic performance?  I'm not taking any faith in financial analysts.  :)

JoelKlein wrote:
I've heard my brother-in-law use this same story.  I tend to believe it.  How many times have you heard the weather reporter say, "On one hand, blah blah.  But on the other hand..."  What we need is a one-handed weather person.

manjestic wrote:
Ha!

Wanted: Meteorologist.
Qualifications:
- Able to predict the weather.
- Has been in a terrible industrial accident.

RedOctobyr wrote:
Qualifications?

Resume

2000 years ago there were no weather predictions?
I understand the today’s modern way is phishing money into supper computers,

But some time the plain old fashion way gets left behind…

Fact is fact, the horses predicted and exactly this is what’s happening in reality!

JoelKlein wrote:
Well, I sure don't miss cleaning out the horse's stalls.  Seems too much work keeping horses around for the sake of weather prediction.  I like checking my weather the new fashioned way, handheld mobile devices.  :)

I just wished our meteorologists at least trying to concur with the horse's weather prediction before they post it on the internet.  "Straight from the horse's mouth" seems to lend more credibility in the reliability of the weather forecast than fancy 3D graphics. 


Speaking of weather forecast, looks like a storm is brewing in the Midwest. 

This just in....straight from the horse's mouth, Silver Bullet concurs...

"... ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL EXPECTED ON THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT...

. CURRENT FORECAST SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE FOR A WIDESPREAD GREATER THAN TWO INCH SNOWFALL... WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS EXPECTED OVER FAR NORTHEAST ILLINOIS... WHERE UP TO FIVE INCHES MAY ACCUMULATE. "

Nice, no batteries required.  Always right every time.

Hey looks like we will be getting about 10" tomorrow!

The weatherman are as having their day, hyping up the snow as if it was a blizzard of the century.  In fact, this is Chicago's first "significant" snow event.  Oh well, it's only January, its supposed to snow and be cold. 

City of Chicago is pretreating Lake Shore Drive with salt.  :)

Expecting 4-8 inches over the next two days,     optimistically speaking.  Been checking the weather to see if more snow is coming.

That's fine by me.  Still have to get to work and my car is RWD with only 5" ground clearance.  Haven't got stuck or lost control of the car yet.  

Weather forecast:     Fredericton, NB Canada , 20-25 cm  (8-10 inches)  this evening   but   overnight   warming up to  +6  (+43 F) and  staying warm  with rain all day tomorrow.

So there goes the snow , again

Guess I will wax and polish the Husqvarna again

aa335 wrote:
RWD is awesome, provided you have proper tires.  My car has about the same clearance as my snowblower.   The good news is that perhaps municipalities can come in under budget for the snow removal thing and offset last year.

manjestic wrote:
I love RWD.  Have gone through 4 winters with RWD and the only time I'm worried is when the snow is too deep and heavy, I get high centered.  Not fond of plowing snow with plastic bumper covers, but soft fresh snow are no problem.

Finally! First real snow of the season, got to try out my new tires. ~180 lbs. each. Unstoppable!

Well it was snowing this morning (enough for it to stick a bit) then turned to a slushy snow/rain mix and now its windy and about 40*F. I've only used my 2 stage once after the crazy October nor'easter. I have not even used the SS yet as it has not snowed since...

Bill_H wrote:
That's the biggest single stage snowblower I've seen yet.  How big of an area do you clear?

My driveway is about 120', and 40' wide at the top, plus a turnaround. That's a 48" x 15" blower. I love the single stage, it moves massive amounts of snow very quickly (look at the size of that chute) and anyone with a Toro will tell you how good they are with slush. It can't throw completely across the wide part, but it's really no extra work if I have to reblow it. I start in the center and blow out so I don't end up with snow landing on already cleared areas.

Nice. Like FrankMA said, we got a bit of snow this morning, then it rained most of the day. When I got home, there wasn't even an inch on the driveway. Which meant there was plenty to try my "new" SS :) (hey, what can I say, we haven't gotten any snow in 2 months)

Got to fire the little guy up. Started on the first pull, which was nice. I've never used a SS before, and there seems to be a bit of a learning curve. At times I think I was pulling up too much on the handle, 'cause it was kind of zipping itself along. I have to say, I thought it was kind of cool. Granted, there was hardly any snow, so it wasn't a perfect test.

Pros:
-It's fast if the conditions allow, it'll move as fast as you want it to. Faster than a 2-stage would go. The speed also helped to keep the paddles full, given the tiny amount of slushy snow. If nothing else, maybe it will be handy for the little storms, like people say.
-It's super-maneuverable. Was kind of funny just swinging it around at the end of a run. Very different than a 200-lb fixed-axle 2-stage.
-It also cleared right down to the pavement, unlike a 2-stage.

Cons:
-The handle vibrates a *lot* (the little 2-stroke engine is not well balanced). Granted, I wasn't wearing gloves, which might have helped isolate my hands from it a bit. I wonder if I could put some rubber between the upper and lower handles where they join...
-Oil smell on my clothes. I'd forgotten about that. Would make it tougher to use quickly before work.
-Not very powerful, I'm sure. Mine is only 3hp. But if I'm low on power, I might try boraticus' trick of cranking up the RPM's.

@RedOctobyr

What single stage machine do you have?

Bill_H wrote:
That's a serious blower for the area that you're clearing.  Those augers looks like one to drill onto the ground.  I'm surprised you haven't rig an electric chute and deflector controls on that Toro blower yet, just for convenience.  Although I really like the solid mechanicals of that blower.

aa335, it's a little Ariens SS322. 3 hp, 98cc Tecumseh 2-stroke, 22" cut.

RedOctobyr wrote:
That's the same engine on a 16"  Toro Powerlite.  Underpowered when used on a 22" wide snowblower.  Not sure why such a small engine was used on that Ariens, seems to perform more like a snow broom than a snowblower.

There was also a SS522, with a 5hp Tecumseh, mounted in the same machine. Alas, this has the smaller engine. But for free, it's 3hp more than a shovel It will still have more power than the electric I was using for the deck (Toro Powercurve 1800, 18", which did surprisingly well in the big storms last winter). And if I need more oomph out of it, I can try revving it higher.

Edit- That said, it is admittedly kind of funny that my 8 hp 24" 2-stage has 4 hp/ft, while the little SS only has 1.6 hp/ft. Only 40% of the power of the 2-stage, but 90% of the clearing width. Something tells me it will bog down a little more easily. That's OK, bigger storms will get the bigger machine.

I should be jealous about snow but it is nice not having to blow the snow.  No major snow for another few weeks and we got lucky this week.

We got maybe 1-2" of light fluffy stuff overnight. Gave me an excuse to try the little SS again. Granted, this storm played right to its strong suit (a mild storm, with very lightweight snow). But it was really nice. It was quicker than using the 2-stage (or a pusher shovel), not to mention easier. It was blowing as quickly as I wanted to walk with it, so it was actually really fast (my legs have a faster forward speed than my 2-stage does). This was the kind of storm where a 6hp, 30" machine would do great. You didn't need much power, just speed. So it was perfect. I can see why people like having 1 of each, if it's practical.

I'm in Chicago suburbs.  Snow is coming down steadily, expecting 5-8" inches total by midnight.  It's the heavy, easy to pack type of snow.  Good thing it's snowing like this on Friday.  No rush to snowblow and the kids can play outside tomorrow. 

Now the big question is which snowblower to use tomorrow.  :)  I also have a 30" wide poly show pusher bought last winter that hasn't seen much action.

aa335 wrote:
Given the topics of this forum, if you decide to use the pusher instead of one of the snowblowers, you may want to keep it to yourself. OPE is Outdoor Power Equipment, not Outdated Push Exercise

I didn't say I was going to use just the snow pusher.  Snow is golden at this time of the year, especially since we haven't seen much of it this winter.  I'm sure to get my OPE fix, even if I have to snowblow the neighbor's sidewalks.  :)  There's about 250 feet of it and those teenage boys aren't doing it by themselves.

I have 3 snowblowers but I still enjoy the exercise of shoveling by hand.  :)  Nothing to be ashamed of that. 

Finally got some snow like RedOctobyr was saying, about 3" total. Finally got a chance to use the venerable Honda HS621 Single Stage and was not very impressed to be honest. I think I'll have to take a look at tightening the tension on the belt or getting a new belt altogether. It threw the snow but not as robust as I would have expected and got clogged at the base of the chute several times. The snow was very light and fluffy so I did not expect the issues I encountered. It has to be a stretched belt that warrants an adjustment or replacement. Any other thoughts or suggestions???

I think you're on the right track, it's either belt slip or low belt tension when bail is engaged that would cause clogging.  Check to make sure that the pulleys or belt are not coated with some kind of lubricant.  I've pushed my HS621 full bucket height into heavy snow and concrete mix at the EOD and never had clogging issues.  The engine will likely stall out under heavy load before clogging.  3" is light fluffy snow should not cause any clogging, in any machine.

When it would clog, could you tell if the paddles were still spinning? Was anything coming out at all, or still getting flung around up front? If the belt was slipping that badly, I'd expect that the paddles might have stalled out entirely, and maybe you'd be able to see some evidence of that? If they had definitely stopped, then you're definitely chasing a belt issue, and you can narrow down the possible clogging causes.

With the fluffy snow, there wouldn't have been much resistance against them. Could you try pulling the plug wire (or killing ignition, etc), hold the bail down with something, and try rotating the paddles by hand? Can you tell if they can turn without the engine turning over with them? I replaced the belt in my Ariens while getting it ready for action. It did have a belt tension adjustment using the idler pulley, which I had to shift quite a bit to snug it up to the spec in the manual. Just trying to think of ways you can check the belt without opening the machine, as removing the cover on mine was a bit of a pain. Don't know if the Hondas are the same way.

Edit- Another option for checking the belt- With the engine off, hold the bail down with something to engage the paddles (I like zip ties). Stick something (a piece of wood, whatever) into the paddles to jam them up so they can't turn. Now pull the cord, and see if the engine can turn with the paddles stuck. That would let you put more torque on the belt than you could by simply fighting the engine's compression as you turn the paddles by hand. Plus you can't somehow lose a finger

Thanks aa & Red. I'll check it today at some point when I have a chance. Going to be near a Honda dealer today so I may just stop in and get a new belt. I'd rather have one on hand when I remove the belt cover just in case it's needed. I actually meant to do this when I first got it but never got around to it. We're supposed to get up to 3" or so today so I'll be able to put it to the test when I'm done. I'll let you know how it goes.

If you like you can generously spray silicone lubricant inside the chute starting from the base to exit.  If the belt is in a really bad shape, the inside of the belt should be hard and very slippery with burnt black stuff.  I was a bit surprized to learn that it does not take too much engage/disengage cycles to beat up the belt.  Hopefully the belt will do the trick.

I got a new belt and replaced the old one which was well worn and stretched a bit. The old belt came off the pulleys very easy while the new one took some coaxing. It feels much more responsive than before so I'm sure that this was most likely the problem. I cleaned what I believe was the remnants of the old belt from the housing and gave everything the once over. I also did an oil change while I had it up on my bench just for good measures as I never got around to doing that either - I know, I should be ashamed of myself!  

We're getting about 3" or so of the light fluffy stuff this morning into the early afternoon so I'll give it a whirl and report back later today. This is the same type of snow we got the other day when I first used my new to me HS621 so it will be a comparable test.

If the old belt was very easy to come off, stretched belt very likely is the root cause of the clogging. I haven't had problems with it since I usually perform frequent maintenance and replace parts that seems questionable. When I last replaced the belt on the HS621, there were a lot of black dust, tell tale signs that the belts are wearing. Also, if you're running out of holes to adjust the belt tension, it's too stretched out and should be replaced. Also when adjusting the tension, too much will cause premature wear and stretch. I don't spray anything into the chute because I've never felt it needed it.

There was a bunch of fairy dust inside the belt housing so I'm sure it should work better. I also took up a little slack by adjusting the cable one notch down to tighten it up a bit. I did this after I tried it out and it still seemed a bit lackluster in the distance department. Going out now to give it another shot and see how much (hopefully) the distance performance improves.

I'm afraid the HS621 is the old school design where throughput was favored over distance.   On light fluffy snow, it doesn't throw very far.  However, the paddle design and the engine perform well under heavier wet snow.   It is most impressive moving a full bucket height of snow.  Although the auger doesn't pull itself forward very much, you have to push it to feed it snow.  :)

Well the new belt and some adjustments made a BIG difference! WOW is all I can say. After using the HS520 with GC engine I became slightly disillusioned with SS machines in general but that's all changed now. Once I got the HS621 dialed in properly (subject to change without notice) it was really fun to operate and did a great job on my +/- 130' driveway, garage apron area and EOD.

A few notes of interest: The HS621 seem to throw best when the chute is in the zero degree location, not quite as good to the left or the right but acceptable. I was getting a good 15' - 20' feet throwing distance straight on which was really cool. I realized that I had to change my usual course of attack that I would use with the 2 stage in order to get good full bucket, zero degree, straight on runs for it to work the best with the SS machine.

Once I got it figured out (and I'm still learning) how to manipulate this SS machine, it became quite easy and fun to operate. A slight lift to the bucket and you get pulled along nicely - too much of a lift and you're chasing the SOB. Not having to muscle around a 250 lb. 2 stage for less than 6" of snow is a lot less work than usual. I cannot wait to use this bad boy in some heavier snow because I think it's going to kick some serious A$$!!!

I might just have a new "go to" machine for anything less than 8" or 10" of white gold!

Got 5 inches of snowfall on Friday night.  It was a good mix of wet heavy snow, then transitioning to lighter fluffy stuff.  Not a big snowfall, but enough to have fun.  Of course, this kind of snow, I took out the Toro 421QE single stage machine, and my 30" human powered snow pusher.  :)  Couldn't wait until Saturday morning to clear the snow, instead got out there Friday night while some snow was still falling.

I got my OPE fix and some good exercise with manual shoveling.

Unless there's a 20" blizzard, I'm very happy with the Toro SS.  It has plenty of power and the agility cannot be understated. 

100% on the agility factor.It was nice to not feel kind of beat up after a snow clearing session. I realize that 20" of snow is a lot harder to clear than 6" or 8" and absolutely requires a 2 stage machine but it's sooo nice and easy  to manipulate that SS machine as compared to the 2 stage. File this one under using the right tool for the job at hand!

Amen, Frank. I got to use my SS, SS322, and 2-stage, ST824, today. We got 2-3" of very fluffy snow (so still an easy test). Did most of it with the SS, but kept blowing it onto the driveway, in the same direction, to keep building up a deeper area. I wanted something to simulate a slightly bigger storm. The SS did well, I was very happy with it. Fast and easy to swing around. I did notice this time that when I'd raise the handle to start a run (bringing the paddles to the ground), sometimes the RPMs would drop quite a bit, then recover. I thought it was about to stall the first time. I then tried a few clicks of choke, and it *seemed* to make the RPM drop less drastic. So perhaps it's running slightly lean? The carb is not adjustable, and is freshly cleaned.

I did actually get it to clog up a few times at the EOD and in the street. In the street, the salt had melted some of the snow, so it was wetter. I'm pretty sure the paddles were spinning the whole time, but it did stop throwing (belt is new, and adjusted properly). Backed off, checked the chute, and tried again. Maybe I just need to take partial cuts, or slow down a bit. Mine's only 3hp, not a bigger machine like yours, Frank, but I am still really liking it so far. We'll see how it does this winter, I could consider looking for a larger SS for next year. Like you said, it's very friendly to use, and can be quick as well. Probably also less intimidating for my wife to use. At least for smaller storms, I'd say it's more pleasant to use than the 2-stage.

I did also get to try my ST824 for the first time, in the piled-up snow. It did well, no unpleasant surprises. The handle functions are reversed from my MTD, so I kept squeezing the wrong one. The differential is cool. It did spin a tire a few times, so I'll be putting the chains on (wanted to try it without them first). I will confess it wasn't really flinging the snow 1/2 mile or anything. So I may pursue trying to put a (homemade) Clarence kit on it. It did seem to throw further when I got into some deeper stuff. I did think it was funny going to the 4-stroke 2-stage from the 2-stroke SS. The big engine sounded like it was turning so slowly :) 1800 power strokes per minute, vs 4600.

Edit- Please forgive me going on at length on this stuff, I'm just excited to try out my new "toys". And this is my first time using a SS; I'd always considered them something you'd use if you didn't have space for a 2-stage, say (at least here in New England, with decent-sized storms). But now I understand where they shine. Like Frank said, the right tool for the job.

FrankMA wrote:

It's an awesome machine, once you got everything working as it should.  Don't be shy to take on EOD pile.  There's nothing wimpy about the GX160 engine and that 9 inch wide flat center paddle.

   Just got our biggest snowstorm yet for 2012.  But only about 5 inches of snow followed by 6 hours of  ice pellets , then 6 hours of freezing rain.

I could have cleared the mixture   away with a scoop but driveway is 120 ft x 17 feet and the  parking lot in front of the garage 24 ft x 25 ft , so  with the EOD mess,

decided to use my  2011 Husqvarna 27 inch, 14.5 Briggs, hydrostatic, power steering, and heated grips to do the job in about 15 minutes.  

It was an easy job, The  separate  direct  controls for the chute and the chute deflector operated easily with no binding like the  joystick on my neighbour's John Deere.

I've tried those joysticks on the showroom floor , and it seems  that they bind a lot as they do not offer any mechanical advatage to move the chute and the deflector..

Going to be in the 40's F here today and just about the same for the next 5 or so days ahead. I think we've only had about 8" of snow all winter - not counting that crazy October nor'easter. The ground is not even frozen and the trees and plants do not know what to do with themselves. What a winter (or lack thereof....)!

royster wrote:

@royster:

Can you tell us how the hydrostatic works and how the grips are heated?  Have you ever been electrocuted with the heated grips or experienced an episode of VF (ventricular fibrallation)?

    @MN_Runner

I know you are only making fun of me and my excellemt Husqvarna Snowblower, and you already know the answers to your questions,

So here is my reply. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Royster

It's going to be 50 degrees tomorrow.  I'm going to get to see my beautiful brown grass again.  :)

I think I'm going to fire up my string trimmer and leaf blower.  I don't care if it's snow or grass, I need my OPE fix.

This year is not a fun year for snowblowers.  I would normally clear my portion of the pond for kids to skate except that I am afraid that the ice is too soft and thin.  I would hate to sink my blower and get a grief from my family.  It was 45 F today and expecting 43F tomorrow.  I may have to start mowing the grass in Feb or Mar.

We've been getting annoying amounts of snow the last couple days.  Maybe one inch yesterday and 1/2" today.  We're supposed to get around two to three more inches???    Bring on the snow FFS!!!  Gettin antsy ova he............

Could be worse I've gotten maybe a grand total of 5" total. Since November 1. Looking at it differently, we got more snow in a freak storm at the end of October than we have in total since then. This is just bizarre weather. I'm closer to needing my mower than the snowblower. Whereas a year ago, we kept getting slammed, on just about a weekly basis. There's nothing on the ground at the moment.

I think the state of Alaska is hoarding all the snow and they don't know how to give it up.  :)

MN_Runner wrote:
I try to see the good side of this problem.  It's a great year for buying snowblower, especially if you've been teether tottering on getting a SS.  :)

borat wrote:
Funny thing is I bought new snow tires for the car expecting a big bad winter like the Farmer's Almanac predicted.  There's only 7 inches of snow total up to date, and the current temp is 51 degrees, I'm wearing my spring jacket.  :)  Tomorrow it will be 60 degrees.  I'm feeling some kind of fever, but it's not cabin fever. 

I wonder if I should bring out the fertilizer spreader and wake up the grass from dormancy. 

Heh, I just put my snow tires on over the weekend. I figured I'd better do it eventually, since the snow will get here at some point, and my stock tires are not good in the snow.

It's a good year to buy a blower, but if you already have a backlog of a machine(s) you need to sell before getting anything else, that blade cuts both ways

RedOctobyr wrote:
I don't bother with snow tires on my daily driver, it has Z rated summer use tires on it and with only 3.5" of ground clearance it never sees snow. The wife's car does the snow duty here .  It goes without saying the my 69 Camaro never sees snow, hell it never seen rain either.

Carl

carlb wrote:
That's a good thing, on many levels.  A high power RWD car with super wide tires is as impressive in the snow as a 300 lb lineman or a body builder threading water at the deep end of the swimming pool.