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

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.