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

Finally got some snow here so I took out most of the fleet to have some fun and put the machines to use.   Beautiful weather.  Crisp, clear with a bit of a breeze but not too bad.   First up is the Craftsman SS then the Toro 221 and finally the Simplicity.  Not too much snow maybe 5 or 6 inches but nice consistency. Fine, fairly dense and dry.  Here's a link to the video:

http://youtu.be/p7U9Jk8s8VM?hd=1

Nice video.  Nice machines.  Nice neighborhood.  Are those Sasquatch tracks I see on your neighbor's lawn across the street?

manjestic wrote:
I wish they were sasquatch tracks. 

Unfortunately, they're the tracks of the "world's tallest rat".  The white tail deer.  The deer population has gone right out of control.  Their numbers are so high that they've achieved "vermin" status.   The upside is that the wolves are on the rebound and their numbers are increasing as well.  Once the wolf/deer numbers reach a balance, the deer numbers will come down.   In addition to that, after 500+ auto/deer collisions annually within City limits,  the municipality has also implemented necessary control methods to assist in getting the deer numbers down. 

You cannot imagine how much damage and disease high deer concentrations can cause.   We never had ticks in our area when the deer numbers were reasonable.  Now, you'll be infested with them if you take even a brief a walk into the woods any time after April.  Lyme disease is also on the rise due to deer ticks becoming more common.    

Here's a picture of a wolf "getting it done" in a neighbour's back yard, not too far from where I live.

Borat,

   What’s the paddle shape on the Craftsman?  I can’t get an exploded view for that model.  Is it flat right under the chute or the smooth curve type of paddle?

    What are you tossing there?   Most of the time the EOD big or small here is very difficult for any machine to toss.  I don't think any Toro 2000 or 2450 I've had would do as well by quite a bit. 

trouts2 wrote:
Yes.  Flat across the center with curved edges fastened with rivets.  In case you're interested, I'm using a $7.00 belt that I bought from NAPA rather than the $53.00 belt that Sears sells. 

Yes that's the EOD that was piled abough 18 to 20" high.  Lots of slush mixed with normal snow.  As you can see, I was leaning into it pretty good to keep forward momentum. 

It's amazing what doubling the horsepower will do for a machine's performance. 


Here's a pic:

   Thanks Borat.   The flat type opens up MTD models which use the HSK850.. 

    It's interesting that the 221 and Craftsman seem to be doing a similar job and possibly the 221 slightly less.  It would be nice to know just how much of a torque difference there is between the two.  The snow you're clearing seems to be fairly easy but neither machine sagging.  I did not hear any sag when you're doing shorter runs at the top of the drive with the Craftsman.  I would not expect that to happen for the EOD like in the picture I posted above but it looks like it's haveing a pretty easy time of thing there also.

At full throttle, it takes quite a bit to slow the Craftsman down.   As I've been saying all along, I'm thoroughly impressed with the machine and in particular the HSK850.  If the engine can sustain that kind of performance, and I'm confident it will, I'll be even more impressed.    The Craftsman's controls are not as nice as those on the Toro but other than that, it's more than a match for the 221.   Head to head, the Craftsman will definitely out work and out throw the Toro.  Now, if I were to jack up the Toro to even 4500 rpm, things would be closer.  However, at those speeds, the Toro  has far too much pull going down hill.   Even at the 4100 rpm setting it's at now, it takes some effort to hold it back.  Not a good thing on a slippery downhill grade.

Anyone looking for a good SS machine would do well with a cheap Craftsman/Murray and a piece of string.  

 

borat wrote:
I know how you feel.  Same here.  This was from 2005 on a pond in my backyard.  There are actually 13 of them total, some outside of the shot.  (sorry this is way off topic).

borat wrote:
Heh, words to live by

How do you replace the paddles on the Craftsman if they're riveted on? Do you have to grind/drill the heads off?

I just checked mine, it was snug fitting the tip of my finger between the paddle and the housing. I don't know how much of a gap is typical or acceptable. But given the apparent price of my paddles, I'm not replacing them anytime soon :)

borat and manjestic, you guys have some scenic neighborhoods, nice shots. We just got a whole pile of rain today, and no snow, at the end of January. This is just weird (the machines are feeling neglected). But at least it came in as rain, and didn't leave a big coating of ice on everything (a few degrees lower and this would have been a mess).

I assume the only way the rubber is coming off is by drilling out or grinding off the rivets.  Never done it and don't look forward to doing it either.  By the size of the rivets, replacing the rubber will require a much larger riveter than what I own.   Probably have to use short bolts, locking nuts and locktite to replace the rubber.  The paddles on the MTD machine I have looks pretty much the same.  I could pull the whole assembly off of that machine and put it on the Craftsman if and when it's required and rebuild the Craftsman rotor at my leisure.  Don't see that happening any time soon. 

Redoct: 

What machine did you say you have?  Was it a Toro 318?   No experience with them but being a Toro, it should be a well designed and useful piece.

I've also got a little gas powered Toro Power Shovel that pretty neat.  Looks close to being new.  Got it cheap too.  Needed about twenty minutes work to get it running like a champ.  It's a fun little machine too that hasn't seen any work yet this year either.  I used to use the power shovel on the deck but I put the MTD SS machine on there and neither have been required yet.  Too many machines too little snow.......

Mine is an Ariens SS322. I wish it was the SS522 variant with the larger HSK850, but oh well. Ariens doesn't seem as well known for their SS machines as Toro is, but hopefully Ariens' are still good.

The Power Shovel, is that the one that has fixed vanes to always blow forward & to the right, or whatever? I was impressed with my little Toro Powercurve 1800 electric, it did surprisingly well on deck duty, even with deep, heavy storms last winter. And it was very compact, and only about 25 lbs (as light as a 2-stroke SS is, they're still a lot bigger & heavier than an electric). My parents have it now, but there hasn't been any snow for them to try it on.