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

I dont know if I am happy or mad that we havent had any snow storms?? We had one little covering topping out at 4" while last year I think they said we had nearly 60" by this time! Dont get me wrong I had to go to work late numerous times and missed 2 or 3 days last year, I definetely do not miss that but a little snow would be nice. With this kind of winter I am glad I didnt dump 800 on the SS I was contemplating........

Anyone think I am nuts wanting snow?

Amen, brother. Bring on some snow. Last winter was admittedly pretty ridiculous, not looking for a repeat of that (it was almost funny at times, getting another weekly dumping of snow. But I don't have to shovel my driveway. I'm sure it was a lot less funny if you were heading out to shovel *again*). But *some* snow would be nice. We'd typically be well into ski season by this time. We haven't gone once yet this season It's going to be about 50 tomorrow, almost midway into February. And I'm sure this is hurting a lot business related to skiers, snowmobilers, ice fishing, the plow guys, etc.

Well, we've had a lot less this year than last year.  We normally get about 48 inches a year, average, and this year we've probably had maybe 15-20, and I say maybe because I don't know the official total.  It's been very blah this season.  We had 2 or so inches in November, about 3-4 inches on December 24th, so at least we  had a White Christmas.  Then in January, we had 9 inches.  That was fun to blow out my place, my son's place, and my sister-in -law's place with my Toro.  About 3 hours total.  It was really cool to watch that ol' rooster tail fly out there 30-40 feet. 

For 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, we got between 92 and 96 inches, 2009-2010, it was a measly 14 inches.  Then in 2010-2011, we got 69 inches.  So far this year, I don't think we've even reached 20 inches.  Up and down like a yo-yo.  The funny thing is that we've had our fair share of sub-freezing weather, but trying to get any snow, well.......     In December, we had about 3 weeks straight of clear skies.  This month has been trying to do the same thing.

I'll just look forward to next season. 

stresst wrote:
I hear you.  I got 4 perfectly functional snowblowers and waiting for a good storm.  Not the tiny 1-2 inch snow that just gets the roads dirty, but 5-10 inch one that gives the machines a workout. 

Keep your fingers crossed! - snowing now in the Chicagoland area - about time! :)

It has started!   It's beginning to look a lot like Xm....err  WINTER.  

Wet or dry snow, doesn't matter.  Keep them coming.

I'm not asking for a lot of snow. 


That's a 3 stage snowblower.  Note the extra auger on top.

Bright and sunny here.  -34C with the windchill.  Not my cup of tea for weather.   Went for a walk.  It was torture going into the wind.  Short walk, that's for sure.

 For Fredericton , New Brunswick:    Weather forecast  is snow flurries starting at 6AM tomorrow morning, turning to light snow then heavy snow tomorrow evening,

but a total of only 15 cm (6-7 inches) , but if this is correct, it will be the biggest snowstorm  for the 2011-12 winter, yet.     Much more snow in the forecast

for southern New Brunswick:   Moncton.

aa335 wrote:

I just finished paying off my Toro 826 that I purchased last December, after such a bad winter I was so close to buying a SS for the smaller storms and for cleanup even thou I didnt have the room to store it. Sure glad I didnt cause it would have been a real shame not to be able to use the darn thing!

Very light snow falling here right now but it's not supposed to amount to anything substantial. There's an outside chance I might be able to use my HS621 SS machine but that's a longshot.

stresst: This spring will be a good opportunity to buy that nice new SS machine at the end of the season and score a good deal at the same time. I was at cheapo depot the other day and there were a bunch of SS machines. They'll most likely start to discount them the closer spring gets to make room for lawn tractors and mowers

Last year, Home Depot dropped the price of a 221QRE from $799.00 to $599.00 in January.   The local (out of his mind) Toro/Ariens dealer was charging $999.00 for the same machine!!  Unbelievable.  That guy has to get out more.  

When I  picked up the 221QRE, I put it in the back of my pickup and tied it down.  The big price tags and stickers fluttering in the breeze.  The route home goes right by the Toro/Ariens dealership and being on a corner lot, he's got a set of traffic lights just outside his place.  As it was, I got a red light and ended up stopping the truck right in front of the Toro dealerships main entrance and display window, not much more than fifteen feet away.  The only people in the store were the sales staff who were peering out the window obviously interested in what I had in the box of the truck.   With red/black and blue combination, I'm certain that they recognized the machine. 

Four hundred bucks difference is a lot of cash which I prefer to keep in my pocket rather than theirs.   Hey, a man can buy a nice Echo chainsaw for $400.00!  

I know the Toro/Ariens dealership is feeling the pinch this year.  With very little snowfall, nothing is moving and he's got a lot of inventory sitting around.  He's started to shell out big bucks for abundant TV advertising.  I know things are tough when that happens. 

borat wrote:

That's effen priceless! Nice score!

I should start looking around again see what is out there, see who has what left.....I really have my eye on the big simplicity SS with its 208cc engine! But my issue is I have no friggen room, I guess if I buy it unassembeled I can stick the box on a shelf....But I definetely dont want to deal with it on the garage floor all summer....We will see.....

The Storm in Fredericton was only 15-20 cm, drifted some , but was about 8 inches in most of the driveway. then it turned  very cold this morning  -20 C

 The end of driveway was about 2 feet deep , the plow had gone by twice in the night, but with hydrostatic drive, my Husqvarna  , 27 inch, B&S   14.5.   went through it easily., not even changing engine speed or sound

throwing snow 50-60 feet high and with the wind , the snow was travelling   100 ft or more  in distance

Then I noticed my neighbour with his  new 26  inch Toro was having problems with his  joystick chute control, seemed frozen , couldn't move the stick.

So I did his driveway and parking lot before putting my blower  in the garage.

Heh, nice, glad it worked well for you! Hydrostatic must be really nice. We were supposed to get some snow yesterday. Earlier in the week they were talking about 3-6" (which, sadly, at 6", would have been the biggest storm for me so far this season). Then it changed to 1-3". And when yesterday actually came, we got nothing at all. Feast or famine, I guess. Last year we got slammed. This year, nothing.

RedOctobyr wrote:

Yes, last winter we got 4 heavy snowstorms in February about a week apart.   30 cm (12 inches) ,    2  storms were 35 cm (14 inches ) heavy drfting,   and another one had  45 cm  (!8 inches) wet snow.

So this winter so far we have had only 3 snowstorms that were 4 , 6 and 7 inches.and very little drifting.  No snow really, could have used a snow scoop , but end of the driveway

is much easier with the blower.     I really enjoy the hydrostatic drive, and the heated grips were nice this morning,  -20 C

royster wrote:

Quite often on new Toro's the cables can be adjusted incorrectly by the dealer. Once they are adjusted he should be fine. Mine wasn't adjusted all that well when it first arrived so I went over it and it worked fine after that. Often the cables are set too loose and the joystick won't work. It's an easy fix.

royster wrote:

Good move to clear his property with your functioning machine.  Way too cold to be fiddling around fixing a chute.

I built a house, moved in and bought my first snowblower, 30" dual stage, last year.  All I can say so far is that 1/2" of snow is no match for it.  It tears that $hit up.

LOL I'm glad you didn't whimp out and get a 28" or something. Or it would have been brought to its knees by that apocalyptic snow event.

1/2 inch? That's a blizzard 

Did you have to go out three times?

Maybe, just maybe, Old Man Winter will have some surprises for us yet.

You guys can fly up here and give me a hand in Alaska. Talkeetna has had somewhere between 8-10 feet so far, with 3 snow filled months left. Just picked up a snowblower to back up my old school Craftsman in case anything goes on her. On the great side, the snowmachining is top notch.

That's way too much in Alaska and people are probably getting tired of being bombarded with snow.  I'm sure a lot of ski resorts wouldn't mind taking a share of your snow. Business is tough for plow guys in some areas too.  It would suck if they had just invested $8000 in a new plow and no cash coming in.  And for us with snowblowers, we're just chomping to bits for some action.  If there was some way to shift the jetstream a little bit south, but we shouldn't really mess with old man winter, or is that mother nature?  Who's in charge of the snow??? 

aa335 wrote:

Three times, then called had to rent a Bobcat! lol

aa335 wrote:

When you find out let me know, I have a bill for the 300lbs of calcium chloride I bought which is sitting collecting dust!

41*F  here right now and it's supposed to go up to 50*F this afternoon. The 5 day forecast shows low to high 40's going into next week. One week later we'll be going into March and that's usually when the show ends around these parts. We do often get a crazy dumping or 2 sometimes in March/April but the way it's been going, I doubt that will happen. Looks like we'll have to wait until next winter to use our snow moving machines....

Warm, no snow again here all week. 

Might as well forget about it for this year.  Heading to Costa Rica in five days for two weeks.  The way the weather has been, it'll probably snow there. 

Hope there's at least some ice on the lake when we get back so I can cut  couple hole to do a bit of ice fishing.  

Same here in Saskatchewan.  Only got about half an hour blower time this winter, and it dont look like any more is coming.

The winter that wasn't?

It's currently 39F, going up to 49F later on.  Nice and sunny. The roads are clean, no salt and sand.  I'm okay with that.

stresst wrote:
I don't know why you have that much calcium chloride.  I rarely put anything on my driveway, unless it's absolutely necessary.  So I rather have it sitting collecting dust than on the pavement, they say it's not damaging to concrete. 

Farmer's Almanac is incorrect this year, Old Man Winter is pounding some places locally, Mother Nature likes to be unpredictable and humorous.  50F in January is unusual.  I guess they didn't have their year meeting this year to discuss what the weather should be like. 

royster wrote:
I'm not sure how to freeze up a Toro joystick.  The cable is only "exposed" under the dash like every other machine.  Topside, the cable goes straight into the chute gear cover, so it would be completely out of harm's way.  I agree with Steve that it was probably not adjusted properly.  I had to adjust mine when I first picked it up at the farm where I bought it.  It would sort of of grind gear teeth if I wasn't careful.  After a simple cable adjustment, it's been great.  I sure feel sorry for the guy, though.  Brand new and having a problem that he could have fixed before the snow came.  Sounds like he didn't check it out beforehand.  I wonder if he ever did.

They're calling for it to be 62 degrees Wed and Thur this week in PA. My daffodils are up and getting close to blooming. Must be El Nino or La Nina at work.

Chicagoland - Expected 4-7 inches overnight.  Bring it on. 

" Chicagoland - Expected 4-7 inches overnight.  Bring it on."

Yeah - not 2 inches like the last time!

alty wrote:
I'm hoping all of this is coming down in the middle of the night, not during rush hours.  Just in time for the weekend.

Time to bring the snowblowers out of hibernation.  I just summerized them two weeks ago. 

It's comin here tomorrow!  Saskatchewan screamer!  15 cm snow plus 80 km/hr wind!!!!  First real job for the blower this winter!!!!!!!!!

Snow came through last night and still falling.  Woke up to 3.5 inches of wet heavy snow this morning.  Too heavy to shovel so I used the Toro 421QE single stage snowblower.  Not a problem using it on the driveway and sidewalk.  However, EOD left by the plow was 10 inches high.  This gave the Toro some challenge, snow came out of the chute were thick as concrete, discharge distance was reduced to 3-5 feet, but never clogged or stalled.  

  20-25 cm ( 8-10 inches) of snow forcast for the Fredericton area and drifting snow,  starting tonight and and changing to rain

as temperatures  rise to +2 C   by noon tomorrow.    Good time to blow snow just before the changeover to rain and the snowplow has already passed by.

This is my plan with my Husqvarna 27 inch, hydrostatic  with 14.5 Briggs   . Should be fun.

OK there are only a few days left in february and I havent used my snowblower once! WTF!

Saskatchewan Screamer is right here!  BRING IT ON!

" Yeah - not 2 inches like the last time!"

Yeah - well it wasn't 2 inches - it was 1 inch!  :(

royster wrote:

 The storm came overnight with about 25 cm (10 inches) of heavy snow, didn't turn to rain .

 This is the heaviest storm yet for this year, just enough to play with.

Well, the snow came on Friday and all is melted on Monday.  Waiting for the next big one. 

We're supposed to get about 3" - 6" Wednesday afternoon into Thursday, possibly a bit more depending on the way the storm tracks. Up to this point, not including the crazy October noreaster, this will be like the 2nd measureable storm we've had all winter.

EDIT 02-29-2012: Looking good according to the weather guru's. Latest reports indicate up to 8" in my neck of the woods when it's all said and done...

Got a unforecasted 8  inches of light snow Monday night,   Just right for throwing 60  feet into the clear blue sky, and with the wind, about 100 ft. to the side .

No snow and it's 60 F outside.  Very windy.  There is potential for snow this weekend. 

Right now I'm at the beach in Costa Rica.  It was 33C (91F) and humid here today.  Freaking hot.  A few days ago, we got 20cm (8 in.) of snow back home and, believe it or not, I was a bit pissed that I wasn't there.  Go figure. 

Been pretty much the same temperature here for ten days straight.  Four more days to go then, home.   Hopefully we'll get another dump or two of snow before the season ends. 

Apologize for the big pics.  Internet down here is a bit "iffy".  In my haste, I failed to re-size them.

Bad Monkeys:


Big, big croc:





Play Blanca, Punta Leona, Costa Rica:

Borat,
Looks like you had your own white stuff to play in, nice beach. How were the accommodations & food? Been thinking about a trip to Costa Rica myself.
Cheers

People, food, accommodations are great. 

There's lots to see and do.  If you're into wildlife and nature, this place is hard to beat.  And yes, you can drink the water. 

Shipping out tomorrow but not anxious to get home as I normally am when on a foreign vacation.  Nothing down here to aggravate me as in many other destinations.  No hawkers, no pan handlers or beggars.  Just hard working pleasant people. 

Where is the snow??

Look like it's gone for good for a while.... 70*F here today and the long range forecast is calling for mild temps through the end of the month. Looks like Winter is gone before it even got started!

FrankMA wrote:

Same here, I think I am going to run the snowblower dry tonight and wipe it down (not going to bother changing the oil after only one use this season)

This might be just enough to jinx it and bring in a big snowstorm in a week or two :)

-Dan

When I got home I had a good ten or more inches of dense snow with a layer of ice under it on the deck and back yard driveway.  Put the MTD to work on the deck for the second time this season.   Did a great job on the deck and had it cleared (other than the ice layer) in five minutes.  Flogged the Craftsman pretty hard to clear the back driveway.  There was an icy layer of snow about an inch thick a couple inches from the bottom so it was difficult to push the machine forward.  Should have switched to the two stage but persisted with the Craftsman.  Got it done but wasn't as much fun as it normally is. 

Raining here today.  Had thoughts of putting the machines away but I know if I do, we'll certainly get dumped on.   Got to get into April before it's safe to so.

No snow in sight.  60-70F weather expected in the next 4 days.

aa335 wrote:

It has been 24-27C  (74-81 F)   degrees for 4 days, sunny, not a cloud in the sky.    These temperatures are record setting,, almost  10 degrees over prevoius records.   

The snow is all gone except in the heavy wooded areas

The snow is here NOW!!  Got bout 10 inches last nite - right after a half inch of rain.  Stuff is real heavy - like fresh poured concrete.  And I absolutely refuse to take my Honda outa storage to handle it - I'll just drive through it till it melts and that shouldn't take more than a few days.

Tuned up my tractor and sharpened the mower blades today as it's just about time for the first cut of grass. I think I used my 2 stage twice and my single stage once all winter, including the October Noreaster. The "Where is the Snow??" question will have to wait until next winter around these parts unless we get a freak snowstorm....its happened before in April and May!

No more snow!  Yeah!

Already mowed the lawn 3 times this year.  Switched over to summer tires and summer air on my car. 

Ok.   Getting tired of mowing the lawn.  Bring on the snow.

aa335 wrote:
Well, you lasted almost 6 months before the snow bug bit you - not bad. I too miss the snow, especially after the lackluster winter of 2011/2012...

FrankMA wrote:
It was a disappointing winter actually.  I have four working snowblowers in perfect shape, just got a new set of winter tires for the car.  Throughout the winter, weatherman gets all excited and predicted big snowstorms, ended up being nothing or 1/10 of what they predicted.  Oh well.   Hopefully this year will be better.