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

My current primary residence is fine with a single stager except for the EOD.
As of late, the wet snow we get, sometimes becomes a chore for my HS621.
Or it's more constant chopping, running the auger, breaking up the stuff in the chute, run auger, rinse and repeat


I did have a 724 but sold it - mainly just due to lack of space.
There have been times that I wish I had the 724 and there have also been times where I was smiling DANCING with the HS 621.


I DONT have space for both.

There is a screaming deal on a 724 with Tracks.
You know how it goes. Want versus reality.
I dunno if I'll be have buyers remorse and end up selling the 724TA down the road again...

There is no joy wrestling a large machine 100% of the time vs. struggling with EOD  some of the time.  

I have no experience with track machines.  All I know is what I've heard and read, and that is, they are more difficult to manage than wheel machines of the same size.  Especially, when they're not running, as in moving them around in a garage. 

I have a large frame 11 h.p. 29" Simplicity wheeled machine with easy turn feature.  I also have a Craftsman, Murray, MTD and Toro single stage machines, all in excellent working order.   It takes a lot of snow for me to pull out the Simplicity.  My SS machines handle up to 20" of EOD snow provided it's not frozen slush.   I had to use the Simplicity machine only once last year and we get a lot of snow up here.

If the SS machine gets the job done 95% of the time and is much easier on you, why would you want to go back to struggling with a much larger, heavier machine to take care of 5% of the work the SS machine has difficulty with?

Seems like a simple choice to me.

By the way, you say you don't have the space for two machines.   Not sure how heavy the Honda is but, I can hang the Craftsman, Murray and MTD machines on the wall when they're not in use.   I could probably do the same with the Toro but it's considerably more bulky than the other three and would protrude far enough off the wall to not be as convenient.

Plows only plow to the right. EOD is generally 2-3 feet of hard packed hard snow....
At least another 28" - 3 Feet Depth from my curb to the out edge of the EOD. All that with a scraper bar to break - break my back and shovel and CHUCK the EOD as hard as I can..
So yeah, the 2 Stager is only really effective for the EOD but that EOD is back breaking WORK.

And ontop, once I shovel it own, a plow will be sure to just come by and put it all back from the snow *down* from me and pushing all their snow back ...

Man made tools are designed to make our lives easier. If it's not then you must buy another tool or get a replacement. Having said that, I have a track model honda on the way for the mild mid-atlantic winters. Probably overkill. BUT, I do not want to be working at using a snowblower. Whether it's hard to maneuver or if it doesn't clean up the snow.

If all you need the 2 stage for is to attack EOD, any 24" snowblower will do the same basic function.  You still have to go back and forth and take layer off because any snowblower will want to ride up on the snow in certain conditions.

This is where the Honda tracks seems to excel.  Put the bucket in scraper setting, transmission in crawling speed, and hold the drive lever.  It will chew slowly through the EOD without much effort and a lot less riding up.  The scraper mode puts more weight in front.  Tracks are always a pain when there's not a layer of snow for it to ride on, but in nasty weather, it comes to its element and does what it supposed to do very well.

With that said, I don't know how well the 724 does compared to the heavier 928 and 1132.  More weight and more power is a good combination for clearing the EOD piles.  The 724 might be too light and too weak, in my opinion, for the 20+ inches of EOD.  It can probably do it, but at a much slower pace and less gusto.

I dont' mind the tracked snowblower because I rarely have to use it.  I have the HS621 and the Toro 421QE for 90% of snow clearing.  It is great for zipping around tight quarters and cleaning right down to the pavement.  When I need to bring out the big gun 1132, the snow condition is pretty bad and it throw snow so well that I don't notice I'm wrestling it.

Yeah. Give me a 10HP 24" clone ontop of the 24" Bucket.
I don't need all that girth of a 1132. Power yes. Footprint - width, nope...

The 621 can tackle Most of my conditions within reason. I live 4 blocks away from the water....so that doesn't help with the already typical wet snow we get out here...
So even let's say a 6" snowfall, the snow just clumps in the 621 chute and constantly needs a mini impeller to break it up - versus the manual declogging I am doing

mobiledynamics wrote:
That's a universal truth that is going to remain for a long time.

I'm sure that's the whole point of getting a 2 stage snowblower.  If the snowplows were nice enough to leave my EOD clean with every pass, I'll send the driver a Christmas present every year.

mobiledynamics wrote:
10 hp on a 24" frame sounds like a lot of fun.  Just make it is built sturdy to handle that power.  All the rocks and sand is going to do a nice bead and sandblasting on the bucket right down to shiny bare metal.  :) 

I don't have any clogging issues with my 621, even in 1 foot of wet slushy snow.  The engine will likely stall out before clogging occurs.  Are you sure the belt is not stretched and rubber augers are in good condition? 

I have a 1991 John Deere TRX26 (8hp, track drive). This machine will go anywhere, I drive it up stairs to get to my 42"x16' deck to clear it off. Yes, it is a pain to manuver and worse when no engine power. I installed a "Clarance kit" 2 years ago and now it blows snow like a raped ape and does a very good with slush also. Sometimes wrestling with it  in close quarters at the end of the day is a bit much for this old timer, but I like the attention I get when I throw the white stuff a good 40 feet.    

aa335 wrote:
I probably need to work on my paticence and take smaller bites to allow the snow to get up and out the chute.
New belts, fresh rubber all around. It's yet to stall on me yet, but I know it's limitations. When I hear her *grunt*, I back off on how much I'm feeding it but then again, I should be taking smaller bites regardless...

However, on heavy EOD, if I'm lucky and it's a weekend and not during a weekday, where I am home, I will try to attack the EOD when it's fresh and soft versus hardened up rock.
I stopped attempting to use if for anything past the sidewalk and resort to ice breaker, a strong back and a shovel --- where if I had a 2 stager, I would not need to.

55utilitysedan wrote:
I know exactly what you mean.  Last year we have a 24 inch blizzard that crippled the city for two days, I took the big red tracked snowblower outside to stretch its legs.  It crawled along at an easy pace while tossing the snow across the street.  The people outside stopped whatever they were doing to admire the white rooster tail.  Priceless!!!

I spent more than 2 and a half hours helping people digging out their driveway.  My clothes were completely drenched with sweat and very exhausting from wrestling the machine, but it was good having fun while helping out neighbors. 

So I'm not complaining about tracked snowblowers.  But with the new Ariens Pro 28 snowblower with the monster 410cc engine, I'm feeling some power envy.