Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539
Snow Commnader - First Impressions Original Message Dec 30, 2012 4:50 pm
Well. where do I start. Snow conditions - About two inches, dense but not wet. Started on the first pull... Good Has plenty of power...Good Will pull you along... Good Cuts a nice wide 24" path... Good Throws snow... Not so good Were talking three maybe four feet. Belt was checked - tight My thoughts. As most know you've got to feed a blower enough snow for it to be able to throw it's maximum distance. When the snow depth is let's say three inches or less you may have to be moving forward pretty quick to provided enough snow to the blower. ( there are other factors but generally speaking) So maybe that was part of the problem. This blower has three paddles so it should be able to process more snow than a two paddle. It has the power (7hp) and because the auger drive pulley is 1 1/2" small in diameter than the 2000 and 3000 series Toro blowers. There shouldn't be a power problem with spinning an extra paddle. And the additional four inch wide bucket.
Having said that, SS blowers get their performance by way of auger RPM. Borat has shown that in his videos. (plus the added bonus of more power out of the engine when raising the engine RPM.) So having a much smaller pulley on the auger shaft may offset the physics behind adding a third paddle and a wider bucket. But maybe the drop in auger RPM is not so good. When it comes to an acceptable throwing distance.
At this point clearing small amounts of snow with the blower simply allows you a wider clearing path. Your not blowing anything off the drive your simply blowing it into what will be your next pass. I have no doubt that what I saw today is not a good example of what this blower is capable off. But I was expecting it to throw at least as far as my little 3.5hp CR20E that I used earlier. Have to wait for a deeper snow.
I was also looking at the paddle to housing clearance. It seemed a little wide to me 1/4-3/8" So maybe the paddles are in need of replacing as well. Kind of hoping not, there something like $100.00 a set on Ebay.
Any thoughts?
This message was modified Dec 30, 2012 by jrtrebor
Location: Marlboro MA
Joined: Dec 8, 2007
Points: 1328
Re: Snow Commnader - First Impressions Reply #11 Dec 31, 2012 5:07 pm
The paddles should have holes which are wear limits. You have a hole on the right side in your picture but that's not the place for a wear hole. Maybe they've been worn past the hole.
Regardless of the factory spec that gap is way too big.
Re: Snow Commnader - First Impressions Reply #13 Jan 2, 2013 9:25 am
The up-side is that the paddles on the Toro look relatively easy to replace provided the screws and nuts cooperate. The Craftsman/Murray/MTD machines are riveted. Replacing the paddles on them will require considerably more work.
Re: Snow Commnader - First Impressions Reply #14 Jan 2, 2013 10:15 am
jrtrebor,
Are you sure these paddles are the correct part? Seems like the wear indicator hole is really way off. Those gaps are way too big. I know it's a long shot but could someone possibly installed a Toro 2450/3650/221 paddles on the Snow Commander rotor?
Speaking of rotor, it is a much heavier and longer piece than Toro's typical rotor. There's a lot of rotating mass. To me, the 141cc Rtek engine might be on the small size for the application.
