The post hasn’t attracted many posts probably because in a sense it’s overly broad.
One part is the machine and price list is vague without a machine description or pictures. For example an Ariens 1032 is a marketing designation as opposed to a factory model number. An Ariens 1032 can refer to many machine models made over many years, roughly from the 70’s through 2000’s.
The Craftsman track could be made by Murry or MTD and both could date from the 80’s and at least for the MTD through 2000’s. Buying a Murry track would be a faith based purchase as getting parts for it is very difficult.
The Snapper 1030 could be many machines that were light or heavy duty and span 30 or so years.
The Snapper 826 could be an early 80’s with an old Briggs engine or newer 90’s types with Tecumseh engines which were some of the best machines ever made.
Any Toro is a possible good buy as off the top I can’t think any that were not good machines other than the Powershifter.
Most people that sell them are not aware of the reason for the name, the shifting of the wheels to load the machine weight to the bucket. It takes some snowblower savvy to set skids and scraper bar for the dual modes of the Powershifter that most people are not aware of. They usually always use them in one mode or the other.
When used in the “shifted” mode the machine is fairly difficult to use unless setup properly. With the weight shifted to the bucket the skids and scraper take heavy wear. It’s very typical to find a used machine with worn off skids, the scraper bar worn to the bolts and the bucket sides ground off a half inch. Prolonged use in front load mode puts a great strain on the drive which in the case of the Powershifter is an enclosed drive box that is not repairable by most and uneconomical to have repaired (around $800 for the transmission without labor).
The first thing to check on a used Powershifter are the leading edges of the rakes being scrapped to shiny silver. They get that way when the skids are overly worn causing the bucket to ride on the rakes.
The Deere group could be scads of models made by a number of makers. Many people like Deere and many of their models were good machines. It’s tough to get drawings for them and their parts are pricy.
The average snowfall Southern Minnesota are 37 to 50 inches.
7 to 8 horsepower 24 – 26 inch bucket.
Northeastern 45 to 96.
8 – 10 horse power
Northwestern 40 – 57.
7-8 horsepower
If your driveway is a straight 20 x 100 and you can toss to both sides it would not be hard to clear. You’d have a 10 foot toss. The hard part would be the 200 feet of sidewalk which would probably be loaded over with street snow from the plow like the end of the driveway pile.
You can work on machines so you could pick just about any 8 to 10 horsepower 24 to 28 inch bucket for your area. Most are very easy to work on. Go through the machine before the season and be pretty confident you won’t have problems. Check the engine compression. Flip the machine on it’s bucket and go through the tractor section. Make sure it’s tight in there and lub it all. Check/lub the gearbox. Kick the tires. Work the controls, lub and adjust.
Nice to have would be two machines. A second being a 4.5 – 6 horsepower Toro single stage would be nice for most storms that happen during the season. You can buzz off one to several inches of decent snow easily and quickly with a single stage and keep the wear off the dual stage.
