mockswede

Have been running over 1 inch crushed stone drive 45 by 24 feet for 15 years here in Eastern Maine.

I pick up and toss the snowblown stones back onto the drive every spring.

We have 18 inches on the ground right now from five storms so far this winter.

I keep full bag of shear pins and socket set handy with first snow.

I've used the strategy mentioned by Chris S about adjusting height of skid shoes to ride over. 

Works well except for turns and doesn't help when tires are locked and you make a hard turn.

The tire piles up some rocks to be caught with the next pass.

Once a layer of snow is down I can be less cautious with skids and wheels but never blow toward anything I wouldn't want rocks flying toward and hitting.

I'm in the process of fabricating flatter and wider skid shoes now for my new(er) Ariens ST11528LE; patterned off the size and adjustability of the stock items.

I'm betting a 3 by 6 inch skid shoe, centered on the side of the auger barrel, with all four edges turned up a 1/4 or 1/8, except maybe for where scraper blade will line up over it, should allow straight runs and turns to run over stone and should only have to worry about the locked tire piles.

Currently have cardboard full size mockup for fabricator to copy.

Will upload pictures and opinion of results in future, if people contact with interest.

I'll be doing this drive for many more years, I hope; since my grandfather's Arien's lasted 40+ years and I don't want to move.

Hey Mainah!  Big hello from Brewer.

Go with the Ariens.

Just finished cleaning up today's snow dump with with Ariens Model 924125  6 spd forward/2spd reverse 11.5 (10.5HP?) 28inch.

Tecumseh Snowking engine.  NICE.

Someone else reviewed this model back in sept 04 and it's great summation; I purchased mine from HD that year, too.

From Jonathan:

"purchased this snowblower prior to joining the forum so didn't have much of a knowledge base to use for determining what make and model to buy. I had never owned or even used a snowblower previously. I had just heard that Ariens was considered a reputable brand and also had a dealer about 3 miles from my home. His price compared favorably with that at Home Depot and there was no delivery charge. After the dealer dropped off the machine and I had a chance to read the manual I saw the piece about doing the initial run-in. When I called him to see if he had done it he basically said it wasn't worth the time doing and to use it and bring it in if it needed adjustment. I did the run-in on my own and in the process found what appeared to be an assembly goof involving the idler wheel for the drive chain. All the parts were there so I assembled it and adjusted the chain tension. No further problems so far.

I opted for the 11.5 HP because of the length of my drive and the need to do the rental property next door. Had I been familiar with this forum and read the various reviews and comments, I might have considered getting the 926DLE which would have been the same price. I also would not have ruled out a Toro or Simplicity based on what I have learned from the forum. So far the snowblower has met all my expectations and has run and performed flawlessly. It will throw the snow at least 50' as advertised. I have put just over 8 hours of blowing on it so far. Although the winter was off to a slow start here,today's local paper indicates that we are above average in terms of total snowfall for the season so far. We just haven't gotten a big dump.

Having the differential found in the Pro models would be nice, but I'm a spry 60 yo and haven't had any problem maneuvering the machine with both wheels locked. I plan on an update at the end of the season.

Date Purchased: 08/04
Price Paid: $1324
Recommend: Yes"

and his Update:

"This is an update on my Ariens Sno-thro following one season's use. I installed an hour meter on the blower prior to using it and kept track of snowfall amounts. The season got off to a very slow start, but by the time it was over we had slightly above average snowfall for the area; approximately 78" from 16 snow events of 2" or more. I have a 150 foot drive way and 3 car garage area to clear plus a short driveway at a rental property next door. The machine got about 15 hours of use. It started and ran flawlessly and threw the snow 50' as advertised. I was very pleased with its performance. When I "summerized" the machine the clutch/brake adjustment was still within specs. The chain tension needed to be re-adjusted.

Date Purchased: see previous post
Price Paid: $1324
Recommend: Yes"

I agree with all positives.

This unit replaced a 1967 Ariens 7HP 4spd forward/1spd reverse 22inch given to me by my grandfather.

That unit is still running on a smaller driveway here in Brewer, too.

I'd shortblocked engine which died due to broken and thrown piston arm (knocked hole in side of block) when thrashing heavy road-snowplow-packed rain-soaked snow-slush/concrete.

My bad - just too much for unit of that age and HP.   Ran it for 5 more years after that before selling.

I expect this new unit to last 40 years like my first one!

I'm working a 45 foot 2-car garage with turnout driveway in City of Brewer.  Also making runs onto frozen grass inback and side yards for rear entry and porch and cellar egress points and out back for compost bin and pets to roam.

This new blower has large gas tank for long running, which I appreciate.  Love the hand warmer option and the headlight.

Would love to have an on/off switch for light, which is otherwise always ON.

A gripe I have with drive wheels is that I have to pull linchpin off right wheel to swap between locked and unlocked wheel.

Sometimes it's hard to line up holes in hub and axle.  Minor issue because I always run with both wheels driving but unlock to more easily run into/out of corner of garage for storage.

Loved the old unit's knob on hub to made pull-turn-push to lock/unlock right wheel.

Starts with electric or pull start every time - warm or cold.

Love the way the drift cutters store and deploy with just the loosening of wingnuts and repositioning bars.

Needed to lube the left/right chute adjust at the spring tensioned nut for easier cranking and jinked with the chute deflector control spring-tensioned cable control so thrown snow would not gradually punch it upward.

Only 'defect' I had when taking receipt of unit was that pop rivets holding hinge between chute and chute deflector were prematurely activated so hinge leaves were not flat against chute metal.

I  drilled out those after getting free replacements from Ariens after I called them.  Installed the new rivets while ensuring metal snugly clamped together.  Better than new.

Since you have what looks like a gravel/dirt driveway. I'd suggest two bags of shearpins and wrenches at the ready with your first season's snowremoval.

I have 1 inch crushed stone drive aggregate from Hughes' over in Bangor.  I throw stones on first snow!  Gotta watch out for house and cars, etc.  And throw them back onto drive in the spring.

This unit does not shear pins very often, even when I'm regularly tossing these stones. I have noticed, however, that I do have rock-scoring of paint/metal of barrel in which second-stage impeller revolves to throw out the chute.

Still, I'm going to fabricate new 'shoes' for barrel that are wider and flatter so that they won't 'dig' into my loose stones on drive, especially when turning.

Being six inches wider than old unit, I do have more trouble negotiating tight (less than 3 foot radius) turns but that's because of wider barrel and always-locked wheels and my brain still thinking I'm using my grandfather's machine!

I have yet to 'maintenance' this blower besides oil changes and lubrication and drive control tensioning.

I do brush off almost all snow/ice before parking after use and also dry inside of first-stage auger barrel and auger and second stage behind by parking with radiant 'milk house' heater facing unit for a few hours.

If you have more questions or more issues, do contact.

Happy snowblowing!