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

Big thanks to all of you who championed the ss blower, I'm a convert. I used to sneer at those little under powered sissy toys, but no more.
We had a good 8-10 inches of very light snow overnight and the plow had passed, so there was about 3-4 inches of denser snow deeper than the opening of the blower. Fired her up, let her warm up for a couple of minutes and started cautiously. WOW, she threw like a champ, at least 20 to 30 feet, and she's not even Boratified yet! Slowed a bit when pushed hard but never stalled.
She's an MTD 4.5 / 21 with electric start and the Tecumseh HSK845 (DOM 2002). Picked it up at the local recycle yard for $40 (I know I paid too much). The compression seemed good at 93 lbs., so I put in some gas and she fired right up. As soon as she shut down, the carb started to leak a lot. So I put her away for the summer & ordered some paddles, belt and scraper bar from fleabay (shoulda ordered the carb kit too).
So mid november I went to the local small engine shop and bought a carb kit, 2 ft. of fuel line, clamps, a shutoff valve and a carb to intake gasket (might have been something else). When he said $90, I thought he was joking, but no! Since I waited till the last minute, he had me (won't do that again).
Now I'm into it for about $170, so that takes some of the shine off my deal, but she throws so well and is so easy to handle, I can't be too sad. May try and take a video if I get the chance.

Did anyone else get snow?

Cheers
Paul

I have to cast my vote against ss machines. I tried, I really tried to like my recently new to me Toro CCR 3000 SS thrower...but it's not in the cards. Nothing wrong with the machine...got it as a backup machine and it throws snow just fine. But it was too much of a hassel to use on my very slopped doublewide driveway. Because of the slope I had to blow going side to side and with a thin layer of base ice underneath the snow it was hard to keep it going in a straight line. The Suzuki engine was plenty powerful though and threw the moderately heavy snow effectively. Maybe if I had a flatter driveway...

I just wanted to add my $0.02 on single-stage machines.

I had a 3hp Ariens SS322 and a 5hp MTD. Both were nice in small storms of fluffy snow. But I had a lot of trouble with even quite moderate storms (maybe 4-6", especially if heavier snow). I'd end up no longer making any progress (some snow would land in the driveway, and need to be moved again), even taking narrow cuts. I sold both machines.

I've gone back to just a 2-stage (10 hp, 24") for my driveway. I don't have to try and fit a second machine in the limited space in my garage. With the differential on my Ariens, maneuvering it around is so much easier than with my fixed-axle MTD 2-stage (reducing the ease-of-use benefit of the single stage). And it does great even in deeper, heavy snow, including EOD.

However, I have an electric Toro Powercurve 1800 for my deck. I love it, it's actually my second one. At ~25 lbs, it's easy to carry up the stairs to my deck, which is about 10' off the ground. And it performs surprisingly well. Yesterday I cleared ~16" of fairly light snow, with a crust of ice in the middle. I took narrower cuts, and let it chew through, then did a second quick pass to get what went over the top of the bucket. Unlike 2-stroke engines, electric motors typically make more torque as they slow down (and there's no centrifugal clutch to slip), so it will keep churning along even when under a heavy load. The performance/weight is very impressive, vs my ~50-60 lb gas single-stages, and moving/storing it is easy.

I wouldn't want it as my driveway machine. But to be honest, having it as a backup to my 2-stage is still nice, if the big one had a problem. It may not sound like much, but it's still much faster than shoveling.

I recently put my 3 1/2 y.o. (SS) Toro 221QR on CL, & sold it today. First 3 yrs., I thought it was fine. This year, it became increasingly hard--or impossible to start. Then, sometimes, when it did start, it'd die after 5 or 10 min., & then again wouldn't start. (I do have a hinky R. wrist, & was kicking myself for not paying the extra $$ for elec. start.) Naturally, (in Mass.), this was the worst snow season in years. Considering the small size, when it ran, it'd do "sort-of-OK" with deep snow, I guess. I've also owned 2 Ariens 2-stage machines. I think--you get "more for your money" with them. Way better build quality. I also hate how Toro nickels & dimes you on the SS machines. "Quick-chute"? $100 extra. Elec. start? $100 extra on top of that. (Last I looked).