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

Hello all!

I've been reading this forum for a while now since I purchased my first ever snowblower this fall and got really excited about owning this gorgeous piece of machinery.  I think Murphy's Law is in effect, because we have had hardly any snow here in Cleveland and I've only been able to use this beast one time.  With all my spare time, I've been thinking about ways to make this thing better than it is. (I'm a tinkerer at heart!)

Here's the lowdown:
I wanted the best bang for my buck.  When I started researching, a lot of the sites I read told me that the more power I could get, the better.  (In hindsight, maybe I would have have gone for smaller but better quality, but I digress.)  I have an acquaintance that works at Sears and was able to get the Craftsman model 88690 for $610 after tax.  I chose this one because it has the B&S engine as opposed to the Tecumseh and it has none of the complicated and easy to break controls, like a joystick or hand warmers.  I went with it because for the price I really thought it couldn't be a bad deal.

The thing looks great in the garage, the neighbors are envious and the one time I used it, it performed flawlessly.  But I can't leave well enough alone.  I have a problem.    ;-)

I learned about and immediately installed Clarence's Impeller Kit.  (Warranty be damned; from what I read on these sites Sears wouldn't help if I had a problem, and I am not afraid to tear this thing apart if need be.)

Now I'm looking at that plastic chute.  I'd love to replace that thing with a nice, tall metal chute.  And this thing needs a remote deflector cable too.  (See how my sickness takes over?)  My question is, I know MTD makes the Craftsman, and now what I'd like to do is find a similar MTD machine but with a metal chute and install it.  I've searched through the Troy-Bilt, Yard-Man, White Outdoor, etc... sites and am not having any luck finding this elusive part. 

Can anyone point this mad scientist in the direction of good metal chute that might fit my MTD machine? 
Thanks!

- Jay

    The older 924xxx Ariens series had an impeller speed of 1080 on 7 through 11 horsepower machines.   The distance spec was 3-30 feet.  On the newer 924's at least from 2002 have an impeller speed of 1310 and a taller chute and a distance spec of 40 feet.  Many might say that the better distance of the newer machines was due to the taller chute but its more is involved.  

 

The taller chute new chutes have a slow curve probably to optimize things but what are they optimizing, distance, throughput, or both?   I’m beginning to wonder about the tradeoffs.   At times it seems that they are designing for fresh snow 6-12 inches and the attack on the piles suffering with the newer machines.