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

I found Abby's Guide in my search for a snowblower this year.  I'm in NW Indiana, where we get some serious lake effect off the southern tip of Lake Michigan, and with any luck my shoveling days are over.  We'll typically see a couple snowfalls of 12" or more each season, with routine snowfalls of around 6" at a time.  I've got a 2-car wide drive, about 50' long and the EOD was a back breaker to shovel.

I wish I would have read more here before making my purchase, but I think I did alright.  With a little bit of research online and checking out the units in the stores, I was attracted to the Ariens brand for the all steel construction and I admit, I just kind of like the orange color.

I was gonna go with the 22" compact model, but after watching craigslist for a week or so, this Ariens 724 (7hp Tecumseh Snow King, 24") popped up and I jumped on it.  I think it's about 6 years old (I'm still awaiting a reply from Ariens on the exact manufacture date), it was used minimally, only has a few small rust spots in the impeller housing which I've already treated and it seems to be in good shape.  The oil in it was fairly black and had the milky condensation in it when I changed it and both the drive and attachment clutches needed substantial adjustment (I've a feeling the previous owner never bothered), but other than that I think I got a decent deal for $400.  I've been watching craigslist since I bought it and haven't seen anything as nice for the price yet.  I don't have a lot of extra width in the garage after 2 cars and the push mower are squeezed in there, so this was just about the biggest machine I could fit width wise.

I've done all the maintenance, lubrication and adjustments called for in the manual and fired it up again today to adjust the attachment clutch handle.  I first adjusted most, but not all, of the slack out of the cable.  Then I adjusted the attachment belt pulley to try to attain the 4-1/2" dimension from the clutch lever to the handle grip that the manual says I should have when the auger just starts to turn.  I adjusted it as far as I could, away from the belt, and the lever-handle dimension was still way up at like 6-1/2" when the auger started to move.  So, my only option was to readjust the cable slack to account for the difference.  Has anyone else experienced this with theirs?

The only other issue I've encountered is that after the engine warmed up today and was at full throttle, it would start to drop off then surge back up every 10 seconds or so.  I half wonder if this was because I only had a small amount of gas in it to do the tests/adjustments.  It did run dry shortly thereafter and it was getting dark outside, so I'm hoping that was the issue and I don't have to clean the carb come snow season.  The previous owner claimed he took care of it and would run it every now and again, but I don't know if he stored it with gas in the tank/carb or treated the gas...

Anyway, here's some pics.  What do you think, did I get a good deal?

Jason--I have the Ariens 724 circa 2005 model with the 7.5 Tecumseh OHV engine bought new in 05. I recently experienced the up and down revving engine thing myself. The machine had sat pretty much the whole summer (except for oil change in Aug) with old gas in the tank. When I started it for the first time to do some clearing in early Dec it rev'd up and down. I shut the machine down and waited for about a half hour (shovelling!) and started it again. It ran normally then. I went down to the shop I bought it from and asked them and the guy said it'll do that with old gas because the gas has lost its volatility. He also said to get the highest octane you can and no ethanol in the gas. I went out and got some fresh gas and mixed it with the remaining gas that I had and am kind of gradually getting the old out of there as the new stuff mixes in. It has run fine since. Oxidation is another problem if they haven't been run for a while. I'm curious, as I have essentially the same machine, how your engine is running now. These little machines are tough and it has cleared some rugged EOD that should have been cleared by a much bigger machine, by all rights, but it did it many times over even as undersized as it is.

BobSmith wrote:

When I got the machine (used) it only had enough gas in it to demonstrate that it could be started and was fully functional (a couple of ounces).  The previous owner was a certified mechanic and told me he never stored it with gas.  I only met him at the time of sale and have no way of determining if he was truthful in his account of storing the machine, though.  I performed all the routine maintenance in October and then ran it dry and drained the carb with the drain button on the bottom.  When I filled it up this season, I used fresh 87 octane gas with SeaFoam treatment (1 oz/gal) per the instructions on the can.  All that said, there is still a possibility of some varnish buildup I suppose.

It doesn't seem to hunt until it gets warm -- maybe 1-2 mins after initial startup.  And when it's put under a snow load, it operates just fine with no hunting.  It's only when idling, both fast & slow idle, that it hunts.  Two nights ago while blowing the drive, it bogged down and died on me.  It restarted immediately but started to bog again after a few seconds.  I quickly loosened the gas cap before it died and it surged back up.  I firmly tapped the cap with my hand a few times, retightened it and that seemed to take care of it.  I wonder if filling the tank to a point too high near the cap saturated the foam element in the cap and made it dificult for it to breathe.  I really don't know, I'm just speculating on this.  I think I will clean the carb thoroughly after the season is over.  I will experiment with the higher octance gas, like you mention, the next time I refill my cans.  I don't know where to find ethanol free gas though...?

You're right about them being tough little machines.  I think 7+ HP is quite a bit for a machine that size.  It really handled the EOD heavy slush well, I thought.  Sure, it pumped it out like sludge and not very far, but it hardly slowed at all and didn't miss a beat.  I haven't had the opportunity to use it on frozen EOD yet.