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

I am looking at purchasing my first snow blower.  My local shop carries Toro's and Ariens.  I live in northern NJ (morris county) and we had a lot of wet heavy/icy snow last year, so the wife has finally given in to the purchase. 

Our driveway is about 125' long and most of it is a about a single car lane, but it opens up to about 3 wide at the bottom.  Also my neighbor's drive way is adjacent to it and its about two cars lanes wide in front of their house and one car wide between the two houses.  So I'd have to throw the snow straight ahead when I am in the section between the two houses.

I'm currenty thinking of purchasing the Arien's 920013 (Compact 22).  Do you think a 6 HP engine will cut it, or should I be looking at a 7 HP?

Yeah, I could be buying Honda machines but if I did, I'd feel that I was capitulating to the gougers.   Particularly the local dealers who smile while they're sticking it to you.  If I were ever to replace the Simplicity, I'd probably order a Yamaha.   Not locally either!   Yamaha appear to make an awesome snow thrower even though the h.p. ratings appear a bit low for the performance they promise.   Something like this would do just fine:


http://www.yamaha-motor.ca/products/products.php?model=3537&section=td&group=G#contentTop

 

When MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul) had a snow storm about a week ago, I thought my Honda HS724WA was adequate and did a nice job but I was a bit worried about it only having 6.5hp.  I was debating back and forth then finally gave my Honda dearler a call on Dec 7, 2010 and asked if I could upgrade to Honda HS928WAS.  The Honda dearler gave me a full credit and was very understanding.  I used the HS724WA once so it was in an excellent condition.  On that afternoon I got the 8.5hp HS928WAS.  When I purchased the 724WA a week ago, the dearler had eight HS928 in stock but they only had two left on 12/7/2010.  So there are a lot of people wanting high performance Honda snowblowers.  The machine is a bit louder than the HS724 so it went from a kitty sound to a lion's roar.  Last night and today, MSP got around 18" of snow thus far and it is still snowing.  The HS928WAS was very strong/robust and can blow very far even at the minimum throttle setting.  The 928 is much faster than the 724 so it was a worthwhile upgrade.  Do I still feel stupid about buying an expansive Honda snowblower?  Not anymore after today's performance.  It is a nice and powerful toy.  My family was not too impressed with me at first but after watching me clearing our driveway and neighbors in a heartbeat, they were truly impressed and glad we got one.  When you have a high performing snowblower, blowing snow can be FUN and enjoyable to watch.

FrankMA wrote:
Excellent Post FrankMA!! It's all in the way you work your machine into the EOD!!

woweh wrote:

So I have to admit that this was the first real snow the Pro 28 (28"  15.5 ft. lbs. [approx. 10 HP]) was up against.  It was 8" (1" slush under 7" of average/powder snow).  However, being a bit proud of my new investment, being neighborly and perhaps that it's early in the season, I was in a helping mood.  Around the block corner, there is a stretch where the sidewalk recesses about 5' under the height of an embankment.  This left a drift up to the top of the bucket and I nearly had to pull up the drift cutters!

The regular areas were usually done in 3rd gear (didn't ever try to go faster).  I went straight into the EOD plow-pack in 1st .  It DID tax the engine but not ever close to the point of truly bogging it down to a stall and the snow was being repositioned a nice distance.  No problem noticed.  Too bad it was blizzard conditions or I would have tilted the deflector up a ways to see just how far it could throw? 

Here's a possibly useful tip:  This machine is so evenly balanced it will "wheelie" as soon as it's dropped into gear.  So the technique I'm trying to remember is if I stop, before resuming the forward momentum, I need to pull it back 6" or so.  This way, after it "wheelies" upon engagement, it will return the scaper down to full contact and won't miss any snow.

OK, so here's my bit of caution:  As I mentioned earlier, there was an area I was clearing that had me VERY near the top of the bucket (woo hoo!!) for about a 10' stretch.  What bummed me out was that, as was warned to us about the friction disk, it can and will slip in extreme circumstances.  When I was in this deep snow, I was in 1st gear.  The engine was taxed but my forward speed had stopped.  I thought that it was because my wheels were spinning.  As I glanced down, I noticed my wheels were not spinning.  I seriously thought that the wheels would break free before the disk, but I guess these tires really work well, even without chains!  Hmmm...time for some technique.  And it was a breeze!

All I needed to do was to tilt the machine up a little bit (back to doing more "wheelies"), maybe an inch or three.  The machine then ate into the snow; I'd pull it back 6"-12" and go at it normally so I'd get a clean scrape and repeat the process.  It made quick work of a 20" drift!  Now as the machine is pretty wide, I am pretty happy just taking two passes on a sidewalk so I was going into this drift at full width.  I suppose I should try and see how it would go had I sliced off 1/2 to 3/4 of the width, instead?  I wonder if the Platinum or Deluxe machines would remedy this disk slippage as their weight is lighter and perhaps their drive wheels would give way, first?

What was weird about this was that one of my concerns before purchasing such an evenly (read...lightly) balanced machine was that I was afraid that the nose would climb when going into a deep mound.  So far I haven't seen this but I'm going to have to keep an eye on the wheels if I happen to get "stuck" in the deep stuff.

On a side note, my neighbor must have inherited an old (the "white" ones) Ariens this year.  I saw him doing fine with his but I can tell you I can outdistance him, handily.  Hoping that mine turns out to be working that well when it is as old as that old boy!  My 210R also did well on my back porch but I did work up a bit of a sweat pushing it (I'm liking the Auto Traction Control on that 300 pounder)! 

Time to change out my 5-hour oil tomorrow.

Since you were in some deep snow do you think some could have melted and got on the friction disk somehow? That can cause slipping if it gets wet.

" JohnWI wrote:

What bummed me out was that, as was warned to us about the friction disk, it can and will slip in extreme circumstances.  When I was in this deep snow, I was in 1st gear.  The engine was taxed but my forward speed had stopped.  I thought that it was because my wheels were spinning.  As I glanced down, I noticed my wheels were not spinning.  I seriously thought that the wheels would break free before the disk, but I guess these tires really work well, even without chains!  Hmmm...time for some technique. 

Another perspective: I don't experience the same kind of intense winters that some of you do...so I guess that makes me an amateur by comparison. I'm in central New Jersey, and our winters over the last 20 years have been anywhere from slushy / sloppy to snowfalls in the range of 12 to 14 inches, with drifts in the range of a couple of feet. Not alpine, but serious enough when it's bad to appreciate the difference between good and less-than-stellar snow blowers.

When I first bought my house close to 20 years ago, I also looked around for a snowblower, and really hadn't done much homework. I wound up buying a Craftsmen without really knowing what I was doing. Can't tell you the model number or HP, but at the time it "looked" good to me: giant front opening, nice controls and features - and it was about $650 at the time. Having no clue, I thought I was getting a bargain. After getting it home, it seemed like a good luck charm, in that we barely got any snow for the next couple of years. Finally, third year in, we got some serious snow. I filled the tank with fresh gas, checked the oil and fired it up. I was stunned at how poorly it handled the snow, especially if it was the least bit slushy (result of the road / driveway being a bit too warm when the snow hit). I was lucky if it shot the snow 10 feet, and if I only had to restart the thing 3 or 4 times before finishing the job. I had Sears check it out, service / clean it, and I was told it should run like new. The following winter I ran into the exact same experience, and finally gave up on the machine. I was ready to park it at the curb for the trashmen, but actually wound up selling it at a yard sale (full disclosure - but the buyer was convinced he could tune it up himself).

After a very frustrating few years with a mediocre machine, I started checking out reviews and local stores. Hondas were appealing, but seemed beyond my budget - until I stepped into a power equipment shop that was selling off the remains of their inventory and had an HS928TAS for sale in the mid-teens (don't recall the exact price). That was more than I had planned to spend at the time, but a significant discount off list, and I convinced myself (and my wife) that it would be worth the cost. Looking at current prices for the HS928TAS, I think I got a great price for mine.

Anyway -- snows have been more serious in the 10 or 11 years that I've been using the HS928. We had one winter with a couple of back to back storms and drifting that left parts of my 100 ft driveway covered in close to 2 ft of snow. I live on a cul-de-sac, and when the township sends a plow through, a couple of quick drives around the circle and I'm left with a 2 ft or higher wall of compressed snow at the bottom of the driveway, typically at least 2 feet thick at the base. This winter has been intense, with several snows already, with accumulations over a foot each time. Last week's storm dropped 14 inches on top of a few from just a few days earlier. So my HS928 has had to earn its keep.

The Honda has been, in a word, spectacular. I'm not a fanboy -- just appreciate a good piece of equipment when I get to use one, and I have no doubt there are other good ones out there. Just relating my experience with the HS928TAS. The only "maintenance" that I've had to do on this is maintain the oil, add stabilizer to the gas when it's not winter, and I've replaced the spark plug twice -- all in more than 10 years of use.

First start of the season may take a few seconds with the electric starter (luxury item!), but I find that for the rest of the season, only a single pull of the hand-starter is needed to crank it up. I find that, even when I've got 14 inches base, 2 ft or greater drifts, the snow plow mound at the foot of the 100 ft driveway -- I can clear the driveway completely, so quickly, that I've gotten into the habit of also clearing my next door neighbor's driveway as well. He's about my age, but has a chronic illness that prevents him from taking on tasks like this, and it's so easy for me to do (his driveway is also about 100 ft) that I can't see him having to hire a service to do this. I typically do both driveways, and both front walks (about 50 ft each). A couple of years, the snow plow did such a mediocre job that I wound up circling our cul de sac with the 928, cleaning up what the truck-driven snow plow left behind.

This year will be the first "repair" I've had to perform on the 928 in a decade. The blower shear-off bolt just gave way as I finished up after the last snow. I'll pop a new one in tomorrow, and should be on my way again after replacing this $8 part.

My first experience with the Craftsmen was so disappointing, and my experience with the Honda so positive, trouble-free and maintenance-free, that the Honda strikes me as a good deal. I know I got an unusually low price for it, so that helps -- but this machine still looks and runs like new, and I expect it to still be using it in another 5 to 10 years, although I might wind up having to replace some parts at some point. In the end, it's been a great deal for me.

- Jon

JohnWI said:  "Here's a possibly useful tip:  This machine is so evenly balanced it will "wheelie" as soon as it's dropped into gear.  So the technique I'm trying to remember is if I stop, before resuming the forward momentum, I need to pull it back 6" or so.  This way, after it "wheelies" upon engagement, it will return the scaper down to full contact and won't miss any snow."


I'm wondering if Ariens machines have varying balancing between the Compact, Deluxe, Platinum, and Pro series.  Why would they make Pro models that are balanced so much?  You'd think Ariens would not allow their Pro machines to have such a problem.

borat wrote:
Yeah, those Hondas are really nice, but they do indeed gouge a guy.

About the Yamaha:  Wow!  What a machine!  Even more pricey than Honda.  I think I'd put it in a museum just to admire it.  Where does a person buy such a blower?  Or service it?  Not in my neck of the woods.

If you live near NE Washington then you can across the boarder (near HWY 97) and buy a Yamaha (maybe next year) near Kelowna BC.  Kelowna is a nice ski resort town (Big White).

coasteray wrote:

You can only buy the $4,000 Yamaha in Canada, although I might be able to buy them through the Company I work for. I haven't tried. I've bought damn near everything, it would be a good challenge.  sadly we will never need one here.

Although probably not as satisfying as the time I had to get a specific Mil-Spec (remember mil-spec) Paint that was custom made 20 or so years prior and the only guy who could make it was retired. I did get it made and he came out of retirement just to make it.  Those were good times!