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

My thoughts, more control with a stand alone  blower. What brought this to mind is my brother in law adding a blower attachment to his 10HP lawn tractor and thinks it will out perform a stand alone blower. The 10hp has to go into moving the tractor plus the blower gizmo thus loosing power. Maybe the unit he seen performing was a 20hp model. A ton of these things used in the bargain hunter. His thoughts are the price of a used tractor with blower gizmo less than a quality Toro or Ariens. Anyone here using a lawn tractor, and do they work well? Seems to me a 28" Blower would cut cleaner than a 44" attachment on a tractor. Easier to get past cars in driveway etc. What I do like about the tractor idea is it can be used to cut grass in the summer. Best to have seperate units for specifis jobs IMHO.

I know this is beating a dead horse, but I could resist because we have just been pounded with  3 snow storms. the first was 15" the second was 27" and just yesterday another 14". I stumbled on this site looking for a cab for my Cadet.

Here is my story:

I have a 3184 Cub Cadet (18 hp) with a 42" mower deck and a 45" snow blower. All I can say is: SWEET! I have about 1 1/2 acres to mow and about 12,000 sq ft of drive way.

I bought the mower new without the snow blower. When I ask the Dealer later about a blower, he said: "You don't need to spend $2400 on the Cub Cadet blower. I have a 28" Toro walk behind that would be more the enough". So I bought the Toro and was waiting for my first snow fall. When it snow I proudly open my garage door to about 8" of snow, fired it up and started out. It was throwing snow pretty good, but I have a 3 car garage and the parking area is 50ft x 45ft and the Toro only thew the snow about 25ft. So I knew I would have to blow twice a much when I got to the far side.

Well I never got there, I wiggled and prodded the Toro all the way to the end of my driveway (300 plus ft). That's when it quit! No blower, but worse, no drive! Had to drag that sucker all the way back to the garage to find the belt came off. put it back on, ran for 10 minutes, came off again. 6 hour later and over a dozen belt reinstalls, I finished. Called the dealer, they picked it up. They called me and said that there was a factory recall because of the belt and it wouldn't happen again.

Got it back in time for the next storm, worked about 30 minutes and the belt popped of. 6hours later, I finished, called the dealer and told him to pick up this piece of junk and take my Cub Cadet too and put the blower on it pronto!

The next snow storm was about a foot, but I was ready. This baby throws snow 50 ft plus and I am just sitting their riding along, no wiggling, pulling, just sitting there watching it do the work. I cleared the whole place in about an hour and a half including the snow bank for my mail box. I was a happy camper!

It is 5 years later now, and it is still going strong, takes about an hour to change from blower to mower. I have had 2 shear pins go, both were my fault for hitting a concrete step.

The last two weeks we have been hammered with snow, The Cadet just tunnels under the 30" of snow! I need to mount a higher plate on it! Yesterday was the best, I do my driveway the sides of the road in front of my house (because the town plow can't throw it up high enough to clear the snow banks).
 I noticed 2 of my neighbors shoveling, and wondered why they weren't using there blowers. I drove my Cadet down to them and they started smiling. The walk behinds could not get through the pile at the end of the driveways. No weight, tires would just spin, and they both sheared the pins trying.(and they have nice blowers) It took me a half hour to clear both of their 200ft driveways including the piles of snow at the end. That...was fun!

If I had to do it again, I would opt for 26hp. (call me Tim the tool man) arrh, arrh, arrh!

Final verdict: Their is no way a walk behind can even be compared!

doski531 wrote:

Hmmmm, not so sure about that statement. This walk behind can go through 30 plus inches of hard pack snow. And I can sneak it past my car in the garage. Also can be use on 30 inch sidewalks...

http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/55432-0-1.html

Can not sit on it though

rubinew wrote:
You should see if Yamaha has a sulky for it. 

I have a new JD x540 tractor that I was sorely tempted to get a snow thrower attachment. I decided to get the Honda, even though the Honda was significantly more expensive than the attachment for two reasons:

1) Here in Maryland, we tend to get 8-15" snows, with more of the 8" variety. I thought the tractor attachment was overkill for most of our snows

2) In terms of maneuverability, the JD is very nimble as a grass cutter, but with that big attachment up front, I knew I'd be able to do parts of the driveway faster, but then I'd need a blower anyway to do the brick walk or around the narrower parts of the property.

Now that said, this global cooling ;) seems to be bringing a lot more snow over the past few years. If this trend continues, I may look for a used snow thrower attachment and keep it in the attic of my shed and set it up for the winter. Especially as I grow more decrepit with age, the idea of sitting on a tractor is appealing. And 3 1/2 hours of muscling the Honda around yesterday left my shoulders a little sore (in a good way).

For now though, I am completely thrilled with the Honda.

(P.S. if you haven't driven a tractor with power steering, it will change your view on cutting grass)

tkrotchko wrote:
I have yet to experience power steering on a tractor, but hydrostatic transmission on a tractor was worth every penny.  No more notchy gated shifter, no more stopping to change gears, no more wishing the speed could be just a big faster or slower when trimming close to trees.

I had 3 tractors without power steering before I got my 522xi that does have power steering. There's no way I could go back to no power steering at this point!