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

Finally got some snow here so I took out most of the fleet to have some fun and put the machines to use.   Beautiful weather.  Crisp, clear with a bit of a breeze but not too bad.   First up is the Craftsman SS then the Toro 221 and finally the Simplicity.  Not too much snow maybe 5 or 6 inches but nice consistency. Fine, fairly dense and dry.  Here's a link to the video:

http://youtu.be/p7U9Jk8s8VM?hd=1

trouts2 wrote:
Yes.  Flat across the center with curved edges fastened with rivets.  In case you're interested, I'm using a $7.00 belt that I bought from NAPA rather than the $53.00 belt that Sears sells. 

Yes that's the EOD that was piled abough 18 to 20" high.  Lots of slush mixed with normal snow.  As you can see, I was leaning into it pretty good to keep forward momentum. 

It's amazing what doubling the horsepower will do for a machine's performance. 


Here's a pic:

   Thanks Borat.   The flat type opens up MTD models which use the HSK850.. 

    It's interesting that the 221 and Craftsman seem to be doing a similar job and possibly the 221 slightly less.  It would be nice to know just how much of a torque difference there is between the two.  The snow you're clearing seems to be fairly easy but neither machine sagging.  I did not hear any sag when you're doing shorter runs at the top of the drive with the Craftsman.  I would not expect that to happen for the EOD like in the picture I posted above but it looks like it's haveing a pretty easy time of thing there also.

At full throttle, it takes quite a bit to slow the Craftsman down.   As I've been saying all along, I'm thoroughly impressed with the machine and in particular the HSK850.  If the engine can sustain that kind of performance, and I'm confident it will, I'll be even more impressed.    The Craftsman's controls are not as nice as those on the Toro but other than that, it's more than a match for the 221.   Head to head, the Craftsman will definitely out work and out throw the Toro.  Now, if I were to jack up the Toro to even 4500 rpm, things would be closer.  However, at those speeds, the Toro  has far too much pull going down hill.   Even at the 4100 rpm setting it's at now, it takes some effort to hold it back.  Not a good thing on a slippery downhill grade.

Anyone looking for a good SS machine would do well with a cheap Craftsman/Murray and a piece of string.  

 

borat wrote:
I know how you feel.  Same here.  This was from 2005 on a pond in my backyard.  There are actually 13 of them total, some outside of the shot.  (sorry this is way off topic).

borat wrote:
Heh, words to live by

How do you replace the paddles on the Craftsman if they're riveted on? Do you have to grind/drill the heads off?

I just checked mine, it was snug fitting the tip of my finger between the paddle and the housing. I don't know how much of a gap is typical or acceptable. But given the apparent price of my paddles, I'm not replacing them anytime soon :)

borat and manjestic, you guys have some scenic neighborhoods, nice shots. We just got a whole pile of rain today, and no snow, at the end of January. This is just weird (the machines are feeling neglected). But at least it came in as rain, and didn't leave a big coating of ice on everything (a few degrees lower and this would have been a mess).

I assume the only way the rubber is coming off is by drilling out or grinding off the rivets.  Never done it and don't look forward to doing it either.  By the size of the rivets, replacing the rubber will require a much larger riveter than what I own.   Probably have to use short bolts, locking nuts and locktite to replace the rubber.  The paddles on the MTD machine I have looks pretty much the same.  I could pull the whole assembly off of that machine and put it on the Craftsman if and when it's required and rebuild the Craftsman rotor at my leisure.  Don't see that happening any time soon. 

Redoct: 

What machine did you say you have?  Was it a Toro 318?   No experience with them but being a Toro, it should be a well designed and useful piece.

I've also got a little gas powered Toro Power Shovel that pretty neat.  Looks close to being new.  Got it cheap too.  Needed about twenty minutes work to get it running like a champ.  It's a fun little machine too that hasn't seen any work yet this year either.  I used to use the power shovel on the deck but I put the MTD SS machine on there and neither have been required yet.  Too many machines too little snow.......

Mine is an Ariens SS322. I wish it was the SS522 variant with the larger HSK850, but oh well. Ariens doesn't seem as well known for their SS machines as Toro is, but hopefully Ariens' are still good.

The Power Shovel, is that the one that has fixed vanes to always blow forward & to the right, or whatever? I was impressed with my little Toro Powercurve 1800 electric, it did surprisingly well on deck duty, even with deep, heavy storms last winter. And it was very compact, and only about 25 lbs (as light as a 2-stroke SS is, they're still a lot bigger & heavier than an electric). My parents have it now, but there hasn't been any snow for them to try it on.

Ariens are famous for snow removal equipment but not so much for the SS machines.  At least not around here.  Personally, I've never seen an Ariens SS machine. 

The power shovel throws snow forward only.  Looks like an upright vacuum cleaner.  No side to side deflection.  However, for a little machine, it's fairly impressive.  Next snow, I'll try to do a video of the power shovel in action.  Actually, if you check Youtube, you'll probably find some examples.   Here's a pic:

RedOctobyr wrote:

Here ya go Red....note that it was only used once!!! How lucky can you get.

PostingID: 2818536415

Thanks for the info Frank I'll stick with mine for the moment, I can't beat the money I have into mine (free + a belt and carb kit, so ~$25 total). But I'll see how mine does if we ever get any deeper snow. If it's underpowered (rather likely), I'll probably try to boratify it, and/or keep an eye out for something inexpensive and more powerful.

Plus I think I'd need to be able to justify shopping for a different machine  I have my new-to-me 2-stage, my old 2-stage (waiting for some snow & demand on CL before listing it), and my new-to-me SS. If I announced I was shopping for *another* one already, with no real runtime on the "new" ones, I might have some 'splaining to do