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

It's almost middle of January and less than inch of snow accumulation has fallen.   There's no snow forecast in sight.  The temperature is heading up to 50-60F this weekend.  I'm excited about upcoming the warm weather but really want to see some real snow to play with.

Just saying, that's all.  It's been quiet on this forum for the last 3 days.  Too quiet.  I'm going to shift over to collecting lawn mowers instead of snowblowers if this keeps up.  Anybody feels the same way?

FrankMA wrote:

Frank, I like the way your sparkling easy way :)

aa335 wrote:
AAAHHHH, rear wheel drive. Those were the good old days, hand brake slides on a fwd just aren't the same!

GtWtNorth wrote: For fun with a FWD vehicle, take 2 cafeteria trays and put them under the rear tires, and set the emergency brake, then find a large parking lot - preferably without any light posts, and do donuts to your heart's content.  Don't spin too much, because you can run your engine oil pickup low on oil, and blow up your engine, but it takes quite a bit !  

 (Don't try this a home !)

GtWtNorth wrote:
Yes, having both rear wheels spinning kicking up a rooster tail and being to control the rear end swing with the throttle, that's a huge difference from FWD.

Last night, we got 2 inches of snow.  Doesn't seem much, but it was the really heavy and wet kind, heart attack snow.  I tried shoveling it, had to stop every 3 feet to get the accumulated snow off the shovel.  It was soaking heavy.  After a while, I decided to get out the SS.  Even the Toro 421 had trouble pushing that stuff up the chute.  The engine never stalled and the paddles were still spinning, but the snow came out very slowly, kinda like 9 inch tube of Italian ice..  Quite impressed with the power of this engine.  It took a while clearing the snow, but I got it done last night.

I was glad I cleared the heavy snow because the next day, the temperature dropped and the wet snow freezed hard as a rock.  I guess I could take out the 2 stage and let the metal auger do the work.  I might have to do that tonight to help the new neighbors who doesn't even have any snowblowers.

We got about 6 inches of very light snow today, went out with the shovel to get some exercise. According to the forecast here, it looks like you guys in northern VT,CT, NH, MA & ME are in for a good one. They say anything up to 36 inches, good luck & enjoy!

aa335 wrote:
Usually around mid to late March we start to go to camp.  There's usually not another soul out there and we have the lake to ourselves.  By that time of the year, the snow has consolidated with the ice and makes for a flat, slightly slushy surface on the lake.   We have two 500cc four wheel drive ATVs that can be put into rear wheel drive only.  When the ice fishing is slow, we take the machines, put them in four wheel drive to get them up to about 30 mph or so on the ice  then we switch to two wheel drive, crank hard to left or right and apply some throttle.  Donuts forever  while sliding down the lake at speed.  Rooster tails of slush flying 20' in the air and ear to ear smiles.  Lots of fun. 

Another snow storm, another bust here in Southern New Jersey.   Looked outside this morning and only a dusting to maybe an 1" on the ground.  So far this year I haven't even put gas in my snow blower.

We haven't even lost power once this winter so I haven't needed our backup generator either.  This winter is becoming a real bust and I am having OPE withdrawal.

On the bright side I have the engine out of my lawn tractor and down the basement for a rebuild.  21 year old Briggs i/c gold  that was worked very hard and was even used with plow for about 10 years.  Other than a worn out set of rings (the engine was starting to smoke a little near the end of the summer) the engine looked great. 
Tanked everything honed the cylinder, new rings, lapped the valves and now its time to put it back together.

We got 2+ feet of snow so far and it's still snowing!  This is the first good storm we've gotten since the winter of 2010-2011 when we got one big storm after another. It's definitely a 2 stage kind of day once the snow stops which is supposed to be sometime this afternoon according to the weather guru's. 

FrankMA, nice to have that much snow to play with.  Enjoy!