Snow Blowers (Page 2 of 3)

I only had 4 hours behind the wheel on some rural Poconos two-laners but I can honestly say, a first gen WRX with snows would never get old when the white stuff is falling.

With a 2 car wide driveway and your climate, you need a 2 stage blower.  12 inches of wet heavy snow will paralyze a single stage unit.

I have 11 years on my Ariens mid sized Goldilocks unit.  I might have gotten away with their smallest 2 stage but occasionally wish I got the next size up.  I bought it from the local power equipment place rather than a big box store.  The local place sold it at the same cost and included free delivery, a tank of gas, and quick operating lesson in my driveway when the dropped it off.

Ok so local shops seem to have same price on 24" Ariens as HD ($799), however if I open an HD card I get 20% off dropping it to $719.  Local guy said it may seem like only 2 inches but don't get the 22, its too small for my driveway. 

I found a 3 year old Ariens ST724 on CL near my office, just waiting to hear back from the seller regarding if its electric start, sounds like it will fit the bill and hes asking $400.  Probably will go that way.

If the difference is about $200-$250, I'd go for the Ariens.  Better yet if you can get it on craigslist.

Wouldn't touch anything that is MTD.

Spend the $ and get something that will run when you need it to run. Trying to fix, or find parts for a broken snowblower in the middle of a storm is the suck.

Yeah I bailed on the MTD Pro, didn't even bother calling on it, was just getting frustrated.

Ariens #4 and 5 from craigslist finally panned out.  #4 was an 8524, 24" with an 8.5hp Tecumseh engine (real Tecumseh, this was a 2005 model).  It was a big boy but when I got there while it started and ran basically fine, it would not drive, the guy flipped it on its side and opened the bottom and we found the belt was worn, but also the shifter was a fight to get into any of the gears, and there was some funny "modifications" to the wiring.  It also visibly had never seen the inside of a garage so there was some rust, and a lot of oxidation on the motor.  He wanted $450 for it and yes I realize the belt is an easy fix (and this is an easily $1600 machine new) I didn't feel comfortable giving him that much in case there was transmission problems as well.  With no way to verify what I was buying wasn't a hunk of junk, I offered $300 but he declined and I decided this was not the machine for me.  For the price range I knew with patience I could find one that was good to go from the start, just a matter of catching it at the right time.

Next was a 2009 Ariens 520 with a 5 HP Tecumseh (also real) and only 20" wide.  Yes smaller than I wanted, but it runs and looks brand new, the guy was very anal about maintenance.  He also said to me take it to a shop have them check it out, if something is wrong bring it back and I'll give you your money back, obviously you know where I live and how to contact me.  Despite it being a little smaller than I wanted the owner was a solid guy, could tell me basically about every time he used it, so I felt like this was the right one to buy, $300 later its in my yard.  That and I am completely confident I could flip it for more if I decided it was too small in the end.

I picked up a cover for now and a set of the poly shoes for it to protect my bricks.  Also the guy at home depot gave me the missing ice breaker stick for free.  Going to give it an oil change and tighten things up and I should be good to go for the winter, thanks for the help everyone!

Just wanted to throw an epilogue on this story, because I never have luck with this stuff (or I just make dumb decisions) but this time it worked out.

So this weekend I decided to give it a tune up, clean up, and install my poly skid shoes.  So I drained the tank and flipped it up to remove the transmission cover to be able to tighten up the loose handlebar bolts.  When I opened it I found the belt to be severely worn and stretched.  Now this machine runs and drives fine and you would never know the belt was nearly shot.  So then I thought back to the other one I passed on, that the guy swore the belt was the drive issue and showed me under the machine how it was stretched and worn....... except the belt on mine is worse, and it works fine.  The feeling of (for once in my life) buying the good one as opposed to the piece of shit one, is immeasurable.

I changed the oil and put in a new plug (had to order the belt, comes Wednesday) and now she purrs like a kitten.  Score!

What do Californians know about snow? (shrugs) not much.

I like taking visitors around to some of the neighborhoods near Truckee/Donner where I grew up and see how long it takes them to ask "Why the $#% are there snowmobiles on everyone's second floor balconies?!?"

That's where they parked them last winter.

(edit:) After digging down to reach it.

Moral of the story...

Buy a snow blower in April not November!

While not as impressive, here's a couple shots of Super-Spouse's car last time we got attacked by that weird white fluffy stuff.

Sun dandruff, as we call it.   

I'm like a small child right now. I've already told work i'm not coming in tomorrow. might not wednesday either. Tomorrow I plan on going skiing. I love skiing in storms. As long as NH doesn't call a state of emergency and ban driving like MA already did that's what i'll be doing.

I love snow.

CT is shutting down at 9pm.   Yeah no fun in the fun car tonight,