What to look for in a snow blower?

Sounds like you have more to plow (shovel or blow) than the average urban lot but if you don't have much to do I recommend the smallest Toro. I've got a corner urban lot with a short driveway. For the last 5 years the tiny Toro has been the little engine that could.

ChipTam

the problem with a plow,,,the car has to move before you get to use it. A snowblower could get around the car,,,then move the car and finish.

I moved to CT in late 95, built my house & moved in Aug 96, bought a blower fall of 96.

It's nothing special, MTD 8 hp, 26", 6 speed, 12" auger, 16" intake chute. It has done everything I have asked it to do and then some. I've replaced a few shear bolts & the scraper blade (beefed the new one up with a piece of 1/4" steel flat bar stock) and changed the oil a few times. At the end of the season I drain the tank, run it dry, put a little oil in the cylinder, roll it over a few times and store it. This winter I put fuel in it, let it sit 5 minutes for the carb to get "wet" and it popped, fired and started on the very first pull.

A self propelled is almost like cheating. You can put the snow exactly where you want it, you don't have huge snowbanks to deal with, the pavement does not get scratched up from plows, tractor chains, etc.

I have a 7'4" Fisher Homesteader poly plow on my s-10 blazer ZR2. During one huge storm plowing my girlfriends mothers drive, I got stuck 1/2 way down her 150' drive. 22" storm but there was a >3 foot drift in the middle of the drive. I hit that and stopped dead in my tracks, compacted the snow I was pushing and compacted the drift even more.

I came home, threw the blower in the back of the Jeep Unlimited and went back. 2 hrs later her driveway was down to the tar.

That's a huge area to blow, unless you've got a tractor you can put a 6ft blower on I'd lean more towards a plow. If it were me a 7.5 or 8ft Snoway or Boss plow on the F150 is what I'd choose.

70 ft wide?

that is big,,,have a riding tractor to put one on?

Honda or Toro.

Or Ariens.

I got a lightly used 826 Toro this fall, it really fires the snow. All three have pretty good reputations - Honda likely at the top but you'll pay for it. I put chains on mine and not much stops it - it will even clear watery slush.

I wouldn't use a plow on my truck - it won't take many snowfalls before you're up against snowbanks with no place to push it. But that depends on the layout of your yard & driveway & how much extra room you have.

With that size of lane I'ed lean toward a plow a real plow
like a western , snow boss and others They come with a quick
mount now on off 2 minutes. I tried a 6ft. snow blower on my lane
150 ft 33 ft wide large parking area at the top worked ok but with out
heated cab was as cold aas it can get I now use a 7 1/2 ft. Western
On an GMC 1/2 ton . Because I can take it off in 2 min. it stays home
when I use the truck and is reinstalled when it snows. We have a little
over 5 ft. of snow so far this year have had to blow 11 times and from
the look of things again tomorrow I have plowed more this year than I
have in the last 10 and it is just the beginning of Feb. Hate to see what
March is going to bring

I got a Simplicity in '86, 8 hp 24 wide with chains. Two stage of course, electric start. Anything less than 8 hp won't throw the wet snow. Still going strong.

Toro powermax

although 40x70 might be bigger than the strip mall down the street and a plow might actually work a lot better
that's not so much a driveway as a school playground

I used a 30 some year old Toro for a few years that I bought used. It did a decent job, but not the greatest. The Toro seemed like it was barely hanging on, so I decided to get a new blower. I bought a Sno-tek 24", made by Ariens, the price was around $600. This has been a good winter for testing it out. We haven't gotten any deep snows, yet. I think the deepest one we've gotten was about 5", but they have been numerous. Nothing I've blown has bogged this blower down in the least. I plunge it into 2' piles of blown snow and it just eats it up and spits it out. Last night we got 2" of sleet/freezing rain and it was hell pushing that blower through that stuff, but when I did, it broke the caked sleet up and shot it out like ping-pong balls. It was rough, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without the blower.

My driveway is fairly large, I can park about 6 cars in the parking area and the driveway is about 40' long and on a fairly steep hill. It was kind of scary going down that hill with the old Toro, but the new blower handles it, no problem.

So like I said, we haven't had any deep snows yet, but I'm very impressed with this blower, so far. One thing I did notice about other blowers I looked at, after buying this one, is that they all had plastic chutes. The Sno-tek that I got has a metal chute which I like, but I just went to their site and it looks like they're now putting a plastic chute on it.
http://www.sno-tek.net/products/sno-tek-24.html

If you have the money, I would suggest going with an Ariens, but the Sno-tek blowers seem to be made well for what they cost.
I've only had this thing for one season though. Who knows, I may be cussing at it in 2 years.

I have a Huskee made by MTD. It is a five horse, 2 stage, and 24 inch wide. We have had for 11 years. I have had no issues with it. We have had approx 85" this year. I clean an area about 75' x 20'. I strongly recommend a two stage. That being said, this year makes me want a plow on my Silverado.

If it is quality that you want, Ariens, Toro, Honda are on the top. Ariens about pioneered the walk behind snowblower. Toros are also well built. MTD Buys a name brand and then sees how cheap they can build it, so if it is built by MTD expect a cheap machine.

Greg

1980's Bolens.

Wildo said:

1980's Bolens.

Click to expand...

But the NEW Bolens are MTD, they bought the name, Just like the NEW Cubs.

greg13 said:

But the NEW Bolens are MTD, they bought the name, Just like the NEW Cubs.

Click to expand...

You're right, MTD now makes crap. Someone may have an old MTD that runs great, but you have to be very careful with their newer stuff. For all I know my Sno-tek was made by MTD. I'd rather it had been made in China, haven't had a chance to look yet.

We have a Craftsman from about 1995, two stage (auger and impeller), 24" wide, 5 horsepower, NOT self propelled. I couldn't ask for a better snowblower. So much easier to maneuver than a self propelled, and less parts to break. It actually isn't hard to push at all, and blows snow very well, could probably blow it 35-40 feet with the chute aimed up. I don't know if anything similar is available now, but worth looking for. Definitely go for 2 stage rather than single stage which is basically a single revolving paddle.

My driveway is about the same size as yours. I started with a Simplicity 5hp/24". Not enough. Then I went to a Craftsman 8hp/26"? Still not enough. Was driving along in June a few years back and a snowblower parked at the end of a driveway with a for sale sign caught my eye....... It was a monster Husqvarna 13hp/32" machine. Electric start , heated grips, tight turning triggers, all lever controls for the chute, cast iron auger gearbox. A beast of a machine that got loaded in the truck right then. That mess at the end of the driveway from the plow? It laughs at that. Rule number one, bring enough machine. It weighs a lot. This is good and bad. Bad because it will toss you around if you don't pay attention. Good because the weight makes the tires bite very, very well to push it through the deepest heaviest snow with no drama. I can't really imagine a winter storm that this won't handle.

Ariens, Husqvarna, Honda would be tops on my list. Avoid the box store machines, buy from a power equipment shop, or better yet, used in the middle of summer..... Look for the upgraded cast iron auger gearbox, its for commercial duty and will never break or wear out.

The best units I found were Honda, but I don't think they can justify the price. I get around it by buying used and save money that way. Ariens has gone downhill since the 80s, as have all the makers in my opinion, but they are starting to rally. I'd be interested in a chain drive model. I had very bad luck with the discomatic (slip-o-matic) drives but I can understand their appeal. I was always impressed with Simplicity.

If you're going to buy new I've found a marked difference in quality when comparing a snowblower from the same manufacturer depending on where it was sold. It used to be that an Ariens was an Ariens, but no more. HD and Lowes, (and Sears etc) get together with the manufactures for "exclusive" models that differ from what you would get from your Stihl or Husky shop. I think it's worth a few extra hundred for a "real" one if you're looking for a 20yr machine. However, it changes so fast I don't know if this is even true anymore. All the good stuff is getting cheaper (think furniture, plumbing fixtures etc) and the cheap stuff is getting better so my willingness to put a premium on quality is diminishing. I'd bet a machine from the 80s is better built than a brand new one.

One thing I like about the Honda is I've never had to adjust a belt. Heavy, wet, sopping wet snow still flies out of it. Never had the chute clog once. I've had two different machines over 15 years, both were used when I bought them and I beat the heck out of each. The first one I resold after 7yrs for 75% of what I paid for it. Never one problem except a sheer pin or two. The second one is 5yrs mine and again, other than shear pins nothing but fluids. My driveway is 400' long about 6000 total. Add up shoveling stairs, the doggie trails and path to the wood stack and I'm done in around an hour regardless of what fell down from the sky.

The down side for a plow versus a snow blower is that with a plow the driveway keeps getting smaller every time you plow. Unless you start plowing well onto the grass early on (and making a mess) if you have a heavy snow year at some point you need to hire someone with a loader to push back the bankings. With a snowblower this isn't an issue as the snow ends up quite distance away.

With regards to size you want the widest cut you can afford as the speeds on most blowers are set up for a slow walk. Thus the only way of speeding up the process is to cut a wider swath.