I decided some 5 to 6 months ago that I needed a new snow blower to replace the POS plastic lawn mower type I had been trying to use. The majority of the plastic parts including the housing broke. At the time I figured that was all I would need thinking the snowfall for this area would be fairly light. Well, it didn't cut it and often I'd have to have someone with a snowplow come in and destroy my driveway as well as shove a good portion of my driveway across the road. Picking up a new or used decent sized snow blower wasn't really in the budget for this year, but I figured come January, I'd purchase one. What I do is make a large withdrawal from my little nest egg after calculating my needs for the year. Of that all of my bills are taken into consideration including taxes and insurance. After that I decide how much to allow myself to spend a week and stick to that which still allows for the purchase of construction materials or other things on the side. 5 to 6 months ago, I started socking away $20 each time I went to the grocery store. Sometimes I would go as much as twice a week. Last weekend I had reached $500. I had also been watching Craigs List for a deal, and ended up with many that had slipped through my fingers due to my not having enough socked away at the time. Last week, There were several in my price range that were suitable for my needs. I'm not talking another one of those goofy looking lawn mower types, but a fairly decent sized one to handle whatever snow accumulation this area might have. So a 5 or more horse with at least a 21/22" clearing path or more. A new one was in the range of $550 to $600 plus tax for a 5/21. I noticed a 9 horse, 29" for sale for $475 over in Mt Airy NC in decent shape, so I called the guy to make sure he still had it. Yep, so I made the arrangements. After arriving I handed over $480 and had the guy show me the idiosyncrasies of the beast, and then he loaded it on my truck. Then I had the guy count the money and told him the other $5 was for showing me how to run the thing. Well, he wouldn't have a part of that and handed me back $40 saying to buy myself lunch or whatever. Too cool! The snow blower is a newer model Craftsman, 9 horse with a 29" clearing path. It still has the original sheer pins with the original spares. The users manual was also included as well as an extension cord to start the thing. Yep, electric and pull start! So while a snow blower wasn't in the budget for this year, I still managed to get one by socking away a little at a time making it in the budget! Taking the $20 off the top of every visit to the grocery store didn't sting, and it did add up pretty quick. AND, I'm on to my next large purchase. Add $40 that was returned to me, the $20 that was left over from the $500 and add one trip to the grocery store. So my little slush fund is up to $80 without any effort. Keep in mind, it wasn't a question of affordability. But large purchases tend to sting a bit especially when they weren't in the budget. This time around, there was no sting whatsoever. I'll post a picture of the beast tomorrow!
I think you will like that blower. I inherited an older Craftsman blower when I bought this house (I requested they leave it since they were moving to Virginia). It has a plug in for electric start, but I have never had to use it - starts right up after a couple of pulls, and not hard to pull either. Hope yours serves you as well as mine has!
As I promised, pictures of my new to me beast: And so the waiting begins for it's first use! Too bad the big snowfalls don't usually happen until February. But I like being prepared. I forgot to mention, it has 6 forward speeds and two reverse. Not bad for $440 if I do say so myself!
That looks in excellent shape! I think you won that one. One tip: if you're going to use it on gravel like in the picture, lower those adjusters on each side of the blower housing so the scraper blade at the back isn't digging into the gravel.
Most definitely! I read in the users manual something about the height for gravel being 1.25 inches, or something like that. I'll have to look again to be sure. Thanks for the reminder!
