Ok, it's almost that time of year! Last year was a doozie, this year will likely be a dud! But what the heck, I want a new snow blower. I currently have a piece of junk sears blower, the rubber blade type like a small toro. Works ok, but can't handle the 12" plus blizzards. I also have a wheelhorse tractor with a snowblower on the front, it can blow anything I will ever see. However, the tractor with the blower attachment installed is about 1/2 the length of my entire driveway, so it's a bit of overkill. Turning it around is a chore cause it's too long for the driveway. So I'm going to sell the wheelhorse blower attachment for 200 (going rate), sell the Sears unit for $50, and get me a small real blower. I have an Ariens splitter, which has been great and is compact. They also make a compact snow blower in a 22" and 24" size. Compact is important as I don't have much storage space. Anyone have experience with these Ariens units? Any good? Bad, ugly....?
Ariens seems pretty popular up here. Already snowing here. Rode my FZ1 home from work in a blizzard. My coworkers think I am insane...
I have an Ariens ST824. 8 horse Tecumseh engine, 24" width. I bought it from a family friend around 6 years ago, and he had it for a long time before that. If I had to guess, it's at least 20 years old. Never had a lick of trouble with it. Starts on the second pull, and if I'm lazy it has electric start. Only thing it doesn't have that I wish it did is a headlight. No chains, but I've never needed them. I can lock the wheels if I need extra traction. Just makes it a pain to turn around.
That would limit you to a 2 stage unit. (For a walk-behind) Normally I would say get a bigger single stage for the paved areas and use the wheel horse for the dirty work. You'd be hard pressed to find a more capable unit. Single stage units get a LOT better than the Sears unit you have now. I've used them in .5" all the way up to 12"+. A big 6-7hp single stage Toro will make a compact two stage look silly on pavement. Will clear twice as fast and do a better cleanup job too. Toro is the king in these units, big or small. Honda used to make a pretty nice little single stage as well. Two-stage units do a couple things well, they cut through deep snow and they throw snow long distances. And the smaller compact units are not nearly as good at those things as their full-size siblings. Seriously look at how much difference there is in storage space requirements before giving up on a full size two-stage. That said, Ariens has been doing the compact two-stage thing well for years now, as you know. And Toro has gotten back into the compact game with a smaller version of their excellent PowerMax blowers. I would give them a look too.
I'm looking for a two stage this year too. Something mid-range, my driveway is only 70' long one car wide.
I have the two stage Ariens 24" from HD with the LCT 208cc engine. All I can say is it has started first pull every time ( has electric start that I never use ), and has had no trouble clearing my roughly 90 foot U shaped gravel driveway the last three years. As of now I am very happy with the unit.
I have a small parking lot for a driveway. I've run everything from a shovel on up to a pickup with a plow on it. This is by far my favorite rig on this drive.
I have an old Ariens compact I bought used on Craigslist with a 7-1/2HP Tecumseh snow king engine. I'd guess it's well over 10 years old.. Still runs well and is well built. This year I replaced the carb aluminum bowl, gasket and the brass bolt with gasket along with the belt that drives the auger\blower.. Aside from this I have only ever changed the primer bulb(last winter) , spark plug and oil. I run full synthetic Walmart brand oil as it takes around 17 oz. of oil.. I also own an Ariens riding mower which is made by Husqvarna and so far it's been good.. I like the Ariens splitters but have never used one.. FYI this blower is rated for 10" of snow but it has done more.. Requires more effort though! Good luck! Ray
Thanks MM. You know, you got me thinking about just replacing the sears with a better single stage like the Ariens Pathpro or one of the 21" Toro units. It won't let me do gravel, but maybe I'll let my neighbor figure out how to do his own driveway. I've always done my neighbors driveway which is gravel, just cause he doesn't know how to use a screwdriver.... hmmmm The wheelhorse is an absolute TANK, and would have no problem clearing 2' of snow off a 747 runway! But the problem is, my driveway really isn't big enough for it and storing it with the blower attached takes up about 1/4 of my carport. Attaching and un-attaching the blower is a bit of a chore, so it's either on, or off for the season. Then if it's on, I can't use the tractor as a mule for wood moving in the woods when there is no snow. Let me ask you guys this, how good or bad are the two stage blowers when we get 3 or 4 inches of wet snow? This is when the single stage units are great, they sweep up right to the pavement. What do the 2 stage units do in this case? Cause thats the type of snow we get most often here on LI. I guess last winter got me thinking we need a better blower being it snowed 3 times a week, 2 to 3 feet at a time (at least that's what it felt like!)
Wet snow as in snowman/snowball snow? Two stages do pretty well with that these days. Sloppy wet snow is a problem for any blower but blowers with all metal chutes and/or smaller discharge openings will have the worst time with it. 3-4 inches of wet snow is much better than an inch. Most two stage blowers like to be fed material as it helps keep the throw distance adequate in the wet stuff. With single stage blowers, wide rubber paddles are good, thin strips of rubber attached to a steel framed beater.... Not so much. Keep to the pavement, and try not to wait until there is 12"+ on the ground and I think it would be hard for you to go wrong with one of the bigger single stage units.
