Snow blower question

[Racer X]

I'd get a hair dryer and extension cord. Then use them to keep your hands toasty warn while on your couch. Wait til spring thaw.

[mrlynn]

Speedy wrote:
Looks like a fairly big area. You might want to consider one like mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMNJ9ht95Yc

Uses Diesel; goes and goes.

If you can, avoid any blower that uses belts. Once the belt slips, you're done. Heavy wet snow can stop a belt drive blower dead. When we have heavy (as in: deep) wet snow my neighbors don't even bring out their belt drive blowers, they just wait for me to come around. Or they shovel.

That's a tractor with a blower attachment. Might as well go whole hog and get a front-end loader.

/Mr Lynn

[tenders]

I was in exactly your situation with that wonderful electric Toro snow thrower in 2014, except we didn't move. We just had so much snow that winter that by mid-February it couldn't launch new snow over the previous piles of old snow, and I had given up on digging out the sidewalk that winds behind the house (garbage can route). It was also overwhelmed by the hard icy stuff the plow was leaving at the interface to the street.

Our driveway is two cars wide and two and a half cars long, and the Toro ran great for 11 years with practically no maintenance - maybe one belt in all that time. I gave it to my parents after replacing the belt, plastic blade, and metal scoop edges with parts online that cost maybe $60. They use it for their sidewalk but it doesn't owe anybody anything.

One of the reasons I had resisted a gas snow thrower was that I didn't want the hassle of annual small engine maintenance. But I had acquired a gas power washer so had basically signed up for it anyway. I do both engines' annual oil changes at the same time in the spring.

They no longer sell small engines that require manual or automatic mixing oil and gas (2-cycle). Which is too bad, because the four-cycle engines of today are noticeably heavier than the 2-cycles were. But the four-cycle engines are surprisingly good, even the Chinese ones. More than powerful enough, and amazingly easy to start with electronic ignition.

I ended up buying the most powerful single-stage thrower that Sears/Craftsman offers, with a 208cc Chinese engine, electric start, and a forward-pointed light.
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-21inch-20...188782000P

Single-stage throwers work like the Toro electric: one spinning blade both grabs the snow off the ground and flings it through the chute like a fan. Two-stage throwers use a corkscrew-like auger to grab the snow and a separate fan to launch it out. Single-stage are cheaper, lighter, smaller, and less complicated mechanically although they generally lack true self-propulsion. This one suits my needs perfectly and I would be happy to rhapsodize about it, but in my opinion a driveway three cars wide like yours likely requires a two-stage thrower.

You'll need to decide how wide, how powerful, and how fancy you want to get with stuff like number of speeds, powered chute controls, heated handles, protective awnings, cup holders, sunroof GPS navigation system, DVD player, leather covers, remote start.

Robert M is spot-on about fuel problems, and if ethanol-free gas is available in your neck of the woods, but all means use it. If you leave a four-stroke engine sitting in your garage with old gas all summer, the chintzy ethanol in the gas will degrade and gum up the tiny carburetor, and it will not be likely to start in the fall without a lot of disassembly and cleaning (or carb replacement). You MUST use fuel all season long to which a generous dose of Sta-Bil has been added, because you never know when the snow is going to end. You MUST drain the gas in the spring and run the engine dry; I dump a healthy couple of shots of Seafoam into the tank as it gets low to better pickle the engine. I have added about $20 worth of an inline fuel filter (not standard equipment these days), a fuel line tee, and a little drain valve to facilitate the removal of extra fuel in the tank before running it dry. You SHOULD drain and refill the engine oil after you do this, and it is easy to do when the engine is still warm. (I put the thrower up on milk crates when I change the oil so it's easier to drain into a milk jug.)

[max]

mrlynn wrote:
[quote=Speedy]
Looks like a fairly big area. You might want to consider one like mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMNJ9ht95Yc

Uses Diesel; goes and goes.

If you can, avoid any blower that uses belts. Once the belt slips, you're done. Heavy wet snow can stop a belt drive blower dead. When we have heavy (as in: deep) wet snow my neighbors don't even bring out their belt drive blowers, they just wait for me to come around. Or they shovel.

That's a tractor with a blower attachment. Might as well go whole hog and get a front-end loader.

/Mr Lynn
Why stop there?....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuX4G3znpDE

[Racer X]

[davemchine]

Tenders, thanks for all the useful info. Moving to a gas snow blower sounds like a lot more work than the electric!

[Speedy]

mrlynn wrote:
[quote=Speedy]
Looks like a fairly big area. You might want to consider one like mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMNJ9ht95Yc

Uses Diesel; goes and goes.

If you can, avoid any blower that uses belts. Once the belt slips, you're done. Heavy wet snow can stop a belt drive blower dead. When we have heavy (as in: deep) wet snow my neighbors don't even bring out their belt drive blowers, they just wait for me to come around. Or they shovel.

That's a tractor with a blower attachment. Might as well go whole hog and get a front-end loader.

/Mr Lynn
A front end loader isn't as nice in small areas like my driveway. And a skid steer is too hard on the driveways when they aren't frozen if/when you have to turn. A pickup mounted plow is quick and practical. I have used all of these as well as a road patrol for snow removal. But nothing beats a good blower for driveways and sidewalks.

[testcase]

I had its' BIG brother, the Toro 1128. Expensive but, very well built. It will last for decades and, does a great job, even in deep snow. :oldfogey:

[OWC Jamie]

mrlynn wrote:
[quote=Speedy]
Looks like a fairly big area. You might want to consider one like mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMNJ9ht95Yc

Uses Diesel; goes and goes.

If you can, avoid any blower that uses belts. Once the belt slips, you're done. Heavy wet snow can stop a belt drive blower dead. When we have heavy (as in: deep) wet snow my neighbors don't even bring out their belt drive blowers, they just wait for me to come around. Or they shovel.

That's a tractor with a blower attachment. Might as well go whole hog and get a front-end loader.

/Mr Lynn





You get good with it after a bit.
Nice when the snow depth towers over the front of your snow blower and great for the street plow mess at the curb but for the average typical storm a snow blower with a tall front is great.

A UTV with a quick attach blade and snow blower so you could pick which would be quickest today would be really nice.


I used to shovel my 255 foot driveway with turn-around by hand.

[Schpark]

I have an old Toro 8.5 HP with a snow cab kit which is really nice to keep the blowing snow out of your face on the windy days. I think it is from the 80's or early 90's and it just keeps going and going. The extra oomph it has over my mom's 5.5 HP makes a big difference in the heavier snowfalls.