Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Snow blowers. School me.

Lennie,
Before you get talked into the biggest/baddest here, do you have a significant other that may be using it?

I dropped a grand on a new husquvarna a couple years ago. Not the tracks, but has reverse and light and heated grips. Which all sound stupid, till their not. lol I can't remember the width, 27 or 30 something like that.

Every year so far it's had to go in for repairs for [bleep] coming apart inside. When it works it's awesome. Gets into places I can't with a plow. To do over I'd buy another brand.

If he buys a John Deere tractor and their snowblower for it, I would bet on it being the worst idea ever! I have a 25 HP JD tractor and know from a few years experience that the blower is very poorly designed and that it is not robust enough to handle winter in Minnesota. If I had to only move a couple-three inches of snow on a straight paved surface and didn't have to do it very often, MAYBE, but there is no way you could talk me into repairing mine one more time even for free parts.

The TroyBilt may be a beast and overkill, but it does not take me any longer to blow it out than the JD with the 42 inch blower did and it is only a 24 inch wide cut. If I had to add the down time and the repair time for the JD to the snow blowing time, the TroyBilt will come out with a huge advantage in the time it takes blowing across a couple years.

My suggestion is to live where you won't need one.

[quote=Redneck]


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/quote]

Valid point.

I have a John Deere Commercial grade 28/10 and it laughs at snow. It begs it to F'n snow on my driveway. But the SOB weights like 280 pounds. My son and I are the only ones that can manage it around the yard. It's a beast.

It's now 10 years old and not without maintenance.

My neighbor has a single stage toro that also seems to laugh at snow. It sounds like a bumble bee when he clears the driveway..but he clears the driveway and has a lot lighter machine.

Miles, which blower did you have? The 42"single stage?
Like this?
https://www.ebay.com/bhp/john-deere-snow-blower-42

If so I'll have to say my experience is almost completely different.
1999 325 / 42" single hasn't required anything except shear bolts till now.
Edit to add; Cutter bars twice, and it's due for an auger housing replacement. Too many rocks in a 320 ft driveway.

Of course it's a beat up half broken old pos now, but I couldn't have asked for better service for the twenty years I've abused it.

Plus one on this.

A friend got a two-stage Honda with electric start and hydrostatic drive, the LED lighting is awesome too! HONDA LINK

Unlike when he had an old-school brute of a snowblower, his wife likes this machine and can handle it easily. She often gets the driveway done before he gets out of bed. Win-Win!

Worth considering!

John

Always best to get recommendations for things that have been out of production for a decade or three....

Son, my (fill in the blank) has been throwin snow since before you could walk!

I am in the, need it for the wife group too. Ariens Deluxe 24, I think.....

Oh yeah? The boss squirrel in my yard could whip yer boy in a fight! So there!

Just a hint. Find pure gas, real gas with no ethanol. That ethanol fuel in these small engines is bad enough when it's warm out, in the deep cold it really sucks. Keep some starting fluid on hand. Also get a coil of starter rope and the tools to change it. Take my word for that. It might not break for years but when it does you find out how bad chit can suck. Even if you have an electric starter do that, cheap insurance.

Stoutest Huskie or TroyBilt one can afford.

Get one with at least an 8hp motor & an electric start. Track drive or tires with chains---no real difference IMO. Mine has 6 forward gears & 2 reverse gears------I usually just use 2nd gear for blowing snow & the slow reverse gear. I've got an Arien. I like it. I would also look at a Honda.

I bought mine form a guy moving to AZ. It was only a couple years old, I paid $600 for it.

When you get one----buy extra shear pins. Don't wait till winter. They seem hard to find when you need to replace one----especially when a major snow storm hits.

Mine ain't quite that fancy......or big but I kin ride it!!





And ya don't mess around with Jim.........

That's how we roll as well.

Buy any snowblower you want as long as it's a Toro.

Huhmpf.. I learned early to blow snow DOWN wind... Try it - you'll like it!

I guess I’m old school. My Honda has electric start. I used it once just to see if it worked (used. machine). Always used the pull start. But, being a Honda, it was easy peasy.

I've had five. The Toro little one seized the engine, but started again with the electric start when it cooled down so I sold it to the boss I didn't like.
The 8 hp Toro was an old one with a lower chute, but it threw snow farther than my buddy's 8 hp Ariens head to head. It needed electric start with that B&S engine.
The 8 hp John Deere at a rental is a strong machine, but only because it has that Tecumseh engine. Electric start on this one.
The 8 hp Simplicity is about the same as that John Deere because it too has the Tecumseh engine and electric start needed for a tenant.
The 9 hp Honda 928 with wheels instead of tracks here at the house is the best snowblower that I've ever used. It will throw snow an honest 50' and blow slush when other machines jam up. It starts first pull even the first time in the fall and I've NEVER had to use the electric starter. I watch the guy across the street struggle pushing his Ariens and I've seen an Ariens hood rusted through with holes in it from gravel. That Hydrostatic drive Honda drive has been terrific and zero maintenance ever on that machine. Not so with my other ones with the rubber disc mechanical drive systems. The Honda does have two easily replaced sheer pins, one for each side of the main auger, but sheer one and it will still blow snow. You can blow little snow with a big blower, but you can't blow big snow with a little blower. Safer to get it way far away from the end of the driveway and that takes hp, weight and a geared up second stage. You won't like the price of that 928 Honda, but you will really like the machine.