# Lets chat about snow blowers (throwers)



## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Well after a 6 hour battle with my driveway post blizzard here in CT im in the market for a new snow blower. Ive got a driveway with some serious pitch to it and around 150' long. I gave my 8hp 24" snow blower the beatin of its life time and after falling on my face one too many times humping that pig up the driveway im in the market for a new machine. Im thinking about going with a tracked machine. Any one out there have any experience with tracked machines or clearing steep driveways?


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## superstretch (Jan 10, 2011)

My neighbor plows with a mini bulldozer.. its loud as heck, but the track noise is awesome. I run an old Ariens 7hp 26" that feels like it was made of 1/4" plate steel and ate the 18" I had with ease.. then again, I wasn't facing the 30" you guys had.

What about a 4 wheeler or attachment for a truck?


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## JR_Dog (Jan 18, 2012)

Depending on what your better half let's you get away with… and I assume you mow your lawn in the summer so that helps for justification considering it comes with a 54" Mower deck too "Less time on the mower in the summer and snow blowing in the winter - more time with the family" ... when I lived in VT I got away with ordering a John Deere X520 lawn and garden tractor with a 44" snow blower, wheel chains and 4 - 75lb weights that connected to the back. I had an approx 800 - 1000 foot driveway and I was able to clear that within an hour or so; certainly able to clear a center swath for a car to drive through with two passes - 10 to 15 minutes. I know that extra cash would probably be better spent on a new woodworking device but for the sake of staying true to this forum topic I can't tell you how nice it was to see the snow pile up and not have to worry about it. I hesitate to say it but at the time, around 2009 - 2010, it ran me around 8 to 9k; like I said probably tough to not channel that kind of funding approval from "the boss" towards woodworking devices. But ya never know…. Stay warm my brutha….


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## Mosquito (Feb 15, 2012)

We just had a snow thrower, when we lived in WI for 11 years, and still only have a snow thrower since we've been living in MN for 15 years. When we are supposed to get heavy snow with large accumulations, we would just go out and snowblow after we got about 6" or so (did I mention that it's a snow thrower?). Yes you look a little off when you're out there snowblowing in the middle of a snowstorm, but hey, sure beats shoveling the 18" the snowthrower can't deal with.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

As much as i would love a plow on the jeep wrangler i dont suspect that vehicle will be around long enough to get good use out of it. It'll probably get sold to help off set daycare for babystef. 

Ive beat around the idea of a quad with a plow but with the steep driveway im not sure it will get up it all the time but it would serve me well in a ton of other tasks around the yard like hauling firewood and brush. Pricy option though.

The tractor with a plow or snow thrower is also a tough one to sell to the wife. The mowable area of the lawn is rather small, enough that it only takes me about an hour with a self propelled walk behind. The majority of our "yard" is in fact trees and uncleared.

I know that this storm was kind of freak in nature but even with a little 2" dusting i have to clear the driveway to make sure the wifes mazda 3 can get out … and back down in one piece too. Ive gone 4 tires off the end of the driveway and it sucks.

I think im really looking for almost a commercial snow thrower (Mos). Im thinking tracks because when i lose footing toward the top of the driveway and slide all the way back down with the snow blower i get kinda cranky.

I dont mind making a few passes like Mos suggests during big storms just didnt have that chance with this latest blizzard and it dumping 18" in 5 hours overnight.

Here's a pic of the driveway:


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## superstretch (Jan 10, 2011)

A very well-reasoned argument. I grew up with a driveway very similar to yours and used a 98 Polaris 500 ATV to plow.. I usually ran without chains, but an incline was no problem for it.

Best of luck!


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

chrisstef, I have a similar sized driveway/parking lot like you have only it's downhill into the street.

I have a 24" Poulan Pro. nothing extreme, but it's a workhorse. it just blew snow twice it's height in the last storm without a hiccup and it's a 3 years old or so. As long as the chute was above snow level ,it could keep on going (not ideal as the motor is covered in snow - but as a test run it was performing very well).










I always toyed with the idea of a Quad with a plow attachment, but we're renting, and well… other than joy rides, I can't really justify it at this point. but for snow as deep as we just got, I wonder if a quad could handle the amount of snow (plowing power as well as it's own traction)

what I like about the snow blower is that it's narrow enough to get into tight corners and it doesn't push the snow towards the house, but throws it away to where you want it.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Purp - thats about the same size im running now, yours might ahave a little more height to it. It went through it (30" of snow) but it didnt like it. Ill tell ya going down the hill its a champ but going up the hill its a pig. There's no weight in the front and it wants to roll back on me (which it did, and i fell on my face, a few times). Mines a MTD that came with the house 4 years ago when we bought it. Plastic chute, bad muffler placement, and lame tires. It has served me well up until now but im feeling the need for something a bit stronger.

Im thinkin somethin like this :


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

oh wow - tipping over - YIKES, definitely nothing I've experienced with mine - unless I'm intentionally tipping it backwards to make a sharp u-turn.

I'm liking this one (remote chute height control as opposed to playing around with the plastic knob):









I wonder if those wide traction belts with the larger surface on which the weight is distributed would cause the blower to go over snow as opposed to burying it in (which lowers the snow intake to the ground)


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## Sodabowski (Aug 23, 2010)

.oO(Am I the only one around here thinking in terms of "napalm"? )


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Purp - thats a good observation with the tracks. I would guess that if the auger is still chewing away at the snow and not clogged it shouldnt ride up but there are some pics of it climbing a pile. Leaving a 1/2" of snow on the driveway is more dangerous than leaving it all there IMO. The weight of this beast is around 250 lbs though which should keep it grounded. That JD is pretty good looking and im a green kinda guy. Im gonna look into those.

EDIT - Looks like thats the 1028E model Purp. Heated handgrips too. Boss. Not bad at MSRP of $1299. I bet if i hold out until the spring i can catch it on sale.

Soda - ohh i thought about it. 15 gallons of gas and a match might have alerted the fire dept. all though.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)




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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Whats the running cost on a rig like that Don? Grandbaby taking it for a rip or what?


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Tracks require a lot of maintenance. My POS snow blower finally ate it last weekend too. My replacement will be paying the guy down the street who owns a landscaping/snow removal company to do the work for me while I sip coffee and play with the kids


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

I know that a new track will run your around $100 but if theyre anything like the ones on a mini excavator they should just need a bit of grease every now and then to keep proper tension. Let the grease out to suck the wheels in, fill em back up to expand. For somethin that runs maybe 10-12 times a year im not terribly concerned about throwing one or maintaining them but certainly something to weigh in grand scheme of things Joe. Good thought.


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## ShaneA (Apr 15, 2011)

Oh my goodness, this sounds expensive. Get the neighbor kid to do for a Ten spot : ) Gotta toughen up the next generation, teach them about values and hard work…


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Most people do not maintain them - which is why you often see them used on CL in need of repair. Have you considered an ATV and a plow or a PTO attached snow thrower? You get a bonus summer time toy as well. I know a few people that handle snow that way.

You should also look into something like this


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

nice!

you definitely have time to start saving for something like this before the next big storm hits


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

price it out on kabota.com. Add and remove implements to see cost. I got 0% financing. I priced used ones and it just wasn't worth going used. These things hold value like a Harley.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Shane - thats funny. I remember walking door to door shoveling for money as a kid. People wont even walk down my driveway on halloween for free candy. Seriously. I think ill start babystef on a training regimine soon just so hes strong enough to work that shovel.

Kids now a days wouldnt know a hard days work if it took a dump on their head. We had a 19-20 year old kid working demo for us and ya know what he told his supervisor when asked to remove 12" x 12" x 10" concrete blocks of slab? "If i start doing that this morning im gonna be really tired in a few hours" .... i sh!t you not. My supervisor jumped in the hole and flung like 8 blocks 5' away and told him to go home.

Joe - send that guy to my house!!! As far as the quad and tractor … see post #4. Probably not in the cards.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

I had to completely gut an 8 unit apartment house once. The plaster and lathe type of gut. I went through 38 guys buy the time it was gutted. The record was 7 minutes. Had many less than an hour. A few 4 hours, a few a few days. So I know what you mean.


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## mtenterprises (Jan 10, 2011)

The idea of a tractor or ATV with a plow or blower is a much easier sell than a single use machine as a snowblower of any size. For the tractor or ATV there are all kinds of accessories that you can get to make things easier around your property. Trailers , lawn rollers, various types of mower attachments, plows and blowers. You can even get an addon 3 point hitch that will use smaller farm tractor accessories.
MIKE


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

And saw mills. Ok, not really a tractor accessory, but really cool to go with it.


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## Mosquito (Feb 15, 2012)

could always do it the Top Gear way





granted, it didn't work out so well for them, either, but hey, it'd be fun!


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Don - that plaster and lathe demo is bottom of the barrell stuff. Nothin but hard work required. We just did a 3 story 8,000 sqft building with plaster on terra cotta. Definately seperates the men from the boys.

Mike - its the upfront cost that hurts. I agree that a new toy with endless attachments sounds really awesome but that money tree aint producing like i want it to.


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## Gatorjim (May 12, 2012)

I'm sure glad to be living in Florida


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## BentheViking (May 19, 2011)

chris i meant to comment on this a few days ago, but my dad (in West hartford) deals a bit in used snowblowers. He sold off everything from last summers collection, but he might be able to help you out this coming offseason


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## cjwillie (Sep 6, 2011)

Last winter I found a 42" snowblower attachment for the front of my old Wheelhorse tractor. I don't know why I didn't find one sooner. I have a plow for the tractor too, but that thing beats you up. A lot less abuse on the body with the blower and there's no more big piles of snow at the sides and ends of the driveway. Just have to learn to work with the wind!


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