Leon, I've been looking at the Reist online, and I like it. And you've had no problem with heavy snow? For some reason I've always thought the big drum machines worked worse in the heavy snow, and the machines that had narrow blades worked better; but it looks like you've used this machine and it works well? What am I look at cost for the 2000 in $US? How hard would it be to mount to a front PTO drive?
===================================================================================
No the drum machines do fine in heavy wet snow they have a slower ground speed in deep snows and just go slower.
I will tell you that the single stage snow thrower we had on our cub never clogged ever and the snow was thrown 50+ feet in the air in powder and far away with the 12 horsepower Kohler it had with a small belt driven one to one bevel to bevel right angle gear box on the snow blower frame
powered off the front of the Kohler engine that powered the mule with a single V belt using a snubber pulley under tension.
The four Toro snow pups I have owned since 1978 never wimpered in heavy snows they just took a little longer as they were belt driven using a multigroove flat V belt to power the rotor paddle on all four snow pups. I use fluid film to prevent snow from sticking and it works wonders and the snow gets tossed much farther too.
I do not own a Reist snow thrower and I wish I did and I can and will tell you the physics are the same whether it is snow pup or a Riest as they use rotors for the single stage design.
The series 1000 runs between 450 to 500 rpm with the the 540 RPM rear mount.
The rotor rotates at 8.3333 revolutions per second at 540 RPM and the slower you go the farther it throws it as you are breaking up the snow pack in smaller chunks.
The rotor speed can be changed but with the snow you have up there I would not want to change the rotor speed as all you would need is either fluid film, slick sheet material or paint the inside of the chute and spout with EZ slide paint from Tractor Supply.
The rotor flights/auger flighting is shorter and pulls in only so much per revolution The rotor housing does not allow any more snow than what the rotor flighting lets into the housing in one revolution.
The rotor can be adjusted to close the gap in the rear of the housing and by doing that it throws the snow even farther as there is no snow left in the rotor housing. Both sides of the rotor push the snow to the center paddles and the center paddles throw it up and out through the chute and spout.
You can always line the chute and spout with slick sheet or spray it with fluid film to coat it.
The slick sheet works well for both types of snow casters.
And you could also have longer ski type feet made for it to keep it from digging in the gravel and
reduce the chance of swallowing stones.
I was given a quote for the 48" Series 1,000 Reist single stage with a PTO shaft, manual chute rotation, chute angle control for $2,750.00 Canadian Loonies last Wednesday plus shipping, VAT, etc.and the exchange rate is perfect for our side of the border=more bang for the buck with the United States Dollar.
I do not know what it would cost to ship it to Truckee but as I understand it Fastenal will ship odd items and AMTRAK ships freight also so that could be a viable option for you as AMTRAK still runs up and down Donner Pass and through Truckee.
They can build the series 1000 wider but that would cost more of course.
With NAFTA the shipping and paper work is much less of a concern as the borders are considered open and fluid as far a trade goes.
NOW:
The snow blower has many parts that are obtainable locally and they are:
1.The rotor bearings
All bearings and V belts are Metric.
2. The roller chain for the single width drive chain
3. drive and driven sprockets are single row tooth SAE sprockets
3. gear oil
4. grease
The thing is the snow you get up there is both heavy and wet-Sierra Cement/Cascade Concrete etc.,
and it takes time to get rid of it but if you get dumped on the first pass will be the slowest one as your taking a full width cut and you can take half cuts to work a bit faster and lining the chute with slick sheet or painting it with EZ Slide will only help you get rid of it faster and you will have no snow banks to close in on the road either.
I would call the Folks at Reist and talk to to them about your mule and provide them with all the specs and the Mid Mount PTO Speed as well as the dimensions and its ground clearance so you can have a definite idea.
Sending the a followup letter by registered mail with all the specs on your machine is always in your best interest too.
If your mule has a mid PTO it is much much faster than the rear PTO and they will have to use a reversing gearbox or chain drive to spin it backwards to power the front PTO.