RichM752
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2012
- Messages
- 398
- Location
- Mount Shasta CA
- Tractor
- Kubota L47TLB, Two Labs, and a Martin OM28
My neighbor climbs stairs to blow a large deck area with his Honda blower with tracks.
Not sure where you are in NB, we're West of Moncton. We lost every bit of snow we Had, also lost all the hard pack on our gravel drive! Ugh
Haven't used 'em myself, but I can see where they'd have advantages. Key would be reliable and easy to use drive-controls. Until you get into really big walk-behinds, tire-chains for wheeled units are a good idea up here, to deal with the limited contact area of wheels.\
I only used a walk-behind for 2 years, but never had one issue with traction (without chains). In fact I intended to buy chains, assuming I'd need them based on 2WD GT experience and the dealer convinced me to try without them.
I always had more traction with the walk-behind (Ariens Pro 32) withOUT chains than my 1972 Case 444 WITH chains (8.00-16 tires - lots of contact area relative to size/weight). Tire technology has come a long ways.
We also have an Ariens Pro 1124, wheeled.Never having used a walk-behind I have to ask - what is the advantage of the tracks? I usually think of agriculture where they are great for traction and flotation but flotation is certainly not what you are concerned about and I would think a grip tire would give you plenty of traction. Plus I would think the tracks would be harder to turn with.
Yep we'd have the exact same weather then lol. Just checked, yes they're still calling for 10-15cm Wednesday. Hopefully as you said, it will be enough to get the hard pack back.I'm in Moncton....same deal here, ground is frozen again and the gravel driveway is bare. Looks like there might be a little snow again on Wednesday, hope it's just enough to build up some hard pack on the driveway. We'll see. My woodlot is about 50 miles east of here and it has a good swamp I need to cross on an ice road. I hope the melt there wasn't so severe that I'll need another polar vortex to get across it again this winter.
We also have an Ariens Pro 1124, wheeled.
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The track machines require less effort in the End Of Driveway pile as they don稚 ride up. They can also climb stairs. That model Honda is brutal to move with engine off and we keep it on a furniture dolly.
Our new Ariens RapidTrack combines most of the advantages of wheels and tracks. Ariens has a mechanical auto-turn differential so you can turn without any triggers. You can also lock the track bogey wheel up so you can use it like a wheel machine. Has a Briggs &Stratton 420cc engine with 21 ft lbs of torque. The Honda is a good little machine: the chute is smaller but it can throw pretty far.
The problem with wheeled machines is when you lose traction, if you press down on the bars, you lift the housing and it rides up.