Craftsman Quiet Snowblower is quiet!

[man114]

Bought one in a pinch as my Roper 8/26 drove chain broke during a snowstorm which was my only working snowblower going into the season (circa 1972 Ariens needs a new bottom scraper and mid 90s Troy Bilt needs muffler and carb cleaning). It's quiet as they advertise, don't even need earplugs. The Roper is deafening by comparison. It is easy to handle. The biggest single drawback is it is nearly impossible to pull start, I have neck and shoulder problems but I can still put a good couple of pulls in which my wife and son couldn't do, I could not start it at 11 degrees without the electric start. The Roper using the old Sno King starts on a single pull.

Other than than it is quiet, like my generator, don't really even need earplugs. It is easy to handle. It throws snow fine. I'm going to run it about 5-10 hours and switch to Synthetic oil to see if it is easier to start, I also added Marvel to the gas to keep the carb clean which helps with these chinese Honda type engines.

 

[mddorange]

What part of the country are you in? My Craftsman snow blower had an electric start or you could pull the rope to start. What model is yours?

 

[dave1949]

My Craftsman rototiller with a B&S engine is the hardest pull start I have ever had. It will kick back too and sting your fingers.

I took the flywheel off, replaced the key expecting to find a sloppy or sheared key, but the old one looked fine and the new key didn't make much difference. Somewhere, somehow the ignition timing has to have something to do with it pulling hard is my belief.

Runs fine and sips gas but I never look forward to starting it.

 

[leonz]

Bought one in a pinch as my Roper 8/26 drove chain broke during a snowstorm
which was my only working snowblower going into the season (circa 1972 Ariens
needs a new bottom scraper and mid 90s Troy Bilt needs muffler and carb cleaning).

It's quiet as they advertise, don't even need earplugs. The Roper is deafening by comparison.
It is easy to handle. The biggest single drawback is it is nearly impossible to pull start, I have
neck and shoulder problems but I can still put a good couple of pulls in which my wife and son
couldn't do, I could not start it at 11 degrees without the electric start.

The Roper using the old Sno King starts on a single pull.

Other than than it is quiet, like my generator, don't really even need earplugs.
It is easy to handle. It throws snow fine.

I'm going to run it about 5-10 hours and switch to Synthetic oil to see if it is easier to start,
I also added Marvel to the gas to keep the carb clean which helps with these Chinese Honda
type engines.

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Happy New Year,


If you can afford a small kerosene space heater it will start like its summer time.
The salamander is all I use for my truck and mule.

I also used the torpedo heater to heat up my commercial firewood splitter
every day even in summer as I had to heat up a 25 gallon hydraulic tank.

The half an hour used to heat the beast up made all the difference in the world.

I would invest in one simply because its saved me a lot of grief.

I also used it to heat up my Toro 2 cycle snow pups and ten minute later VRRRRRROOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Both Snow Pups still start like they were new.

The heaters will melt all the snow off the walk behind snow clearer to eliminate any ice build up from
the snow that has melted and settled in the impeller housing and around the auger housing.

 

[man114]

I'm south of Buffalo NY. This is the one here.

Craftsman Quiet 208cc Dual-Stage Snowblower - Lawn & Garden - Snow Removal Equipment - Gas Snowblowers

MTD production. Don't know if they offer a similar model probably be in the Cub Cadet/Troy Bilt line unless the quiet engine is exclusive. ZTR is kind of handy. I noticed it is very fuel efficient, the old Tecumseh Sno King 8hp on the Roper sucks gas at at least twice the rate. I'm not sure of any internal difference in this engine to non quiet versions but it has good low end torque and easily powered through a good amount of snow, two feet of packed plowed at the end of the driveway. It is very quiet, A Winter hat is mostly enough hearing protection. It's about as loud as a household vacuum cleaner. If you are in close quarters and need to run it at night it might be helpful. Here it isn't an issue, but it's great not to have to add a hearing protection if you're in a hurry.

I can't pull start this one unless it is warmer. It's been about 10 degrees tops the last few days. I need to use the electric start. I can get the Roper to start at this temp via the pull start if necessary. Only would pose a problem if I lost electricity and couldn't get my generator working or the electric start quit working.

I sprayed the chute and auger with silicone spray as I typically do.

Not sure how long it will last in these conditions but I'm not ditching the Roper, or Ariens or Troy Bilt. It clearly isn't built as heavily but with care I expect at least 10 years, which is more than adequate, I probably expect more due to using a lot of old stuff.

As soon as we warm up it gets a high ZDDP oil change to get the Chinese oil out and we move onward. Hopefully it holds up.