Snow blower purchase

   / Snow blower purchase #51  
As said before . Single stage blower have a spinning set of rubber paddles that contact the surface and throw the snow out the chutes.

Dual stage blowers first have a scraper blade on the bottom of the chute opening. I like to keep this blade 1/8” off the ground . You set this height by the shoes on the outside of the chute . When the first auger spins it breaks the snow up and funnels back to the second stage which throws it out the chute. I have never scalped or dig into my grass if the shoes are set correctly.
Yes, I know. I agree with you. :)
 
   / Snow blower purchase #52  
How does the number of stages effect how it slides over or digs into grass?

MossRoad said:

A single stage blower has a fast spinning paddle or auger that tends to grab the grass.

A two stage blower's auger moves much slower, moving the snow towards the high speed impeller for discharge. It doesn't tend to grab the grass nearly as bad or fast.


Thanks for the question Cody! and Response Mossroad!

I watch the forum because of discussions like this?
I currently use a back blade moving snow to open up routes to feed animals, total distance over grass is 1200'
And another 1000' of road.
I guess I will be looking at 2 stage blowers because of the grass.

Thanks again.
 
   / Snow blower purchase
  • Thread Starter
#53  
I suspect I will start looking at these closer to the end of season to see if I can find a good deal on something. If not I will wait until next fall when the selections are wider again.

Thanks for all the tips.
 
   / Snow blower purchase #54  
I suspect I will start looking at these closer to the end of season to see if I can find a good deal on something. If not I will wait until next fall when the selections are wider.
Yes, buy snow blowers in the spring and mowers in the fall! But also look at local ad's on Craigslits or FB Marketplace and you can find nearly new machines for half or less the cost of "brand new" that are nearly new, or 8-10 years old

Most snow blowers only get a few hours per season (15 or less) but they don't have an hour meter, so go by the skids, tines, blower housing and general condition. Most machines that are lightly used will still have paint inside the housing and minimal tine or skid wear.
 
   / Snow blower purchase #55  
A single stage blower has a fast spinning paddle or auger that tends to grab the grass.

A two stage blower's auger moves much slower, moving the snow towards the high speed impeller for discharge. It doesn't tend to grab the grass nearly as bad or fast.

Ahh…I forgot we’re only talking about walk behind blowers only. I had a single stage snowblower that attached to a garden tractor and your comments weren’t making sense. You usually give good advice, so I knew we weren’t talking about the same thing! My apologizes.
 
   / Snow blower purchase #56  
I own five snowblowers on 3 different properties. Gravel driveway you need a metal discharge chute . Plastic will get destroyed by gravel flying through it.
Wheels only if wife will use it . Tracks suck to move around. You can’t move tracked ones unless they are running .
You can easily move Ariens RapidTrak machines with engine off.
 
   / Snow blower purchase #57  
You can easily move Ariens RapidTrak machines with engine off.
I’m glad they have made progress. The video shows how they have advanced. If the wife is using it I would still go with a good Ariens with tires .
 
   / Snow blower purchase #59  
Looking to get a walk behind snow blower. I do not want one that attaches to the tractor. Want the wife to have the capacity to use it. We have a gravel driveway. So I know I need at least a two stage but should strongly consdier a three stage. What else do I need to look at? Do the have some kind of adjustable skid to keep them off the gravel for the first round? Seems like as you get the snow pack the later rounds of snow blowing should clear down to that solid pack no?

Also what would happen with one of those if I snow blow over the lawn? We have a barn out back where the horses are and it would be nice to clear a walking path to it rather than trudge through the snow.

Also not to start a color war, but what are the good brands? I am happy to invest some money in this and get good features. Must have electric start and self propelled.

Thanks!
Your needs sound similar to mine. I live in a relatively heavy snowfall area of northern Wisconsin. I have a rear PTO snowblower on my tractor that clears the 600 foot gravel driveway that leads from the road, past the house (the garage is behind the house and turned 90° from the road), and winds a bit back stopping between two barns, one of which houses our horses and the other houses tractors, implements, UTV, & ATV.

We wanted a walk behind snow blower that my wife could use to clear directly in front of the garage, around the house so the big snow blower doesn't hit the concrete steps, the front walkway to the house, from the garage to a driveway gate behind the house (so we can swing the gates for the tractor), and though not planned, to clear paths on lawn behind the house for walking to the barns from the garage, and to make walking paths for a very senior dog (hip dysplasia!).

We were using a Toro single stage blower bought when at our previous place with blacktop. It worked good on the concrete, but spit gravel like crazy since it didn't have adjustable height skids. It has aged, and after a repeated problem of leaking fuel, repair, repeat (stinking up the garage!!), I decided to take a chance and buy the EGO battery operated two stage snow blower.

It's mid February now, we've had 48 inches of snowfall so far, and we've been delighted with the EGO snow blower. It does all the areas I mentioned on a single set of batteries. We tend to run it on the lower auger speed (throws 15-20 feet and saves battery) and a wheel speed one up from the slowest (comfortablewalking). We both can easily move it around on in cleared area without power drive. Actually, we tend to back it up un-driven to avoid shifting gears.

It is easy for my wife to handle. The snow blower's handle has three height settings. Honestly, the most difficult thing for her is carrying each of the two batteries one-handed. They have weight. I tend to carry one or both to the garage for her.

Oh, per a recommendation I saw online, I swapped out the original skids with ARMORskids Heavy Duty Snow Blower Skid Shoes Fits 3 inch and 1 inch Slot Spacing (Set of 2) from Home Depot for $49.19. When I installed them we had an issue with the unthreaded portion of the bolts being thicker than the housing + skid thickness. A quick fix was to insert hose gaskets I happened to have nearby. It's worked so far. This summer I'll buy fender washers. I think the original plastic skids would have worked fine though, and you can buy replacements online.

We're very happy with the EGO. Actually, we're quite surprised by its capability. Much better than expected. All metal. Grippy wheels. Throws well. Will it clear the entire driveway? No!!! But it doesn't need to.

Oh, the battery charger manages charging - no tracking time. Since getting the snow blower I bought the EGO backpack blower. Basically the backpack holds the battery and the weight of the blower, so my arthritic hands only have to point the blower tube. I don't know how it compares to a gas blower, but it'll suit my needs.
 
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   / Snow blower purchase #60  
Just to add to my prior post ...

We had 1 inch of snow and "squals" yesterday. That means period high winds and very cold temperatures left some areas clear of snow and other areas with maybe 4-6 inch drifts. It was below zero (F) this morning, so the snow was very dry & fluffy, though in drifts the high wind packed it pretty well.

This morning it is 0° F with moderate winds, and the city plow hit the street end of the driveway, so to help delivery trucks I decided to take the EGO 24 inch self propelled snow blower out to clear the drifts and other deeper snow.

I headed west from the garage along the house, turned south down the east length of the gravel driveway, cleared the plow thrown snow at the street, headed north up the west side of the driveway to a gate just north of the garage, turned around back south next to the just cleared area. At this point I decided to keep clearing the entire driveway and the area in front of the garage just to see if the batteries will last (we'd not done this before since I'm usually clearing with the tractor and its 60 inch WoodMaxx snow blower.

Even though it is 0 °F out, I continued my experiment. I mostly tried to do long strips running the auger to preserve battery power. When turning around I'd let the auger run to clear the chute, turn off the auger, and turn the blower around unpowered. Midway it was clear to me that I need to lengthen the handle to the longest setting (it was on the middle of three lengths, and I'm 6'5" tall).

I finished the driveway, still had 4/5ths battery, so I started on the gravel area in front of our three car garage. I had to go north with each run, so snow got blown onto lawn to the north. The garage is to the east, the house to the south, and the now cleared driveway to the west. To save battery, I backed the blower toward the house unpowered for each strip, but about 2/3rds of the way I gave up and used the powered reverse.

The driveway from road to the gate is 221 feet, and about 12 feet wide. The area in front of the three-car garage is about 38 feet E-W, and 32 feet N-S.

When done, before brushing snow off the blower, the batteries still showed 4/5th full!! I was shocked. After brushing off the snow, I run the cleaned auger and rotate the chute to make sure moving parts are clear of snow. When done doing that, another battery LED turned off, showing the batteries as 3/5ths full.

Obviously, with only 1 inch of cold snow and 4-6 inch drifts (maybe more on the edges), the blower wasn't working very hard. It handled the street plowed snow without hesitation. It was damn cold out - after finishing the main driveway I switched to using mittens!!
 
 
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