Help Buying a Snow Thrower

Spilchy · 02-13-06, 05:31

I am in the market for a snow thrower. Digging out 20 inches with 4 foot drifts for 6 hours turned me on to the idea.

I have looked at Honda, Toro, John Deere and Husqvarna. For my needs they all fall in around $1,000.00.

I want something seriously beefy as I watched my neighbors with their older, wimpier throwers get bogged down. Get this! My neighbor bought a brand new 5.5hp thrower from Home Depot. 1 hour into it's virgin voyage, it broke. Whatever part that spins the blades snapped!

Anyway, a $1000 is too steep for the budget.

Now, I saw Craftsman with a Briggs & Stratton motor has a huge selection with some beefy throwers coming in around $650 to $1100.

I found these two LINK

Does anyone have experience with Craftsman?

What are yor experiences with some of the others I mentioned?

Thanks

flatstick · 02-13-06, 05:40

[QUOTE

Does anyone have experience with Craftsman?

What are yor experiences with some of the others I mentioned?

Thanks

[/quote]

My buddy bought a Craftsman and he loves his. has had it for 2 years. so far no problems with his. it looks like the 6.5 that you had the link to. my two cents... feel free to keep the change

ron7000 · 02-13-06, 08:11

i might break down and buy one. parent's have an older 2-stage with a briggs engine, thing sucks. Gonna go with a single stage. I see many people with a single stage gas powered throwing snow pretty impressively. Junk depot has the toro for $400, 2-cycle I think, and I read epinions on the honda HS520A which goes for $600, 4-cycle, and is supposed to be very good. Snow like this weekend is rare, so not really worth buying a big unit unless you really get snowfall and have a lot of area to clear. Guy at work has a large driveway, and spent $1000+ on a honda tracked snowblower, says the thing is awesome and nothing stops it, not even the 3' ice pile the big snowplow leaves in front of your driveway.

04MysticCobra · 02-14-06, 03:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spilchy

I am in the market for a snow thrower. Digging out 20 inches with 4 foot drifts for 6 hours turned me on to the idea.

I have looked at Honda, Toro, John Deere and Husqvarna. For my needs they all fall in around $1,000.00.

I want something seriously beefy as I watched my neighbors with their older, wimpier throwers get bogged down. Get this! My neighbor bought a brand new 5.5hp thrower from Home Depot. 1 hour into it's virgin voyage, it broke. Whatever part that spins the blades snapped!

Anyway, a $1000 is too steep for the budget.

Now, I saw Craftsman with a Briggs & Stratton motor has a huge selection with some beefy throwers coming in around $650 to $1100.

I found these two LINK

Does anyone have experience with Craftsman?

What are yor experiences with some of the others I mentioned?

Thanks

The Augers that are on these snowblowers use shear pins. If the snow is heavy from wet or icy conditions its very easy to break the shear pin. that is probably what happened to your neighbors machine. not a big deal to change the shear pin. I have a Toro 6 hp 2 stage snowblower that I bought new in 1996. Its been used the last 10 years with no problems at all except a few broken shear pins over the years. they are easy to replace and your done with it. I have a briggs and stratton engine that starts as easy today as it did 10 years ago. just make sure when you buy that its a solid machine. there are some machines out there not made so well but I dont see many. most of the bigger machines are solid built. I payed $800 for mine 10 years ago and have not had to put a dime into it except some $1 shear pins. I also live in a snow area right next to Mountain Creek the ski resort.

Later, 04MysticCobra.

Corey Bit Spank · 02-14-06, 12:09

Home Depot had a few $1000 Ariens marked down to $500. We don't have a snow blower, yet we get a lot of snow (except this year).

Prometheus · 02-14-06, 01:13

I dont know exactly how much snowblower you want, but for the fun of it I'm going to go with what I know, Michigan winters. Basically, if you have a snowblower here, it is a 24 or 27 inch wide 6 or 8 hp one that propels itself. My uncle has one very similar to the 6.5 hp one in your link, and it's alright, but needs to be worked on about every 2 years, but he never does maintenance so....

Anyway, some of the best I've come across are made by Noma. I believe they were recently bought by Murray, and they produce them under other names as well (the one my father has is branded wizard). I have never seen them shear a pin, though sometimes it snows so heavy that you have to kind of jerk it through. Let it go foreward 6 inches, stop, let the augers clear on the snow right there, move again, etc.

Anyway, that 8.5 hp craftsman should be ok. Toro's in my experience have been rather wimpy and prone to bogging down, never seen a husqvarna one, and I have seen several john deere's and they seem alright as well. Hope this helped.

jfelbab · 02-14-06, 02:46

I've owned two Ariens blowers over about 30 years and find them to be well built and maintenance free. Very reliable and rigged blowers. This model is close to your price range and is up to dealing with 20" snowfalls easily.

Accumulator · 02-14-06, 03:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by ron7000

i might break down and buy one. parent's have an older 2-stage with a briggs engine, thing sucks. Gonna go with a single stage. I see many people with a single stage gas powered throwing snow pretty impressively..

In my experience a single-stage just doesn't cut it so make sure you get something that'll work well for you (lest it be money down the drain). Some of my neighbors have had single stages and they seemed pretty limited; I've been happier with 2-stage ones. I currently have a John Deere with an 8hp engine and next winter I'm getting something with a 13hp engine. I used to have a huge, crude, industrial-style Simplicity that worked well for over 20 years, got it from my dad. Should've just had it rebuilt one more time, it was a lot better than the Deere, which seems highly taxed and has too many little things break too often (I'm getting tired of fixing it in the middle of a job). Next one I get's gonna be another Simplicity and no more "homeowner level" machines for me.

Based on my experience with the current driveway (pretty wide in places), when dealing with deep snow you need a powerful engine more than you need a wide swath. The 8hp one isn't enough to clear my drive, I have to clear one half, then blow the snow from the other half onto half #1, then clear half #1 again. If I try to do it all in one go it gets too deep for my unit to handle. And IMO a single-stage wouldn't even get the job started.

Whatever you go with, get something that you can get serviced easily

And get an electric start, no matter how much it adds to the cost.

tom p. · 02-14-06, 04:44

Spilch, I'd be heading over to HD to grab one of the Ariens @ 50% off...you can't beat that with a stick.

I've got a new 8.5hp machine (two stage) and a 7 yr old TORO single stage, I think it's called 4.5hp. They're VERY different machines. The TORO has been awesome except in very deep snow. It's far more nimble and manuerverable than the 2 stage bigboy...no comparison and I can clear the driveway much quicker with the TORO. The big machine just kind of lumbers along at a snail's pace.

OTOH, the big machine clears BIG snow like it was nothing !

holland_patrick · 02-14-06, 05:17

I have A 9 HP craftsamn and have had it for two years now. I love it.. I do the down the middle pass then keep moving outwards... I would suggest it to anyone...

Swoop411 · 02-14-06, 06:18

If we ever start getting snow like that here I will just get a plow and chains for my 3500 Ram. Then I dont care how deep it gets. Back in the day when I lived at my dad's I just used the tractor with a blade attached.

WSUcommuter · 02-15-06, 10:09

My girlfriend's dad bought a Craftsman 6.5 2-stage on clearance three years ago. I've used it more than he has so I can honestly say it is a quality unit, well worth the money. It gets used quite a bit with two long driveways and a small business parking lot to clear, and with the Briggs & Stratton you can expect it to last for many years to come with regular maintenance.