Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?

tigercat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Threads
19
Messages
280
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
This is my thought process on upgrading my snow removal equipment around my home. Your areas could be different and therefore your outcome choices might be different.

I'm getting older and I don't like the cold anymore, so I was thinking about the upcoming winter with any improvements I could do with my equipment to make my snow clearing job a little easier and therefore sooner to be back into the warm house.
My property is flat with a driveway that can easily park 15 cars. I have 200 feet of sidewalk to clear near the road and around the side and back of the house. The sidewalks are 54" wide. The sidewalks must be cleared or the town will give you a gift after 72 hours.

Currently, if we get 10" of snow it will most likely be 1 1/2 hours before I'm finished, maybe sooner if it's powdery stuff.

Currently my snow blower is a Ariens Platinum 30" with hand warmers. A 28" deluxe as a back up. The 30" does a fine job, but again I'm looking for a faster job. Ariens is one of the best and most popular in my area. So I will only consider this brand. It has a removable snow cab which is welcome with wet or blowing conditions.

So here are my upgrade ideas:
I was thinking of a plow for my Jeep or pickup to help along with the time. After looking at different models and prices, I concluded I still need to fire up the blower to do the walks and back side of the house. So for me the plow is a waste of money.

I then started looking at a John Deere X370 with 44" blower up front. Then because I don't want to sit in the cold, I was thinking of adding a hard cab for it. It will be about $8,000 for my dream of speed. I can do everything with this set up, plus using a wider cut. I should knock off my time by 35% I guess.

Then I really looked into the Deere Blower set-up. The cons could be reliability. I think the X370 should run fine, but they recommend that $100 grill cover because of the air cleaner could freeze up and cause engine issues. Ok, no big deal.

Then I noticed the 44" blower has a 12" plastic impeller. The height of the housing is 18". The size of the impeller, the height of the housing and the plastic impeller ( I can get 18" plus with the plow drifts by the road.) The blower is not tall enough, and that impeller is plastic. These issues with the blower is a turn off.
Lastly the parking. I can park this in the garage but it will become annoying at times. I simply don't want to over crowd the already full garage.

So I started looking at the third option, a larger 2 stage Ariens. Ariens makes the Professional model with a 36" wide blower. The auger is 16" in size. It has a hydrostatic transmission so this should run with no maintenance. I can add the snow cab when it's really crappy outside not to get extra wet or to cut the wind down on my face.

I think with the bigger impeller, the Ariens should blow snow more efficiently. The width will be almost the size of the John Deere set-up, so on heavy snow the time for clean up will be the same or faster. Light snow the tractor will be faster because it is wider. There are really no cons with this choice. I'm getting fat so to walk a little is better for your health as well. It will keep me warmer then sitting on a cold tractor as well.

So I'm going down to the dealer tomorrow to order / purchase the Ariens Professional model with a 36" wide blower, model # 926072 snow blower. It's around $3,500 so the price is 1/2 what the tractor is.

I have an older Ariens 28" that I will sell to offset the price a little. Regardless I'm still spending a lot of money to attempt to finish up my walks in a quicker fashion. I hate the cold!
I hope my thoughts on upgrading may help someone less experienced in their snow removal choices. :smile:
 

RDA.Lawns

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2016
Threads
30
Messages
529
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
I'm so glad I live in the south where snow is as rare as someone handing out 100$ bills on the sidewalk at the local wal mart . :)
 

tigercat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Threads
19
Messages
280
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
I'm so glad I live in the south where snow is as rare as someone handing out 100$ bills on the sidewalk at the local wal mart . :)

My wife wants to leave this awesome state when she retires, but that is 10 years from now.....:mad:
I'd like to move south a little or hit the lottery to retire. Then you will see me in a real heated tractor so that will be my enjoyment in retirement.. The lottery is a pipe dream as we all know.

So I'm sitting tonight in front of the TV with the outside temps playing in the low 30's. We had a really dry spring and summer and I expect this dry spell to turn around with 15' of snow coming this season. OH JOY!
 

RDA.Lawns

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2016
Threads
30
Messages
529
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
Sounds like a lot of snow removal in your future. Hope its not that much snow. We had a wet spring lots of flooding then it turned off dry. The long term winter forecast is warm and dry here.
 

RDA.Lawns

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2016
Threads
30
Messages
529
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
This will be my snow removal tool if we get any which isn't to likely

ForumRunner_20161125_232955.png
 

tigercat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Threads
19
Messages
280
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
4 X 4 tractor for the win!
 

neetan

Active Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2016
Threads
8
Messages
81
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
Living in Canada, LOL yes we have snow.

1) go with the unit that is made to do A JOB, so a snow blower. You mentioned AGE may be an issue!!

2) More power is BETTER, So yes bigger is better except is you have back issues or are not strong enough (like if the wife will have to use it some day)

3) service is an issue, look for someone who will come out to help if you blow a belt.

4) So you want something that will disengage one wheel for a turn. Impellers 2 is better then one and 3 is better then two....

5) Now my driveway is at 8 Degrees and 300 ft. long with the deepest snow being up to 2 ft deep.

6) heated handles is leather seats for your snowblower plus one more thing to fall apart...

7) Mine is 13.5 hp with a 29" opening = so just under 1/2 hp per 1"/ so 5hp at 24" is very week when it gets wet/slush so you end up only using 4" wide before it bogs down.

8) Think of power to throw as a way of understanding how it will work.

9)Track or Tires or chains~~ Honda up here use Track when it is ice I think better!

10) ELECTRIC START IS A MUST/MUST/MUST/MUST,,,,,,,......... MUST ```` I hope that is clear?

11) when you are in the store ~ push down on the arm and See if it is easy to turn, & pickup the front.... MUST have it easy, to help your back.


Good luck I hope it helped.
 

NorthBama

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 28, 2014
Threads
9
Messages
932
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
I'm so glad I live in the south where snow is as rare as someone handing out 100$ bills on the sidewalk at the local wal mart . :)

I agree anything below 60 degree is cold for me
 

Rivets

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Threads
55
Messages
14,681
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
You will not go wrong with the Ariens pro with hydro drive, but to be honest I don't think you will save a lot of time with the added six inches and may be overkill for the majority of the time used. The Ariens 30" platinum with the large impeller should easily have all conditions, so I would consider upgrading to a new 30" with AutoTurn and hand warmers. Also, the hydro does not travel as fast as a disc drive. Just my opinion, read my signature. Good luck with your choice.
 

tigercat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Threads
19
Messages
280
  • / Walk behind snow blower or tractor with snow blower attachment?
I got some movies on my channel.

Yes I bought that new Ariens Hydro Pro 36

Nice machine. The only thing I hate is the original light, so I replaced it with 2 LEDs. That works real nice.

https://youtu.be/NFZLWReftc0
 
Top