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Mine came palletized and boxed up. I spent about 10 mins assembling it and had to add oil.
Now it sits next to my other 22" 5hp thrower waiting for the inevitable nor'easter.
i hate getting those pallets. just ripping them apart is an annoying process. when he was rolling it out of the truck and i saw it wasnt in anything and was totally assembled, i did a little cheer in my mind. im sure your snow blower will make short work of anything you get. i double checked what my neighbor has and its the ariens deluxe 28. so mine is the ariens deluxe 24, same engine but 4 inches narrower. in a foot of snow his cleaned my driveway in no time with no effort.
Pallet def was a PITA trying to find some way to keep the cardboard together until I can put it out with recycling. But it wasn't really a huge deal breaking down the box.
We've had snow early this year. So far two different storms with measurable snow. That's early for this year which I guess could be due to below average temps and above average rainfall.
Either way, I'm ready now. This things a beast and I can't wait to try it out.
I have the Ariens as well. I am thinking about updating so I can get the auto-turn. The price hasn’t changed in five years, still the same. I have also considered getting a hydro drive blower, but big bucks there. I also use the Honda ccr single stage, belt/paddle blower. That one is super fast and easy for about 4” inch snow or less. You can easily lift it, put it in your trunk or truck bed, or lift up stairs to do deck or patio. Got to have blowers in the Great Northeast.
Just to update, I ended up buying an Ariens Platnium 30" SHO 414cc model.
Now watch it not snow much this winter.
UPDATE:
So it took until the end of Jan to get our first significant snowfall. Now, it didn't snow much in terms of inches, but the snow turned to sleet and freezing rain making it very heavy wet snow that was quickly turning to ice. Testing a snowblower in 20" of fluffy snow isn't really a test. But 8 inches of heavy wet snow sure is.
Let me just say this snowblower is a BEAST. Didn't even struggle at all taking a full cut right through the plow dam at the end of the driveway and throwing it far enough I had to knock the chute down a bit to prevent it from throwing into the neighbors yard...which is 50 feet away. I'm not joking when I say it had enough power and then some to do the job. So glad I "overbought" and sought out the bigger motor. I tackled the plow damn on speed 1, but the rest of the time I was on speed 2 or 3 and it had no problem keeping up. Some of the lighter snow it was easily throwing a good 50 feet or so. Definitely gotta pay attention to where you throw it. What I love about this fact though is the snow is well away from the house so it doesn't look like my driveway and walkway are edged in 4 feet high snow mounds.
Autoturn was no big deal. Worked fine for me. My driveway is level and paved so I had no issues with it. Went straight every time and could operate it one handed so I can manipulate the chute with the right.
Traction was excellent with the equipped tires. I don't feel I need chains or tracks for my property at all.
I am going to install a weight kit though. It would ride up a little on packed snow where I a vehicle drove or at the end of the driveway so I had to put a little forward pressure on it. I'll just add the weight kit and see if it helps.
Ended up doing my two elderly neighbors driveways as well.
I busted out my old 5HP 21" craftsman just to see how it would do and it struggled..badly. I would have been out there all day and physically sore when done. It barely through the heavy snow more than 4 feet away.
Anyway, very happy with my selection and money well spend. I finished my driveway in 45 mins and then did my neighbors. When I was done...I was NOT exhausted! I consider that mission accomplished.
Time to upgrade the snowblower. The one I have now is simply too small, and too obsolete where parts are hard to get/expensive.
I live in MA, where we can get storms of 12"+ a few times a year, and last year we had a storm or two with 18"+.
I'm looking into 2-stage, probably 30" wide blowers, but one of the key criteria i'm trying to research is throwing distance. My driveway is 3 cars wide, and the issue I run into now is the small one can't reach the edges so i'm dumping snow where I need to go clear it again and that makes it more difficult.
So those of you who get deep snow, what do you use and recommend?
I have had a Honda for more than 13 years, it sits around all summer and starts on the first pull every winter and it does an incredible job. By far the best SB I’ve ever had!
Mine came palletized and boxed up. I spent about 10 mins assembling it and had to add oil.
Now it sits next to my other 22" 5hp thrower waiting for the inevitable nor'easter.
This is worth repeating for people who are not experienced with receiving "drop shipped" equipment.
In general equipment that needs oil, motors, compressors - is shipped WITH NO OIL IN IT. It is up to you, the buyer, to add the correct amount of the correct oil. Some manufacturers make this easy by shipping a bottle of oil with the equipment. Usually they put tags on starting ropes, power cords, etc. But don't count on that.
Typically drop-shipped equipment will need for you to add oil before you put it into use.
This is worth repeating for people who are not experienced with receiving "drop shipped" equipment.
In general equipment that needs oil, motors, compressors - is shipped WITH NO OIL IN IT. It is up to you, the buyer, to add the correct amount of the correct oil. Some manufacturers make this easy by shipping a bottle of oil with the equipment. Usually they put tags on starting ropes, power cords, etc. But don't count on that.
Typically drop-shipped equipment will need for you to add oil before you put it into use.
You have been warned.
In the last few years I've bought a snow blower, lawn mower and air compressor. All of them needed to have oil added. All were bought in a store. That's pretty much standard, unless you buy something that's already on the floor. And even then that's no guarantee that oil was added.
We just used our Ariens 28" Deluxe for the first time with the last Nor'easter and it was wonderful! Still waiting for a big storm to dump 18+ inches, but I have no worries. Thanks to this thread for leading me in the right direction!
Even my snow-shovel-loving husband said "we should have gotten one of these years ago!" I think he was partly joking, but I couldn't agree more!
ETA: ours was delivered assembled and with oil, so we just had to check the oil, add gas, and go.
Well poster already got an Airens which I will say is a fine choice. If I had a lot of Cash I would buy one of the Big tracked Hondas or a Simplicity, but the Airens are pretty choice. My neighbor has a 28" Airens pro with I think 12hp that think really flings snow far. My 2 stage 24" 6 hp craftsman works but I move snow twice with it often on my 25' wide driveway. The craftsman is fine but not great I do miss my older much heavier 5hp 24" Cubcadet from the early 80's. It too had trouble throwing snow far enough but the traction and weight was much better never got stuck like the craftsman sometimes will.
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