Let's talk snow blowers... (club, oil, land)

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by maineborzoi

We do not care for those cub cadets and know many people that got them.

Are your trying to tell me that in your opinion that I just spent 800 bucks for a piece of cr@ap snow blower, despite the fact that its highly rated on-line by both professional reviewers and by people who actually bought the model that I did and love it.

Do you own stock in Toro or Ariens or Craftsmen?

[maineborzoi]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

Are your trying to tell me that in your opinion that I just spent 800 bucks for a piece of cr@ap snow blower, despite the fact that its highly rated on-line by both professional reviewers and by people who actually bought the model that I did and love it.

Do you own stock in Toro or Ariens or Craftsmen?

No on all counts.
What I am saying is that the tracking of it, the speed of the engine in the throttle, exceeds the turnstile of the blower part of the blower in some cases. You will/may find that when using it at higher throttle, the blower is harder to control in ways such as slipping.

Let's compare it this way- it is like putting a 5.0 V8 with turbo on a 4 cylinder body type car. Alot of engine under a lighter weight body without lower weight for stability.
You will see what I mean.
How to off set it is to not go at a higher than average walking speed keeping the throttle not " rev'd up" too high.

I have several friends that have the same/similar cadet, and this was the reported issue with it over and over. If the throttle is rev'd up too high, the wheels are slipping.

Maybe add chains ?

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by maineborzoi

No on all counts.
What I am saying is that the tracking of it, the speed of the engine in the throttle, exceeds the turnstile of the blower part of the blower in some cases. You will/may find that when using it at higher throttle, the blower is harder to control in ways such as slipping.

Let's compare it this way- it is like putting a 5.0 V8 with turbo on a 4 cylinder body type car. Alot of engine under a lighter weight body without lower weight for stability.
You will see what I mean.
How to off set it is to not go at a higher than average walking speed keeping the throttle not " rev'd up" too high.

I have several friends that have the same/similar cadet, and this was the reported issue with it over and over. If the throttle is rev'd up too high, the wheels are slipping.

Maybe add chains ?

IMO
What you are describing are examples of people who don't seem to understand how to use a snow blower. Its not like a lawnmower or an outboard.

In a lawnmower or an outboard, you have essentially no resistance in the medium to the blade or the prop. With a snowblower, the snow has weight and resists the action of the blades. As a result, you can't just set it on high and blast your way through, unless you have a very very powerful blower engine.

You have to be careful to go slowly. You have to constantly keep an eye on the quality of the snow that you are blowing, and the depth. When you are at the end of the driveway where the snowplow came in with ice chunks you have to chips them away first, because they are like rocks and your blower will blow a shear pin on a rock as well as a piece of ice that is as big as a rock. You have to pay attention to sticks and branches or anything else that is on your driveway, because if you get one of those in the fine clearances of a blower, it will either stall the machine(like my old toro without shear pins) or break the shear pin.

And if the quantity of the snow that you are blowing, exceeds the ability of the blower to get it through the little 4 inch pipe, then if you go too fast the wheels will spin. Getting chains on the wheels will not make the snow go through the chute any faster than the machine is able to do it, based on the power of the engine, the diameter size of the chute, the quantity of the snow, and especially the weight of the snow. Snow varies in weight depending on the temperature it was when it fell.

And then you have the conditions of the driveway you are on. If you have a flat asphalt driveway without sticks or stones, then you can go a little faster than if you have a gravel driveway. But you have to set the machine up a little from the driveway. Scraping the bottom metal of blower against the surface of the driveway is not something that you want. And if your driveway is not flat but is a bit uneven, then you need to set it up even higher, maybe as much as an inch.

I have had several snow blowers, and have used them for 20 years. I have one with a 3 hp engine, and one with a 10 hp, and one with a 6hp. In none of them can you set them at a high speed and simply take off. Snow-blowing doesn't work that way. You may have six speeds, but nobody uses more than 2---nobody in their right mind, that is.

IMO, your friends need a good course in how to use a snow blower, and how to understand the conditions of snow blowing. If they want to simply go fast then they don't want a walking snowblower---and especially not one with one of the newer a 6 hp engines, which because of federal "regs" have way less horsepower than before. They want something really big, with at least 10-12 hp---and still conditions could prevent them from getting where they want to go as fast as they want to go.

Using small gas engines on machines in 2015 is way different than it was in even 2009.

You have the same problem in snow with people using AWD or 4WD on highways. They seem to think that if they have AWD or 4WD that they can drive at the same speed as if dry pavement. The ice and snow are way way more slippery than dry pavement or even rain. You can't just plow ahead. You have to pay attention to the conditions.

[slyfox2]

Well... its been 7 weeks since I bought the snow blower and started it up. It had started the first time on the second pull. I put ethanol FREE gasoline in it with a double dose of Blue marine Stabil. And then I ran it for 10 minutes.

Here it is mid December and no snow yet. Don't always have enough snow to blow anyhow, since the Subaru with Snows on it will easily run right over anything less than 5 inches so there's really no point blowing.

But I like to start it periodically in the winter even without snow. So it was about 32 degrees mid day. I put it on rabbit run, set the choke full, pushed the prime bulb twice, and.....pulled the cord.

Started right up on the FIRST PULL. It has an electric start but no need. Ran it for 12 minutes until the choke had been off for awhile.

Ready to go for the next real snow, or until mid January when I start it again and run it for practice.

[LloydinMaine]

I'm beginning to wonder if I will have the opportunity to test out my new snowblower. Last week I purchased 15 gallons of ethanol free gas and treated it with Sea Foam. I'm ready to go if it ever gets cold enough to snow.

[maineborzoi]

"Blue Marine Stabil " and " Sea Foam " ?
Pardon me, but I take it this is an additive you all are putting in your gas tanks in the snow blowers ?
And for reasons ...?

[LloydinMaine]

I use Sea Foam when I know my fuel will be sitting for awhile. I try and put it in all of my power equipment before it is put away for the winter. It helps stabilize the gasoline.

https://seafoamsales.com/sea-foam-motor-treatment/

The biggest thing is using non-ethanol fuel in your equipment. Ethanol destroys small engines/carbs when sitting all winter.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by maineborzoi

"Blue Marine Stabil " and " Sea Foam " ?
Pardon me, but I take it this is an additive you all are putting in your gas tanks in the snow blowers ?
And for reasons ...?

We live on the coast, as you do. There is way more moisture here than elsewhere, so SeaFoam and Marine Blue Stabil help deal with the excess moisture, but not using ethanol to do it.

But you have a really old machine. And the carb jets on your machine are not as tiny as the new ones by far. So your can probably get away with lots of things. I don't use Ethanol free or stabil in my riding lawnmower since I bought it in 2006, and it doesn't have the tine carb jets of the current machines. Actually I do now for the winter since I have left over ethanol free from the summer use in the Outboard.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by LloydinMaine

Ethanol destroys small engines/carbs when sitting all winter.

reasonably new ones. old ones not so much.

[LloydinMaine]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

reasonably new ones. old ones not so much.

When the rubber o-rings and gaskets are exposed long term to ethanol they become hard and brittle. It is hard on all engines whether new or old.

This stuff is not good in your automobile either. I recently read an article about some states possibly allowing the 10% ethanol in gas mixture to be increased to 15%. If this happens the majority of auto manufacturers have already said it will void warranty in their vehicles.