Snow blowers

genius · Jan 30, 2022

Although I put stabilizer in my gas and run it dry at end of any season that I use it (some years a shovel works just fine for a couple of inches of snow), I have read that some say it is better for the carburetor and fuel related parts to leave stabilized gas in the tank. I do this now with my lawn mower (yes I still mow my lawn — I skip the gym that day when I mow) w/o any problems although I'm hesitant to do so with gas engines that may go more than a year w/o use e.g., my snow blower and generator.

Comments?

PS. When you get your new snow blower, IMHO electric start is a must especially with larger engines containing cold oil. Cost difference is minor and you just plug a detachable cord into an outlet and press the start button.

trader1 · Jan 30, 2022

My 25 year old Sears machine did the job- I brought it over to LI Power Equipment a year or two ago for a tune up-Worked pretty much effortlessly-

Although not necessary the newer models have heated hand controls, wind shields and more, I’d rather struggle with my old one a bit and use the extra $$ saved for a few good BJ’s and massage after the storm

Flintfred · Jan 30, 2022

genius said:

Agreed on the electric start. The one I currently have had electric start and while I haven’t used it much, there were years where it saved my back from trying to pull the cord over and over.

genius · Jan 30, 2022

trader1 said:

LI Power Equipment is a very competent and reputable place that I have used over the years. The only problem is that they are a victim of their own success. Don't even think about bringing a seasonal sensitive machine, e.g., snow blower at start of winter, lawn mower late spring, leaf blower start of fall, etc, for repair at the start of a season and expect to get it back in a week — as you may not get it back until the season is over.

Last time I used them I brought in a string trimmer at end of season that need some repairs and tune up — came back good as new.

They have a nonrefundable diagnostic fee that you can apply against the repair (if item is not economically repairable you lose the fee) but not toward a new replacement machine. Fee is like $30 for small machines e.g., leaf blower, string trimmer and $60 for larger machines. If you have a low end machine (like anything form Back & Decker) just toss it as they typically aren't worth the time and $ to fix.

PS. The Sears (I assume you mean Craftman) started manufacturing they products in early 1990's although cheapened stuff up decade prior to that.

billyS · Jan 30, 2022

genius said:

So billy, did you ever get a snowblower? If you didn't, you lucked out with this storm as snow is not wet and heavy.

I took my single stage out of my shed and moved it to garage on Friday. Couple pumps on gas bulb, set choke, plugged it in press start, and it was running.

The snow, especially at the end of driveway piled up by the Village really needed a monster blower. Since I started at the garage where the wind kept snow only a couple of inches deep I could get started. As I got into deeper snow (easily 2ft ) I had to take smaller bites than the full width of the feed opening., maybe 6" at a time. So my 80ft driveway took 160 passes instead of with a 12 inch snow where it would take 50-60 passes. All things considered (as discussed in this thread —storage, weight, cost, maintenance) IMHO, the single stage is the way to go on LI.

Snow was light and the single stage had no problem throwing it with the wind but only couple of feet against the wind. If the snow was wet and heavy, I would have had to do a clearing last night during the storm to reduce the amount of snow there today as the single stage would not handle it. A couple of guys rang my doorbell last night and asked if I wanted my snow cleared — as snow was easy to throw I said no thanks. I saw them this am doing my neighbors. They had a single stage like mine and were having hard time starting at the packed snow(from the Village plow) at the end of the driveway.

Put on my flannel lined Dickie jeans, my army helmet liner, down coat and heavy gloves, lined boots and away I went. Biggest problem which caused me to warm up inside a bit was my fingers got too cold.

BTW, putting on my flannel jeans (rolled up at the bottom so plaid flannel makes like a cuff) reminded me when I met up with Dr Judy on a really cold winter day.

i remember meeting her in the office building lobby. She had on fur collared tailored coat, and knee high leather boots and a fur hat. She looked absolutely spectacular — like Tanya out of Dr Zhivago. She looked at my rolled up flannel cuffs, smiled and said "Very fashionable " and led me up to her office for our appointment. She had a absolutely perfect body.

I wonder where she is now?

I wound up passing for this year.
I went out yesterday around 5:00 after it stopped and it took about an hour.
I had four foot drifts by the side door and in back of one of the cars. Three foot drifts between the cars.

This morning I redid the apron.
Before each session I went through a serious of stretches for my back, hips, shoulders and legs and I have no residual soreness.

Judy is probably living the high life in Hong Kong, off the riches she made sucking our cocks and letting us bottom out against her short cervix.

trader1 · Jan 30, 2022

genius said:

LI Power Equipment is a very competent and reputable place that I have used over the years. The only problem is that they are a victim of their own success. Don't even think about bringing a seasonal sensitive machine, e.g., snow blower at start of winter, lawn mower late spring, leaf blower start of fall, etc, for repair at the start of a season and expect to get it back in a week — as you may not get it back until the season is over.

Last time I used them I brought in a string trimmer at end of season that need some repairs and tune up — came back good as new.

They have a nonrefundable diagnostic fee that you can apply against the repair (if item is not economically repairable you lose the fee) but not toward a new replacement machine. Fee is like $30 for small machines e.g., leaf blower, string trimmer and $60 for larger machines. If you have a low end machine (like anything form Back & Decker) just toss it as they typically aren't worth the time and $ to fix.

PS. The Sears (I assume you mean Craftman) started manufacturing they products in early 1990's although cheapened stuff up decade prior to that.

Yes, it was an early 90’s Craftsman-

and yes 100% correct in observations of LI Power Equipment -

I also had a gas 2400 power washer which needed repair. I brought it in over the summer and they were honest enough to tell me junk it, and buy a new one for $100.00 more then tge cost of repair..

mugi · Jan 30, 2022

I passed on a recently offered supposedly almost new snow blower for a few bucks because I actually crave the joy of shoveling snow especially in the middle of a blizzard.(better than skiing)

This one was no exception. The exhilaration of the cold and the arm and leg work, and the breathing of frosty cold air delights me as much as mongering itself, and maybe moreso, when the shoveling sessions extend into a two to three hour encounter.

I had my snow shoveling uniform on, of knee-length shorts, great springy knee compression copper knee sleeves, no socks and good sneakers. On the top, a cotton t shirt, with a cotton sweater, and a thin waterproof jacket, and Thinsulate gloves.(clothes chosen for basic warmth, but more importantly, easy movement, and good warm gloves with a good grip are the key)

My weapons of choice, two snow shovels. One being a heavy plastic blade-scoop, with a straight wood shaft with a rubber grip. My second shovel for the heavy plowing, an angled crooked bent hollow tubular steel shaft shovel with an extra-large scoop blade (donated to me by a U.S. Marine and 911 fireman who recently passed on of natural causes)

Had a pre-shoveling lunch of black coffee, toasted whole grain breads and lavash, humus, smothered with raw onions and raw garlic to fuel up to battle the frost.

My neighbor was working a Toro and we exchanged words and met in front of the adjoining houses to discuss sidewalk clearing duties.

Never felt so alive!!!

boneengineer · Jan 30, 2022

Any of you guys like me that prefer machine versus muscle and have a 2 stage machine should check out you tube videos on improving the second stage performance. .. genius

For those in Huntington. There is another power equipment company on railroad Ave. Great guys very fair pricing

trader1 · Jan 30, 2022

mugi said:

I passed on a recently offered supposedly almost new snow blower for a few bucks because I actually crave the joy of shoveling snow especially in the middle of a blizzard.(better than skiing)

This one was no exception. The exhilaration of the cold and the arm and leg work, and the breathing of frosty cold air delights me as much as mongering itself, and maybe moreso, when the shoveling sessions extend into a two to three hour encounter.

I had my snow shoveling uniform on, of knee-length shorts, great springy knee compression copper knee sleeves, no socks and good sneakers. On the top, a cotton t shirt, with a cotton sweater, and a thin waterproof jacket, and Thinsulate gloves.(clothes chosen for basic warmth, but more importantly, easy movement, and good warm gloves with a good grip are the key)

My weapons of choice, two snow shovels. One being a heavy plastic blade-scoop, with a straight wood shaft with a rubber grip. My second shovel for the heavy plowing, an angled crooked bent hollow tubular steel shaft shovel with an extra-large scoop blade (donated to me by a U.S. Marine and 911 fireman who recently passed on of natural causes)

Had a pre-shoveling lunch of black coffee, toasted whole grain breads and lavash, humus, smothered with raw onions and raw garlic to fuel up to battle the frost.

My neighbor was working a Toro and we exchanged words and met in front of the adjoining houses to discuss sidewalk clearing duties.

Never felt so alive!!!

The only thing I liked about your post was reference to
-Straight shaft ( mine of course)
- US Marine
- Fireman

Lol-
( maybe that’s why I seem to having a harder time seeing the “shaft” as my gut seems to be getting larger)

rickoshay53 · Jan 30, 2022

boneengineer said:

I added the impeller mod when I had to rebuild my auger gearbox. It made a HUGE difference in the throwing distance and ability to handle slushy snow without clogging. It adds rubber wipers to fill in the space between the impeller and it's housing.
There is a link to the mod kit in my post 34 above

boneengineer · Jan 30, 2022

Looked like a great idea doing mine the next thaw

Raptor808 · Jan 31, 2022

Flintfred said:

I have an 18 year old Toro single stage … I don’t think I’ve had to do any service on it over that time. It’s been great and usually starts up within a couple of pulls. Used it yesterday and seems like it may be on its way out. I think I’m gonna pick up a 2 stage one after this season, for next year. Something that is self propelled… nothing too big. I’d recommend getting one if you have room to store it. They don’t need too much maintenance at all. I just used to make sure to empty the gas tank at the end of every season.

Have the valves adjusted and the carb cleaned and adjusted. Bet it will run awesome.

Raptor808 · Jan 31, 2022

genius said:

Although I put stabilizer in my gas and run it dry at end of any season that I use it (some years a shovel works just fine for a couple of inches of snow), I have read that some say it is better for the carburetor and fuel related parts to leave stabilized gas in the tank. I do this now with my lawn mower (yes I still mow my lawn — I skip the gym that day when I mow) w/o any problems although I'm hesitant to do so with gas engines that may go more than a year w/o use e.g., my snow blower and generator.

Comments?

PS. When you get your new snow blower, IMHO electric start is a must especially with larger engines containing cold oil. Cost difference is minor and you just plug a detachable cord into an outlet and press the start button.

I store everything dry. The ethanol leaves deposits on the bowls and such. The ethanol is the killer.

LISteve · Jan 31, 2022

LISteve said:

Monty - The face mask worked great this weekend! I forgot about it - went out and used the snowblower and in 5 seconds I got fine cold powdery snow in my face .... Ran inside got the face mask - problem solved!

Satisfied customer · Jan 31, 2022

I have had great experiences with my Ariens 2 stage. I also see great things with the Toros, especially with the joystick chute control.
i have a classic car and like to tinker so in the summer I break out the grease gun and lube the blower, change the oil, grease the gears, change the plug, and move on to the generator, etc.
They take up considerable space in the garage, aren’t easy to transport because of the weight, and if you don’t maintain them they leave you stranded.
i just don’t have a dependable service to rely on for snow removal.

LISteve · Jan 31, 2022

I may have mentioned in an earlier post that I got an EGO battery powered 2 stage snowblower at the end of last year. I used it a month or so ago the last time it snowed and it worked great. This snow storm it worked great too. Handled my driveway and walkway fine. I have 2 kids with cars and one of them parks on the street so I had to clear out some of the street in front of my house. I had to make a couple of passes and at the end of the job I wanted to do a little more in front of the house but the batteries were all used up! Granted it was an unusually big snowstorm and I had to make a couple of passes ... but that caught me by surprise. Still got the job done and quite frankly I could have charged the batteries for 30 minutes or an hour and gone back outside and finished what I wanted to do anyway. Just a cautionary tale. If you have a long 2 car wide driveway - a battery powered snowblower may not be for you. That being said - all you do is push a button and you are off! It worked great.

genius · Jan 31, 2022

Raptor808 said:

In my small gas machines I use ethanol free gas I buy at Lowes (same price at HD but Lowes has 5% off if you use their card — more money for mongering) Comes out to about $17/gal and I use maybe a gal over the season. Last use of any gas machine I have (with snow blower or generator where I drain reg gas and replace with pint of ethanol free gas) I add stabilizer and run until dry.
Ethanol is murder on flexible fuel lines, gaskets etc. so best, if you use it, not to leave during storage.
If I have a lot of hours on an engine I change the oil at end of season. Takes all of 10 minutes and less than a qt of oil. Manuals (everyone reads them right?) says do not use multi-weight, high detergent or synthetic oil so I use decent brand name single weight oil.

Ps. Gotta love UG! Where else can you get info on correct lube for machines and hookers on one site!

Monty_monty · Jan 31, 2022

LISteve said:

great to hear, its been a face-saver for me over the years.

Monty_monty · Jan 31, 2022

genius said:

I didn't know that Lowes/HD carried ethanol free. I have been using gas stations that specialize in it (they are typically about $12/gal and all my small engines (lawn mowers, backpack blowers, snow blowers, etc) use it. I use the Conoco Gas station by Smithhaven Mall

https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=NY

genius · Jan 31, 2022

Monty_monty said:

They have 1 Qt cans and larger cans for straightgas, 40:1 gas/oil, 50:1 gas/oil. I forget where in the store but I think by the small gas engine machine are (chin saws, leaf blowrs, etc)
Since I use so little of it (gal or 2) not worth me hunting for a gas station near N/S border that carries it. Plus when you buy the cans you get correctly labelled and color coded cans for your garage.

Snow blowers

Reign of Terror