new blower

[mikelawtown]

so i'm looking at a blower from sears and lowes..5.5 HP 24in wide..Looks like they are the same but different stickers.599.99. Just looking for a decent one maybe even a couple years old, maybe someone has a good couple year old one around here in Mass.Thanks

[cat320]

To be honest i would not tough one that you get at the big box stores they just aren't built that great, they will throw snow but the quality or should i say down rated vs is what they sell .take ariean it's best to go to an independent to get the classic . Remeber you pay for what ya get.

[Ballsley02]

I agree with CAT 100%. The way I look at it now is simple. If you buy a machine at HD or Lowes you might save some money in the short, but when ***** comes to fly they are not going to be there for you. However if you buy from a local dealer they will be there for you when you need them. Just my 2 cents, I bought a "NOMA" which is a Homedepot special about 8 years ago. It saved me about $200 but when it came to getting it serviced it was always last on any dealers list because it was not bought there

Mike

[Mark Oomkes]

Just to reiterate, who is going to provide you with service if\when it breaks down in the middle of a blizzard and you have customers to service?

There is a large wholesaler of handheld power tools, mowers, etc in Chicago. A bunch of scrapers in my area go down with a truck and trailer and load up every spring on all their upcoming needs. They don't have to pay sales tax, are supposed to pay Use Tax, but I doubt they do. Local dealers get upset because this place even sends fliers to us here in MI. So when it comes time for service or any recalls that need to be performed, guess who's first in line and who's last when they get around to it? Personally, I support my local dealers and am willing to pay for it.

PS These would be the same bunch of scrapers that will start bitching about lowballers and customers who want to save a buck or two. :confused: :rolleyes:

[mikelawtown]

I was on craigs list and saw a 2 year old yard king 9HP -27wide for 425.00 who makes this machine and should i go 4 it?..im not looking for one so i can do customers just my own walk..Thanks

[Snowboy]

I haven’t had luck buying stuff at dealers. They always take to long to service my equipment no matter if I bought it from them or not. When does your stuff break down? Right when you need it. You think you can take your snowblower into a shop to get fixed at 3am when i just went down on you? Not many of the delaers here are open at that time or if they are do not have people to fix it. I can think of 1 or 2 Dealers here that would be open to fix a plow. Next closest open service center is Kooy bro's in Toronto which im sure will be swamped with bigger problems then my silly snowblower.

My trimmer my chain saw my mower my blower all bought at a dealer and only back up tools I bought from my work Home Depot.

Ok so you might be able to call up Jerre or one of the other guys here but not every shop out there is like Jerre.

Is that that much profit in the machines? A shop charging $60labour rate and pays a Tech what $12hr I'm sure the shop makes more on service then sales.

Allot of the dealers here are all talk. I will most likely be buying a new walker mower next year and I went in for pricing at my local shop and the guy didn’t give me any firm price I also asked for a test drive he said yeah it could possibly be arranged. What kind of crap service is that? You want my money or what? We are not talking $3000 we are talk into the $16000 mark.

I know everybody hates a cheap person and tire kickers but if you need to wait a week or to at the shop for the item to be fixed what the diff if it’s Home Depot Lowe’s or mom and pops equipment store?

[Rocket]

I know everybody hates a cheap person and tire kickers but if you need to wait a week or to at the shop for the item to be fixed what the diff if it’s Home Depot Lowe’s or mom and pops equipment store?
The difference is that you will be at the repair shop more often. The fact is that the big boxes are getting the same name brand but don't think for a moment you are getting the same item. Usually the item number is just one digit off and that means that one part that needs to be specially ordered. I'd rather spend the extra money and get the real thing and be sure I can be up and running in a moments notice if something goes wrong. Service is a luxury to some, a necessity to us.

[chtucker]

well gentleman and ladies... I have broken down and gotten into sidewalks...

I have heard discussion of the toros/hondas/airens.... What are the current model numbers? Are they single or dual stage? 2stroke/4stroke? Paddles? I have some wood decking to do....... About 600 feet of 4' wide sidewalk...(combined of the three properties that I am doing sidewalks for) Am I going to hurt my back lifting these things around?

Howard

[wyldman]

The lightweight single stage units are around 75 lbs.Skip the electric start,it justs adds weight.They use rubber paddles,and are good little machines.I prefer the Toros.

If your going to be doing deep heavy snow,then a two stage will be needed,but you won't be able to lift in by yourself.

Just a quick note on Toro blowers.Most of the ones that are being sold at Home Depot\Lowes\etc are the same units as what you would get from a local dealer.I know the two stroke single stage,and most of the bigger units (8 hp and up),are standard production Toro units.They may have some special models for the smaller two stage class (5-7hp),so be careful with these.This is not the case with most of the mowers,and other lawn\garden machines,as they are specially made for the big box stores.

[Chuck Smith]

Ok, so I can definitely speak from experience here. Let's talk about 3 blowers. The first two are older than some of the Members here. One is an Ariens. Not usr of the year, but I believe 70's somewhere. No real problems with it. other than it weighs a ton. Two guys struggle lifting it in and out of the truck. Works good when it is running. By that I mean over the years it has had a lot of problems with the carb. It is the ST 8-24 Model I believe. Second one.... Crapsman, 1986. It is only a 5hp, but what a great little machine. This thing will throw slush 30' all day long. It has a gear box on it, not just a gear selector, but an actual gear box under there.

The Ariens has a "friction disc" instead of a gear box, and we never really had any problems with it. You can actually see it in the background in one of the pics on the "Mower Problem" thread I started. Other than the carb being finiky, the other problem is the machine feels "loose" because it was the first year Ariens offered it as a "power unit", meaning the blower can come off with a latch system, and a broom or (??) can go on instead.

Now, the last one....geeez. I bought it in 04. It is a Crapsman (read MTD) 8hp. I paid $799 for it. What I like is it has a Briggs motor. It also had a power wire hanging out of the pull start cover that I was able to hook up a tractor light to. They had another 8hp model with the light for an extra $100.

The crate said MTD - Ship to Sears right on it. It does not throw slush well at all. The chute is square, and so is the discharge to the chute from the impeller housing. The 5hp and Ariens above have round discharges. The square slows things down, and causes clogs. While we carried many spare shear pins for the augers, for the 5hp and the Ariens above, we never had to change one in well over 10 years of service, both commercial and homeowners use. My new Crapsman, I have sheared two pins in my own driveway so far. The auger housing bent, or flexed, and the end of one auger dropped out of (what used to be) the pillow block bearing. Now it is just a hunk of plastic, no bearings. When I bought it, the guy asked if I wanted tire chains, and I said no. He said they will provide better traction, I told him no, they will help smoke the friction disc faster. He looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about. I bet he had no clue himself. He probably thinks there is a gear box under there. He should have been there one of the many times the blower stopped, because it got hung up on uneven pavement in my driveway. It stopped because the friction disc was slipping. The Briggs runs great, but that is the only good thing about the machine.

When I bought my 80 GMC back in 94, there was a 1974 Simplicity single stage beast, with steel wheels on it in the bed, The guy tried to get me to buy it, I told him I was not interested, he gave it to me for free to get rid of it. My buddy is still using it to clear his driveway today. All he did was clean the carb and change the oil. I would bet he hasn't changed the oil since either.

So what am I trying to say? Take your money, and go buy an older used machine from a homeowner if you want a 2 stage. Have it serviced, or service it yourself, there is not much to a blower. If you got it for $150, and put $400 into it, you would still have a machine 10X better than most of what you can buy today.

End of rant :soapbox

If you can afford it, then Ariens, Toro or Simplicity is the way to go for a new 2 stage. It seems you pay about $100 a hp with most, but these 3 tend to be even more. Snapper even makes a 2 stage, but it is spendy too. ;)

~Chuck

[Pickering Snow]

I haven’t had luck buying stuff at dealers. They always take to long to service my equipment no matter if I bought it from them or not. When does your stuff break down? Right when you need it. You think you can take your snowblower into a shop to get fixed at 3am when i just went down on you? Not many of the delaers here are open at that time or if they are do not have people to fix it. I can think of 1 or 2 Dealers here that would be open to fix a plow. Next closest open service center is Kooy bro's in Toronto which im sure will be swamped with bigger problems then my silly snowblower.

My trimmer my chain saw my mower my blower all bought at a dealer and only back up tools I bought from my work Home Depot.

Ok so you might be able to call up Jerre or one of the other guys here but not every shop out there is like Jerre.

Is that that much profit in the machines? A shop charging $60labour rate and pays a Tech what $12hr I'm sure the shop makes more on service then sales.

Allot of the dealers here are all talk. I will most likely be buying a new walker mower next year and I went in for pricing at my local shop and the guy didn’t give me any firm price I also asked for a test drive he said yeah it could possibly be arranged. What kind of crap service is that? You want my money or what? We are not talking $3000 we are talk into the $16000 mark.

I know everybody hates a cheap person and tire kickers but if you need to wait a week or to at the shop for the item to be fixed what the diff if it’s Home Depot Lowe’s or mom and pops equipment store?


Loyality something that has went down the tubes to save a nickel. I havent bought from a big box yet execpt for Sears who has been around for years.

Dave have you ever thought maybe the Mom and Pop stores have jsut about had it with trying to compete with big box the secret to any relationship in the repair buss is loyality it comes at a price a big price but my true customers know that if there truly broken i dont check the day i get them going.

I also get what what i call hit and miss cust's mostly shopping price and dont care about service, there the ones that call me at 10 saturday night broke down and explain to me that the alt Firestone put on has failed and can i get them going. I always think why didnt they have me put it on but then i remember oh ya Firestone has the 12.99 oil change and the tech was kind enough to find there alt was bad probley not but we just made a 12.99 oil change a 350.00 ticket.

I have helped people more times than i can count have changed tires in the rain at night only to have these same people go to Sams to buy there next set instead of me.

I buy everything poss from Ace hardware here if they dont have it they order it and it REALLY comes in. I also service 15 of there store owned and employee vechs and plow there lot they are loyal has iam to them.

Iam sure your right not everyoneis like Jerre in plow service nor are there repair shops that will go the extra mile but maybe understand why if you get kicked in the sacks enough you start to learnwho your real cust are.

Ps i agree on the older blowers being built to higher standards and would put money into a older one before buying new.

[Mark Oomkes]

Just to reiterate what Fred stated, I bought a gas powered pressure washer earlier this year from a comapny that we buy a lot of our handheld equipment from. He told me straight out that I could go to Home Cheapo and get the 'same' model cheaper and I told him sure I could, but I still have to bring it here to get serviced and I would rather spend my money here and know that you will service me when needed.

I spend my money where I can get it serviced and am willing to pay them for that.

[Tom34nd]

I have had a 8.5hp two stage 26" wide self propelled electric start mtd for 9 years now. its gray and is made by yard machines. Other than changing oil, spark plugs, and a few schear pins every year I have had no problems with it. The only complaint I ever had about the thing is the light that it came with never worked. I bought it from a local hardware dealer in 97' and have had nothing but good luck. I have more than paid for the thing and it starts up every year and goes to work. It basically comes down to a crap shoot........ do you buy one for 800.00 bucks and get one season or 10 seasons. If you want decent service and dont mind paying for it buy a Frontier( John Deere ). It just boils down to maintenance and proventitive maintenance and a little luckplowing!