Our original plans were to finish raking the leaves, but they're all frozen to what's left of the grass. So we did a long-overdue reorganization of the garage, instead.
One of the reasons for the rearranging that took place was to make room for the new toy.
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| Ariens ST30DLE Deluxe |
When we bought our house in the mountains, last year, we purchased what seemed like a sufficiently-powered snow blower.
Not even close.
Our driveway, a C-shaped drive-through, is 270 feet long, and varies from one to two lanes wide, with the widest portion in front of the house. Last winter's snows frequently exceeded the height of the chute opening on the unit we bought, and it wasn't self-propelled.
We pushed, struggled, strained, and coerced that machine through snow it was never designed to cope with. The tires were only 7", and the exhaust port blew directly on the left tire. That turned all the snow stuck to the tire into a non-rotating ice clump.
So, not self-propelled, and only one functioning wheel. And then the local snow plows come by, usually within a half-hour, and close both ends of the driveway.
But experience provides wisdom. This model has a 30" mouth, and a two-stage auger/impeller system which will throw snow up to 55' away. 16" knobby tires, and did I mention it has heated handles?
For the technically-minded among you, Gentle Readers, it has a 306cc engine with either pull- or electric-start. It should be able to laugh at the 3' snow boulders left by the plow as it chews up the end of our asphalt.
I'm actually looking forward to clearing the drive, now. :)
11 comments:
Reminds me of plowing our 1/2 mile lane only to have the state snowplow empty his blade in our newly opened drive.
That would be maddening, at best. I'm glad our drive isn't that long, but the local plow seems to come by within 30 minutes of us finishing the job. Then we have to clear both ends again. The difference is, this machine ought to take the 3' snow boulders in stride.
I've heard Ariens is a good brand, and they seem to be popular out here.
I'm looking at those, and Toros.
I looked at the monster Honda that has tracks and power steering and heated handlebars, and electrically powered everything, and.......the wife said "NO!!"....
It's also $4,000.....
Tractor and blade for me.....
But that does look like a nice toy.
Jim, maybe this will help: the Ariens line is ranked #1 by Consumer Reports, and in every "user review" I was able to find, on-line. That was good enough for me.
Ed, it was a near thing for me, but I suspect - since there are four of us to run it - it'll be fine. If our grown daughters didn't live here, I'd have opted for the ATV.
Ed B, TORO TORO TORO. No really, I have a 1987 toro 8 series that I picked up for free on the side of the road about 10 years ago. I've put maybe $50 worth of love into it and as small as it is, I'm always able to break through the banks the plows leave behind.
Our previous, smaller model was a Toro. It worked its guts out for us, but was simply too small for the quantities & depth of snow we got. Too much work to shove it through drifts that deep, and I'm not getting any younger.
I hear ya, Rev. We don't get even CLOSE to the sheer volume of skier's manna that y'all get up there. New England is a silly place.
I'm not saying yours doesn't work, or that you don't get a lot of snow; just that the machine we had was too small. We sold it to a lady with a much smaller driveway, and she's thrilled with it. They're good machines.
Rev. Paul,
Nice investment! This will make short order of all the snow removal.
I bet your girls will fight over who will be using it.
Sandy, it will surely be easier than pushing the old one through the deep snow. And yes, both daughters want to use it. Right now, I'm the only one who knows how to operate it, though .. bwaahahahaha!
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