Looking for a good snow blower...

[dean]

I have a gravel driveway thats 200' long and 15' wide, opening up to a fairly large area, so it has to throw quite far. Prefer a Honda GX engine. Any recommendations? Prices?

Thanks!

Dean

[JerryD(upstateNY)]

[BocesLib]

Well you like the Honda commercial engines, so you can go for a honda 2 stage snowblower. They all seem to have gx series motors on them.

An Ariens, Deere etc might do you just as well without costing twice as much a new Honda.

Remember they are great machines, but you really pay for it!

If you are working on a gravel driveway, make sure NOT to point that snow at anything important (cars, house etc) Rocks can and WILL get in that snow mix. Only thing I would say with any two stage unit is to make sure you jack those skids out on the auger a little more than normal. That might help you with shooting too many rocks out.

If you want throwing power, make sure to get a decent horsepower motor. Something in the 8hp range is a good start. Smaller ones are ok, but may not have the throwing power you desire.

Once you get that blower in, make sure to buy an extra few sets of shear pins. Nothing like breaking one of those and not having any extras. A cotter pin or screw/nut combo can be used temporarily, but if you get something jammed in that auger, say bye bye to that differential.

Tom

[m Ransley]

Dont even consider a single stage as the impellor pulls it along throwig alot of rocks, Set a 2 stage to not scrape the gravel so you leave snow, gravel will remove the backed on finish causing rust.

[spamTHISbrp]

Ditto that, Jerry, I'm somewhere between Binghamton and Syracuse myself.

I'd add to that raising the skids fairly high to avoid scooping up gravel as much as possible.

Speaking of the skids: My 'gravel' is walnut-sized crushed stone, and when it gets frozen in place and one of the skids hits it, that side of the 'blower would literally stop dead, causing the whole thing to turn, or to jump up in the air.

I brazed some extensions to the skids to help them climb the walnuts, as opposed to stopping dead. Now if we'd get some more snow, I could try it out...

Dave