My snow clearing is primarily an asphalt driveway and, as some have
mentioned, the stuff the snow plough leaves at the entrance. That is
probably the worst stuff to remove, it's heavy, may have ice blocks and
has to be blown the farthest. I suspect that bigger 2 stage units will
throw the stuff further, which is useful for big areas and if the wind
is blowing strongly (often happens).
Mine is wheeled (Sears brand) and I've always left the drive pin in, so
traction is to both wheels. Never had a traction problem and it takes of
quite fast in top gear. Also has two reverse gears, which can speed
things along. Yes, it's a little more difficult to turn, but only when
going quickly, in low gears it's not a problem (and I need the exercise
anyway). Don't see the need for tracks, which may have more things to go
wrong.
The other thing not discussed is the width of the cleaned path. The
model Chuck showed has a nominal 21" width. The larger 2 stage units
clean a wider area (nominally 30" for mine). I need to do fewer trips to
clean the same surface area, even though my unit may be slower in doning
the actual cleaning.
Martin
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Wayne Culberson
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 7:05 AM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Re: [OT] Single stage snowblowers, was plastic repair.
I was wondering about the turning issue with tracks. It makes sense that
it would be hard to twist around, especially as they typically weigh
over 200 lbs. I'm just reading online at this point, but its also
interesting that the single stage blowers will move more tons of snow
per hour than the more powerful 2 stage ones. I guess the difference is
that they don't move it as far. It seems at this point that the single
stage one, at about 75 pounds, would be far nicer for the cement
walkways and paved driveway, especially when a storm only leaves 4 to 6
inches of lighter snow. For the heavy storms, 12 inches of soggy stuff
like came this week, and for clearing the stuff the road plow rolls into
the end of the driveways and around the mailbox, the 2 stage definitely
looks better.
Maybe its like cameras, you need both.
Wayne
> My son lives in Buffalo (lots of snow) and as his first snowblower
> bought a used two stage with tracks instead of wheels because he got a
> good deal on it. He hated it. It's great if you've only got to go in
> a straight line but getting the beast to turn is really work. He
> couldn't wait until he could afford a new one with wheels.
>
> A wheeled snowblower is normally run with only one drive wheel which
> makes it easier to turn. If you really need more traction you can
> stick a spring loaded pin through the normally free wheel hub and
> axle. In 11 years I've only done that a couple of times. It does
> make it hard to turn but may help with traction if you've gotten a lot
> of ice under the snow. You can also get chains for the wheels. I've
> never seen studded snowblower tires but wouldn't be surprised to see
that they exist.
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
> Wayne Culberson wrote:
>
>> I don't really know about single stage versus dual stage blowers, but
>> I'll definitely be looking into it. The track versus wheels thing
>> sounds interesting, except that I imagine wheels are easier and
>> cheaper to maintain. It would be awfully nice not to have to mix gas,
>> not only for the bother, but I hate breathing the fumes from 2 cycle
>> engines. And it would need to be able to churn through the stuff the
>> road plow rolls into the end of the driveway for sure. Any more info
>> is certainly appreciated.
>
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