# Best bang for your buck



## kylecal91 (Dec 29, 2009)

I'm new to the snow removal industry as of this year. I need a powerful and reliable snow blower for my jobs. I have a small 3 hp toro powerlite that works excellent for it's size but for the packed and icy stuff it doesn't like it. So just wondering what some of you guys use or recommend.


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## hedhunter9 (Nov 15, 2008)

Packed or icy stuff ?

Salt.....


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## cfdeng7 (Jan 7, 2009)

if u want to go the snowblower route u are going to need a 2 stage blower. x blades seems to scrape up the packed stuff pretty good haha


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## leon (Nov 18, 2008)

*snow blower*



kylecal91;934484 said:


> I'm new to the snow removal industry as of this year. I need a powerful and reliable snow blower for my jobs. I have a small 3 hp toro powerlite that works excellent for it's size but for the packed and icy stuff it doesn't like it. So just wondering what some of you guys use or recommend.


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I have the toro CCR 2000 with the power curve paddles and it works well. The problem with ice and frozen snow is it is heavy and tight and hard to break to begin with.

So much depends upon how much money you have to or are willing to spend.

Power, strength and weight/mass/traction are what is required for heavy packed snow and ice.

It boils down to a basic economic question of opportunity cost, which is what are you willing to give up (money) to obtain something else being as more powerful snow blower that will be used only seasonally?

Some of the snow blowers offered today have notches cut into the auger blades to dig into packed snow and ice.

If you buy a very large self propelled snow blower like the 48 inch troy built unit it will allow you to run at high rpm using low forward speeds to tear up the ice.

The more power you have the less you need to worry about shock loads and overloading a machine. The more power you have the faster snow removal can become if desired simply using a higher power band at a slower speed allows one to throw snow further and faster to clean pavement.

The use of the ben franklin close always works:

take a piece of paper and draw line down the middle

place a minus sign on the left side and postive sign on the rightside

place all the negatives on the negative side and the posites on the positive side
add all the negatives together and then add the positives together and then you will have the answer being either greater negative or greater positive side for the purchase of a bigger snow blower.

Using a decision tree is an option which requires much more information to make a decision of some type.

either method always works.

The other side of the coin always is "what is your time worth"?

the bigger the engine on a snow blower the less effort is required to remove ice and snow and the machine will last longer as the power available is greater to do the job at that time.

Investing in a bigger blower has bigger up front cost to you buuuut-

The bigger the power on a blower gives you more energy to use to remove snow to aviod build ups and ice as a result.

The machine being more powerful than what you need will last longer as long as maintenance is done.

A bigger machine is built with more steel and of course weighs more aiding in traction and in digging power.

The larger industrial snow blowers have thicker steel and heavy parts and drive trains.

A bigger machine allows you to clean up quickly in the event of a big snow fall easily and with less effort and reducing stress from exhaustion and from overwork.

some years you may not use it alot buuut as long as the gas is drained off or the gas line is shut off and the engine is allowed to die off by consuming all the gasoline insures it will start up next time with no difficulty.

The two track driven snow blowers sold by Zaugg and others are the ultimate side walk blowers with twin augers with the upper/ lower configuration with a huge fan which are designed for heavy packed snow and ice.

these units were designed to clean sidewalks in areas with heavy snow falls sveral machines are built for the japanese snow belt.

The other option is a tractor driven blower like the pronovost PXPL-50 with scrapers and heavy augers.

leon:waving:


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## brimfield (Jan 2, 2009)

I have a Cub Cadet 45" cut with a 13 hp motor. It cuts the heavy snow packed by the town. I need it for a 1/4 mile driveway. The cadet is a two stage and the auger has cutting edges to break apart packed in snow. And given a 1/4 mile trip 45" wide cut means alot less trips. The 13 hp can move alot of snow and never stalls. the only thing is over 6" of snow I have to slow down due to snow spilling over the sides of the machine. 6 foward and two reverse speeds help as does the power zero turn that stops one side of the axel for easy turns cause this baby is heavy. This weight helps it scrape to pavement well.


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