# New single stage 4 cycle Toro snow blowers?



## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

Anyone try these yet? We have a older one thats 2 cycle and goes through the snow fairly well, just wondering how these 4 cycle ones work. Of course the dealer said they are great but he wants to sell me a couple.


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## Plow More (May 26, 2009)

We sold a 4 stroke single stage to a municipality who also has a ~1 year old 2 stoke single stage. I went out and talked to the guys after a 2 day solid snow storm, they LOVED it compared to the 2 stroke, liked the better torque and reduced odor.


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## buckhigh (Oct 21, 2008)

I would love to hear some more feedback on the 4 stroke models as well. Currently have 2 Toro 221qr #38583 and love them. Paid $450 out the door 2 years ago each, and now the 4 stroke equivalents run over $600+! Doesn't the EPA have anything better to do???

If anyone knows where I can find new #38583's please let me know!


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## ryde307 (Dec 3, 2009)

We have 5 of the small ones. They have changed the numbers every year it seems but I think the are 418 or 421's or something like that. I have nothign to compare them to as we did not have 2 strokes before but they work well. Pretty good up to 5 inches of snow. They don;t really like wet heavy stuff but will manage.

With that said 1 had bad fuel lines and would leak all the fuel out if it sat for 24 hrs. One worked well last season worked well for the first event this season and during the second would barley run. One of the guys fixed it but I am not sure what it was. Assuming something carb related. For being basicaly 1 year old that is somewhat disappointing.


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## 97f250Heavyduty (Dec 27, 2009)

I only run 2 stroke toros, however I have tried out the 4 cycle models. The engine is a "toro" built engine made in china. The carbs are the weak point on them. They did have problems with them leaking and they have a tendency to surge and bog down under a load. Only 2 strokes for me. Look for a couple good used 2 strokes.


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## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

I ran the 4 stroke last season and it works well. Quieter than the 2's but noticably heavier when loading and unloading. Just another machine you have to change oil in, PITA. If you have some 2 strokes and some 4 strokes you always run the risk of putting the wrong fuel in one of them. Maybe not yourself, but one of the guys not awake yet at 3am. I think they are good machines though.


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## buckhigh (Oct 21, 2008)

97f250Heavyduty;1553159 said:


> I only run 2 stroke toros, however I have tried out the 4 cycle models. The engine is a "toro" built engine made in china. The carbs are the weak point on them. They did have problems with them leaking and they have a tendency to surge and bog down under a load. Only 2 strokes for me. Look for a couple good used 2 strokes.


Is Toro still using the R-Tek engine, but a 4 stroke version?


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## fairwaymowing (Oct 17, 2011)

Just got our first ones this year.....Last week we got 14 inches and they went right through it and blows the snow 30 ft no problem....I was shocked and was very happy with the productivity, as far as longevity goes, I wouldn't be surprised if we have problems, but I'm crossing my fingers we don't.


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## 97f250Heavyduty (Dec 27, 2009)

Buck, the r tek which was a toro motor and then Briggs took it over is no longer available in new machines unless new old stock. The r tek was a 2 stroke motor. The new 4 cycle motors are completely different that toro produces.


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## RocketRollinSX (Nov 8, 2010)

I picked up a Toro 621 QZR this season and I cant believe I didnt get one sooner. I always laughed at guys who had what I thought was a waste of a machine, now I dont leave the house without it. I still use my 2 stage for anything over 5-6" but usually pass my Toro after for a final cleaning. It scrapes right to the pavement, no need for shovels any more!


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

Well guys, picked one up yesterday and wow was the dealer busy! Luckily they were open til 1 on new years eve. Anyways, here's my take. First its a bit heavier I think then our CR2450 (2 cycle version), Its a lot quieter, its 2 inches smaller in width but no big deal. I only used it at my house because those are the only sidewalks not done yet....go figure. I fired it up the way my dealer told me to, prime twice, choke and pull twice then take the choke off and pull again....oooook. Anyways it fired right up and I started moving snow. The sidewalks were covered in 10'ish inches of kind of frozen snow that's been sitting for a while. It didn't go through it like butter, I had to back off a few times or it would have stalled right out. When I slowed down a bit it did go right through everything with no problem without bogging down any and threw it across the street into the neighbor's lawn,lol (about 30-40ft), as usual with these paddle type blower's it scraped right down to the pavement and even took off some ice where people had walked. I wish I could still get a 2 cycle version but I looked and couldn't find one so yes now we need to be careful as to not mix up the fuel but this one goes on my truck so no issues there, I was surprised and glad it still has the power to go through some fairly deep stuff. All in all for 350.00 you can't go wrong, it surely beats a shovel! Hope this helps those who are looking for a small blower.


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## plowfever (Nov 2, 2010)

I have a old old Toro blower it is a CCR1000. 2 cycle 3hp engine but it does everything I need it to. I was actually just looking on there website Sunday because I think I may buy a new one once this round of money start flowing in. I love the one I have it is extremely light, blows good and fires right up every time. I just know it is getting to the age that I better replace it or it is going to leave me stranded. I don't do a lot of sidewalks but the ones I do are pretty good size. At the factories I do I clean them every 6-8 hours so they really never get that much snow on them and the strip mall I do I clean pretty often as well. I used to swear by 2 stage blowers but the first time I used a single stage I have almost retired my 2 stages now. I still have one I keep for when we get a real deep snow but I hate using it. Is there a model you guys would recommend over another? I was just going to buy the cheapest one they have because I figured it would be the lightest. I want something that will hold up well for me but I don't want to pay big $$ for one either since I don't do a lot of blowing.


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## tebletlawns (Oct 26, 2010)

I have 2 new Toro's bought this year and 2 Honda's bought last year. Each the biggest single stage model, the Toro's cost $115 less each per unit. While I'm not disapointed with Toro's, I prefer the Honda model. Easiest things to start every time. Love the Honda engine.


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

tebletlawns;1554550 said:


> I have 2 new Toro's bought this year and 2 Honda's bought last year. Each the biggest single stage model, the Toro's cost $115 less each per unit. While I'm not disapointed with Toro's, I prefer the Honda model. Easiest things to start every time. Love the Honda engine.


I would have preferred the Honda too but at double the cost.....and they weigh considerably more. If I did more sidewalks I would probably put more thought into a way to get it on and off the truck easier and went with a Honda but we bought this pretty much for a back up. This is a just in case the other sidewalk guys dont show or touch ups are needed. It was an easy sell to my Boss (the Wife,lol) So far we would have saved 4 hours in total labor if we had this during the last storm. So in 1 storm its already 1/3 paid off.


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## tebletlawns (Oct 26, 2010)

A Toro cost 499 and a Honda was 615 so I saved 230 when I purchased the Toro's. The Honda's wiegh only 2# more and the Honda's are a tad shorter. Either way the Toro should be plenty good for you. They work fine for us so far.


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## trustyrusty (Dec 31, 2008)

We bought a 621 QZR this year and love it. So far no problems and the quick chute is the bomb.com. FWIW, an Ice Buster spreader and a 621 are a perfect side by side fit in a $100 Harbor Freight aluminum hitch hauler. Makes it easy to load and unload at knee level and leaves the bed of the truck open for a pallet of ice melter, etc.


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## ducaticorse (Oct 16, 2012)

trustyrusty;1554787 said:


> We bought a 621 QZR this year and love it. So far no problems and the quick chute is the bomb.com. FWIW, an Ice Buster spreader and a 621 are a perfect side by side fit in a $100 Harbor Freight aluminum hitch hauler. Makes it easy to load and unload at knee level and leaves the bed of the truck open for a pallet of ice melter, etc.


Do you have a picture of that setup?

I went with the Honda HS520. Honda has shown to me over the years that the are ultra dependable, and I've never heard a bad thing about this particular blower. I am hand spreading with 5 gall buckets now, but would like to see a nice spreader. I run magic salt though, and it tends to be a lil damp.

I also hand load it in and out of my truck by myself, it's not a box of cookies, but it is doable.


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

tebletlawns;1554764 said:


> A Toro cost 499 and a Honda was 615 so I saved 230 when I purchased the Toro's. The Honda's wiegh only 2# more and the Honda's are a tad shorter. Either way the Toro should be plenty good for you. They work fine for us so far.


Man! the TORO we just bought was only 350.00 and the Honda was just over 600.00 Now that I have one to use I wish we had more sidewalks to do,lol One place we do, they have their employee's shovel and I feel bad for they guys. Its not a big place but very windy and a lot of snow.


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## snowremoval4les (Mar 3, 2009)

I own 3 Toro CCR2000's and oh my, I can't tell you how much I like them. They are light, easy in and out of trucks, and the parts aren't horribly expensive (like belts,paddles,shave plates) The guys like using them compared to the two, two stages I have because they work that well. We got pounded with our first storm two weeks ago and it was 8" inches of wet, heavy snow. After seeing how well my two toros did, i went out and bought the third one!


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## trustyrusty (Dec 31, 2008)

ducaticorse;1555407 said:


> Do you have a picture of that setup?
> 
> I went with the Honda HS520. Honda has shown to me over the years that the are ultra dependable, and I've never heard a bad thing about this particular blower. I am hand spreading with 5 gall buckets now, but would like to see a nice spreader. I run magic salt though, and it tends to be a lil damp.
> 
> I also hand load it in and out of my truck by myself, it's not a box of cookies, but it is doable.


We got last week's snow cleaned up and the forecast is clear and sunny for the foreseeable future so we took it off the truck today. As soon as we get another event (if we do LOL) I'll try to remember to get a pic for you.

I wouldn't call these little spreaders "nice" but they work well for the Peladow calcium chloride pellets we use. We've had one of them for about 8 years and although it is definitely on its last leg it has served us well. We have improvised some plastic bushings on the spinner shaft, etc. to keep it going this long but all in all I'd buy another one.


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## BUFF (Dec 24, 2009)

I've given some thought to buying a small single stage blower and narrowed it down to the Toro or Honda which are carried by my 2 local dealers. I'm leaning more towards the Honda mainly due to their motors and my history with them.
My question is at what point (length of walk) do you decide to use a blower over a shovel.
I know snow depth comes into play but I'm talking about up to 6" and our snow in Colorado is typically fluff with little moisture content which makes for easy shoveling.


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## djlunchbox (Jan 13, 2011)

ussmileyflag


BUFF;1556672 said:


> I've given some thought to buying a small single stage blower and narrowed it down to the Toro or Honda which are carried by my 2 local dealers. I'm leaning more towards the Honda mainly due to their motors and my history with them.
> My question is at what point (length of walk) do you decide to use a blower over a shovel.
> I know snow depth comes into play but I'm talking about up to 6" and our snow in Colorado is typically fluff with little moisture content which makes for easy shoveling.


Personally i use the toro as much as i can. We run a small snow crew and the less work i have to do, the better. With new paddles and a clean carb( damn ethanol) i can almost jog up and down the sidewalks and clear a few inches of snow if its light stuff.

The only downside to the little toros is they cant handle heavy stuff that good. I can fit 2 of the toro single stages in our snowblower rack WITH a 2 yard v box taking up the entire bed of the truck. I love that about them. The last snow up here in new england turned heavy overnight and we had to run a second truck to lug around the old 2 stage. Waste of gas but not a big deal.


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## BUFF (Dec 24, 2009)

djlunchbox;1556684 said:


> ussmileyflag
> 
> Personally i use the toro as much as i can. We run a small snow crew and the less work i have to do, the better. With new paddles and a clean carb( damn ethanol) i can almost jog up and down the sidewalks and clear a few inches of snow if its light stuff.
> 
> The only downside to the little toros is they cant handle heavy stuff that good. I can fit 2 of the toro single stages in our snowblower rack WITH a 2 yard v box taking up the entire bed of the truck. I love that about them. The last snow up here in new england turned heavy overnight and we had to run a second truck to lug around the old 2 stage. Waste of gas but not a big deal.


Most of my walks are 50ft or less which it pretty easy to knock out with a shovel, I have 2 that are close to 200ft which is where the idea of a small blower is attractive but again with a average 4-6" snow it goes pretty quick with a shovel. When we do get big snows I have a ATV with a plow and also a Gravely "G" series with a 40" 2 stage blower I can trailer to the site.


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

BUFF;1556672 said:


> I've given some thought to buying a small single stage blower and narrowed it down to the Toro or Honda which are carried by my 2 local dealers. I'm leaning more towards the Honda mainly due to their motors and my history with them.
> My question is at what point (length of walk) do you decide to use a blower over a shovel.
> I know snow depth comes into play but I'm talking about up to 6" and our snow in Colorado is typically fluff with little moisture content which makes for easy shoveling.


Like you said, depth of snow makes a big difference. We have one place we do that the sidewalk is only about 20ft long but usually gets drifted over with about 6+ inches so they use the blower all the time. Personally, I would use it on everything. I know its much quicker to just grab a shovel but the time saved using a blower (this type anyways) in my opinion is quite a bit given that there's more than an inch of snow. As ar as the engines, our older TORO is 5 seasons old now and the only thing we do to it is put Stabil in it during the off season or just drain the fuel and change the spark plug. It might be time for a new paddle soon but its been a great, reliable machine.


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## merrimacmill (Apr 18, 2007)

I was running many of the Toro 2 strokes, and they did OK for us. I wasn't wild about the plastic chute set up they had as I have had many issues with those breaking. Being that the engines were Tecumseh, and they are no longer around, parts began to become "order only" items and were very expensive.

I have since sold all of them on craigslist, and replaced them one by one with the Honda single stage blowers. I buy the model without electric start for $600 each, so yes they are a bit more expensive. But with an all metal chute design, Honda parts availability is great around here, and the units just simply run great. First pull everytime.


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## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

merrimacmill;1557164 said:


> I was running many of the Toro 2 strokes, and they did OK for us. I wasn't wild about the plastic chute set up they had as I have had many issues with those breaking. Being that the engines were Tecumseh, and they are no longer around, parts began to become "order only" items and were very expensive.
> 
> I have since sold all of them on craigslist, and replaced them one by one with the Honda single stage blowers. I buy the model without electric start for $600 each, so yes they are a bit more expensive. But with an all metal chute design, Honda parts availability is great around here, and the units just simply run great. First pull everytime.


MMM, how were you breaking the chutes?? I've had so many of these Toros and never broke the chute on one of them.


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## trustyrusty (Dec 31, 2008)

ducaticorse;1555407 said:


> Do you have a picture of that setup?


Ducaticorse, I finally got a pic for you this morning.


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

trustyrusty, your avatar just ain't right!


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## trustyrusty (Dec 31, 2008)

Brian Young;1561276 said:


> trustyrusty, your avatar just ain't right!


Which one, me or my bro?


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## trustyrusty (Dec 31, 2008)

You like this one better?


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## EWSplow (Dec 4, 2012)

anyone know anything about John Deere single stage 4 stroke blowers?


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## Antlerart06 (Feb 28, 2011)

I got try out my new Single stage Toro Wasn't much snow But dang that thing drag my ass around really good.

I know in deeper snow It wont go as fast So far Im hapy with it


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

Antlerart06;1679908 said:


> I got try out my new Single stage Toro Wasn't much snow But dang that thing drag my ass around really good.
> 
> I know in deeper snow It wont go as fast So far Im hapy with it


Cool, glad its working out for ya. Yeah they will take off if you tip them forward. If the snow is light and up to about 3-4" it will still fly right through it. It doesn't like slushy stuff at all. I actually did a sidewalk along a very busy main road and the state trucks left a lot of heavy slushy snow about 3-4" deep and it struggled but that was no place for a single stage blower but I got through it, right down to the concrete.


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## Antlerart06 (Feb 28, 2011)

Brian Young;1680157 said:


> Cool, glad its working out for ya. Yeah they will take off if you tip them forward. If the snow is light and up to about 3-4" it will still fly right through it. It doesn't like slushy stuff at all. I actually did a sidewalk along a very busy main road and the state trucks left a lot of heavy slushy snow about 3-4" deep and it struggled but that was no place for a single stage blower but I got through it, right down to the concrete.


Yes slushy I could tell it didn't like that I pre treated walks at a complex


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## creekwoodlawn (Dec 9, 2011)

Love the new 4 strokes, we have 4 of them and also KAGE Innovation has developed a poly paddle to replace the rubber one, adding about 35+ more hours onto the paddles before you have to replace them.


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## R75419 (Feb 11, 2012)

Are the Kage paddles really that good? I have been waiting to here a real world testimonial.


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## creekwoodlawn (Dec 9, 2011)

Sorry but I cant honestly answer that for you. Ours still have good paddles since we bought them late last winter so I was waiting on our first storm before I ordered a set.
I would love to hear from someone if they have actually ran them. I am just assuming they would be good for around here because we seem to get ice under snow quite a bit and it really is hard on the paddles.


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## Antlerart06 (Feb 28, 2011)

Big test from this last storm. We had 2'' of sleet then 4-5'' of wet snow.

My new Toro 418 was a beast. I wasn't sure if it could blow the wet stuff but it did I was impress with it. I'm going buy another one. Think I'm going buy the 621 model for my sons truck he has more room for that size. The 418 just does fit on my flat with the Vbox on the truck


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## BC Handyman (Dec 15, 2010)

I got one, it works great, I got a vid using it.


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## BUFF (Dec 24, 2009)

BC Handyman;1686084 said:


> I got one, it works great, I got a vid using it.


The opening music in the vid is great....... I pitty the fool that low-balls BC


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## 04hd (Jan 3, 2013)

I just bought a toro 621 with the quick shoot. I love the quick shoot but the rest is up for debate. Seems to me my ccr2450 has way more power and throws snow further. I am taking the 621 in because when I get in any sort of heavy snow it looses rpm and just dies.


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