petee_c

I'd be worried about thaw freeze cycles, and stripped gears....

Mark Lue

Sounds like you're talking about yourself. Lol

I stll have an old Toro S200 single stage from the '70s that's still working, we change the paddles and rebuild the carb when needed, the compression is starting to go so it shuts off under medium loads but if it's too much I say fug it and go get a beer and call it a day, too many friends dying shoveling snow, around the GTA the stuff melts anyway.

Sign up for snow removal !

Adamant1971

GTA_G20

9964runner

I had a Sno tek for 6-7years now, also has a Toro single stage in the middle for a 2nd property, both houses have below grade double garages, so 20x40 drive sloping up from the house. Your first decision is single of two stage, pros and cons to each... Single stage- pros- light weight, easy to transport/store, clean right down to the surface. cons- struggle with deep hard packed snow, move a limited amount of snow, propelled by the auger. Multi stage- pros- move large volumes of snow long distances, chew through snowplow berms, self propelled, multiple speeds. cons- storage, difficult to transport, don't quite get all the snow.

Tj40

Ariens 2 stage blower - I used to live in Ottawa and used a shovel all the time.

Then I was there the year the annual snowfall record was broken - one Saturday morning we had 45cm fall in about 3 hours - I already had 5 ft snowbanks down each side of the driveway.
My neighbour (retired) had a single stage blower and I couldn't cope - we ended up with him holding it still and I shovelled snow into the blower! The drifts were deeper than the 'cut' on his blower
After that I got a 6HP 2 stage snow blower!! :-)

eyedoc

Have 3 car garage 30ft at doors tapering to 22ft at curb 160ft away. Have 10.5HP Cub Cadet 2 stage 30" wide-self propelled, hydrostatic turning-6 forward/2 reverse speeds. Larger stone walkway to front door on 4 levels up 1 step per level- Tired of manhandling the brute on the walkway, so got a small 18" single stage Toro 99cc, very light for walkway. As we get wide and occasionally 2.5 ft high snowplow pile at end of driveway, Toro would just race over top of that if that pile is dense/semi-frozen, so the beast can chew through that. Fortunately that may only happen 3-5 times per winter. Bought Brute year after Mel Lastman brought Army into Toronto to clear snow; felt if I was going to continue doing my own driveway I needed a self propelled to replace the then Toro single stage I had then, which was larger 24", but it's limit was 8" snowfall, and over matched with town's plow leftovers. Unfortunately I traded it in on the bigger unit; And this year my back told me I couldn't continue using the big unit on the walkway. Can clear 8-10" on driveway in about 1 hour with this setup.

Imo000

Check Kijiji, it's full of good snowblowers.

GTA_G20

petee_c

I sold my hs622 and bought my hs1132 on kijiji.... though i believe a hs928 would have been big enough... keep looking....

You could always get a used store brand one on kijiji and flip it after you find your honda/toro.......

My dad has a 10 yr old craftsman blower.... it's ok,,,had to replace a belt and a bad pulley a couple yaars ago, The chute mechanism is a little wonky but works (for now)

911 Rod

I have a 6 year old Craftsman and it's a POS. The build quality is a joke. Pins for the chute fall out. Hand warmers are pathetic. I'm glad it has electric start because I tried to pull start it a couple of times and ending up getting an extension cord. lol
It does blow the snow .....unless it's wet.

Imo000

Residential snowblowers get maybe 10 yours of use a year so they all will last a long time. Pretty much any 2 stage machine with 8hp (250cc or more) will be more than adequate for the average suburb house. Like a car, get one that looks like it has low Km. J Fire it up, see how it idles, engage the augers, test the transmission and look at the tires. That’s about all one needs to do. $500 should get you a good one unless you wait too long. The important part is always drain the carb bowl and the tank every spring or you will end up with issues next season. Some put fuel stabilizer in the tank and that is OK but you still need to drain the bowl. Here is a tip, if you have to replace one of the drive belts, get a belt meant for a snowblower and don’t use an automotive belt unless you have no other choice. The car belts are too soft and aren’t meant to slip like the ones on lawnmowers and snowblowers. Those belts are usually blue or green in colour as opposed to black.

eyedoc

Note-new Toros are 4 cycle-no gas oil mix as before. Even smallest 99cc has a chute. my original Toro was 2 cycle/no chute-was dependable but less effective with drifts over 8 in

wildcat077

I bought two used Hondas from the classifieds , except for the first one which came with my house when i bought it ...
Yes they are pricey, but i sold the second one ( HS 80 ) for the same price i paid for it after about 7-8 years of use so i can upgrade to a 9/28 hydrostatic unit.Always starts up
on first pull and compared to the old Columbia 8/28 which i keep for the backyard, which is a total piece of s**t and vibrates just about every bolt loose in one Winter.

Thank goodness it has a plug in electric start otherwise i would have thrown it off a bridge already !
Sounds like a Honda 6/22 would be perfect for your application, be patient as they come up for sale eventually.I drove 6 hours round trip to
Quebec City to pick up my HS 9/28 and i never regretted it.

SToronto

Toro Snowmaster 724/824 qxe is self propelled and hybrid (not true dual stage).