Apart from finding an awesome thirty year old snow blower on CL that needs a little work, what's the recommendation for a decent snow blower that will see occasional use?
We just got 6" overnight and after me shovelling our driveway for over an hour (clearing about half of it) one of our neighbours took pity and came over with his little Craftsman snow blower. Took him 15 minutes to clear the rest of the driveway and I now clearly (yeah, bad pun, so sue me) need a new toy.
Find a small engine repair shop in your town. They'll usually have a bunch of old good snow blowers sitting around that they will sell you for more than craigslist, but cheaper than a junk pile from home depot.
An older John Deere or Toro or Ariens with new belts, oil, skid shoes, carb rebuild will be better than anything else..
I have a 1973 Ariens that is dead nuts reliable. It's needed drive belts (expected) and shear pins (stop hitting stuff) and that's it.
After years of clearing a 100' driveway, 100' of sidewalk plus my neighbors 120' of sidewalk w/ a chincy 21" Snapper two-stroke single stage I bought a $700+ two-stage 4-stroke w/ a 5-speed box three years ago. It hasn't snowed enough since to even put gas in it.
Buy the biggest, baddest machine you can... and it will ward off any significant snow accumulation for the foreseeable future. 
fasted58 wrote: Buy the biggest, baddest machine you can... and it will ward off any significant snow accumulation for the foreseeable future.
This is the bare minimum needed:
In reply to Grtechguy:
that there is righteous dude 
I just did about 100' of driveway myself, 7" deep. Well, I just kinda dug 2 tire tracks out. About half way through, I was wondering if a snow blower would be worth adding yet one more internal combustion engine to E36 M3 I have to maintain, for the average of once a year I would need it. Or a cheap subaru with snow tires and don't worry about it.
All joking aside. any METAL 2-stage unit should be fine. Try to avoid plastic chutes and 5-7hp is plenty for most peoples snow removal.
I'm not too keen on the "yet another internal combustion engine" myself, but due to the design of our driveway (fairly steep slope towards the house) and the fact it's south facing, compressed snow very quickly turns it into an ice rink. I found that out last year, so this year I've been clearing it manually.
I'd rank a snow blower "yet another internal combustion engine" in w/ generators. They may sit a lot and take up space but you'd be kicking yourself if you didn't have one when you most needed it.
Don't get hung up on finding a particular brand. Almost all of the used machines that you will find were made by the same company. I think it was MTD. They made them for themselves, Craftsman, Airens, Agway, Toro and several others.
All of those have Tecumseh engines. They have a primary drive pulley for the auger and counter shaft for the wheels. You cannot just swap in a typical Briggs and Stratton if you find one with a bad engine.
Model numbers generally indicate horsepower and width of cut. (Model 524 is usually 5 horse and 24 inch).
Be sure to buy extra belts and spare shear pins before the snow falls, because you won't find any when you need them. Everybody breaks belts and shear pins on the same day. Don't replace the shear pins with regular bolts or a stray rock will destroy your transfer case.
Electric start is nice but not really necessary. They don't use a battery. You plug in an extension cord, hit the starter button and then unplug. You can usually add a starter if you need one.
Snowblower = Good
Snowthrower = E36 M3
Don't get too hung up on buying the widest width of cut either. An extra four inch cut doesn't make a huge difference at the end of the day, but it will make a big difference when the machine is not being used. Remember, 360 days of the year, you will be walking past this thing in your garage. But on those days when you need it...
Also: Never Ever clear a jam with your hand! As soon as it's cleared, the augur will remove your hand. Use a stick or something.
Machines with tracks are nice for going straight, but they can be hard to maneuver, especially when you are just trying to move it around when there is no snow on the ground.
Woody wrote: Also: Nevre Ever clear a jam with your hand! As soon as it's cleared, the augur will remove your hand. Use a stick or something.
Quote for truth. Our old neighbour managed to remove three fingers from her right hand doing just this. She was a printer by trade too. "Was" being the operative word here.
Wayslow wrote:Woody wrote: Also: Nevre Ever clear a jam with your hand! As soon as it's cleared, the augur will remove your hand. Use a stick or something.Quote for truth. Our old neighbour managed to remove three fingers from her right hand doing just this. She was a printer by trade too. "Was" being the operative word here.
My one friend is a PT and one is an OT. They have both related crazy stories of horribly mangled limbs after someone tries to clear a jam with his hand. 2x4 or 2x2 works better than your hand.
Some of them even come with fancy synthetic sticks now.
After shoveling a 140 ft. driveway for five years, I bought a 5hp Ariens. Blew the motor, put a 7hp on the same frame. Two years ago I bought on similar to the picture below. On old stuff you get a headlight or electric start, not both. With the new one I have both. I also have a pistol grip that controls the snow left-right, up down, where the older stuff you have to reach around to grab some knob.
Drop $800 and you won't be reposting this for 25 years.
Dan
Stay away from these. Your neighbors don't want to hear a frikkin mixer whine at 10:00 pm.
Woody wrote: Some of them even come with fancy synthetic sticks now.
plastic sticks are for terrorists
If you have room, a 41 horse 4x4 utility tractor with an 7 foot blade and loader makes short work of clearing snow. That's what we use.
Living in Chicago we can a lot or a little bit of snow - I have had this for 10 years and it usually can clear all the heavy stuff we get or the 1" we get. Reliable as can be and I store it all summer in my basement. The neighbors don't complain about the wah wah wah sound as I usually do their walk or drive with it.
My 1995 MTD blower is running like a charm. A little TLC and replacing parts as they wear are the answer. On engines, at least on mine, it has drive pulleys from the crank and the cam. The crank driving the auger and the cam driving the wheels. so not just any engine will work. My Tecumseh has been very reliable. For clearing snow jams, I attached a piece of old vacuum cleaner tubing to the handle with a hose clamp. Carry a piece broom stick in it. works great.
As others have said, they're all pretty much the same. As long as you "summerize" it in spring, and grease it / check the belts / change the oil once in a while - you should be fine. I run synthetic in all of my yard equipment and change it annually.
Edit - and the "shoes" are a wear item. When mine wore through I welded on some wider feet out of heavy angle iron, but you can buy them too.
I bought a 28" Craftsman a few years back that's been fantastic. Run the Startron ethanol treatment through it to eliminate the carb gumming up, and you should be in good shape. I'll second Woody's advice about width, if either of our driveways were smaller, a 24" would have done well. With our 275' driveway plus a large parking area/turnaround at the bottom, I'm thankful for the 28" width.
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