adding two front wheels to single stage snowblower

[fatlazyless]

No matter you use a gasoline or battery powered single stage snowblower, the scraper edge will catch on the driveway unless your driveway is smooth because the single stage scraper edge rests and scrapes on the driveway.

Here's installing wheels ..... www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yggp0ytmXw&t ...... two 5" wheels on the front of an Ego 21" battery powered snowblower.

Heath's Hardware in Center Harbor has Ego battery snowblowers, single stage and two stage as well as Ariens gasoline snowblowers. Gasoline has more power than the electric battery snowblowers no matter what anybody says except gasoline with ethanol can congeal and gum up the carburetor.

For a not-too-smooth asphalt or a dirt and gravel driveway, this seems like it is doable, and could work good for either a gasoline or electric single stage snowblower.

Check out the comments where some commenters have added two adjustable skids instead of two wheels which is a little different.

[John Mercier]

Gasoline isn't stronger than electric... because that is a matter of torque.
And gasoline without ethanol will gum up. Which is why GumOut was invented in 1945.

[fatlazyless]

Recharging one of the two batteries in an Eco electric snowblower takes 90-minutes, while refilling the one quart gas tank on an Ariens snowblower only takes maybe one minute.

How much torque does an Eco electric have for the 90-minutes while its' two batteries get recharged? Answer; zero torque just when it is needed because the batteries ran out of electric charge while being used.

[John Mercier]

That doesn't matter in your initial reference.

You are talking about the refueling/recharge rate.
That is different than torque output.

Also, with the right amount of batteries, the refueling rate for the electric is quicker. Pop the spent battery out and put the fresh one in.

The cons of an battery are more around cost.
For the ethanol the con is shelf life.

[fatlazyless]

Run out of gasoline while snowblowing? Wait five minutes for the machine to cool down by taking a brief break indoors before refilling the gasoline tank on the snowblower.

Run out of electric charge while snowblowing? It takes 90-minutes to recharge the removable battery which costs $600/battery when purchased alone as a spare battery.

Non-ethanol gasoline sells for about $4.45/gal at Haffner's Gas stations in Gilford and Moultonborough. Last winter I've saw the NH Fish and Game there, buying non-ethanol gas at the Moultonborough Haffner's for their five snowmobiles on trailers.

[chachee52]

Also have to remember in the cold, battery life will shorten. My friend got a battery 2 stage snowblower 2 years ago. He has a small driveway so not an issue (3 car driveway) where he runs into an issue is going around the house for the dog. And the older the batteries are, the less energy they will hold so you will need more batteries.
All depends on your situation which one is better.
Eitherway, back to the original thread.
Can your single stage scraper be raised? I usually put a wooden shim on each side of the snowblower just so the scrapper is just barely off the driveway because we do have bumps in the driveway. It's probably less that 1/8", but it works.

[dpg]

Battery usage time for me makes most battery tools a no-go. Specially for leaf blowers which I have a (loud) one of the more powerful gas models. I was looking at a battery option one day in HD then I noticed the battery life at full speed was under 20 minutes! Huh?? at 20 minutes I'd need 800.00 worth of battery backups to keep rotating them out, no thanks. Why can't the manufacturers of current gas models quiet them down significantly? I don't have a clue but it really doesn't seem as though it should be rocket science.

[John Mercier]

That would depend on amp-hrs of the battery.
Just like they try to size a snow throwers engine output to the width of the machine, they try to size batteries to common usage patterns.

Also different manufacturers have different technologies that they employ.
Though in the case of a leaf blower, the operation is pretty straight forward.

[dpg]

I guess I'm really not sure what your getting at John. Most battery options I've looked at in a leaf blower anyway, either puts out a blast of air of a panting squirrel or models that have decent power (for a battery model) will only last on "high" a very limited amount of time. Not sure about most people but when I'm using mine its on high probably 80% of the time. Not really sure what your getting at John but yeah definitely agree about the snowblowers these days. Lots of them these days are now measured in CC's for the engine size... Why can't they just leave things alone??

[John Mercier]

Depending on the manufacturer, you can buy batteries that are larger and have more amp-hrs.

You can also buy smaller batteries that have less amp-hrs, but are compact to fit in tighter spaces... such as using a drill/driver and having to fit between tight studs to drill a hole.

[burgerunh]

I use the right tool for the right job. I use my battery Milwaukee blower for small quick jobs like blowing off the deck, or the boat, or the walkway after I mow. I use the big gas backpack blower for blowing my leaves in the fall. The Milwaukee would die long before I was done blowing all the leaves!

[John Mercier]

For the Milwaukee, you could use the Forge with a portable extension if you have a hand-held blower.

[VitaBene]

Originally Posted by burgerunh

I use the right tool for the right job. I use my battery Milwaukee blower for small quick jobs like blowing off the deck, or the boat, or the walkway after I mow. I use the big gas backpack blower for blowing my leaves in the fall. The Milwaukee would die long before I was done blowing all the leaves!

We do the same. Redmax 8500 Gas Backpack and a Wright ZTO for grass/ leaves. We have replaced all our small tools, like weed trimmer, hedge shears, hand held blower, and small rototiller with Greenworks Commercial (82V) stuff.

For snow, we are gas or diesel- Kubota L3430 with front blower and a tank like 30 year old Toro 824 (8HP Tecumseh powered)... and a trusty old shovel!

[VitaBene]

Originally Posted by fatlazyless

No matter you use a gasoline or battery powered single stage snowblower, the scraper edge will catch on the driveway unless your driveway is smooth because the single stage scraper edge rests and scrapes on the driveway.

Here's installing wheels ..... www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yggp0ytmXw&t ...... two 5" wheels on the front of an Ego 21" battery powered snowblower.

Heath's Hardware in Center Harbor has Ego battery snowblowers, single stage and two stage as well as Ariens gasoline snowblowers. Gasoline has more power than the electric battery snowblowers no matter what anybody says except gasoline with ethanol can congeal and gum up the carburetor.

For a not-too-smooth asphalt or a dirt and gravel driveway, this seems like it is doable, and could work good for either a gasoline or electric single stage snowblower.

Check out the comments where some commenters have added two adjustable skids instead of two wheels which is a little different.

I have not seen a 2 stage snowblower without adjustable skids or wheels. For gravel etc, a piece of schedule 80 pipe with a groove cut into it will slide over the cutting edge.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by VitaBene

For snow, we are gas or diesel- Kubota L3430 with front blower and a tank like 30 year old Toro 824 (8HP Tecumseh powered)... and a trusty old shovel!

Nothing like the old Tecumseh motors! So simple to work on or fix and bulletproof!! I have an old log splitter with a 10 HP Tecumseh that is 40 years old. What a workhorse!!

Hope all is well John!

Dan

[John Mercier]

Originally Posted by VitaBene

I have not seen a 2 stage snowblower without adjustable skids or wheels. For gravel etc, a piece of schedule 80 pipe with a groove cut into it will slide over the cutting edge.

He's looking at the single stage.
The ones that use the rubber-type fins to both process the snow and move the unit forward.

[fatlazyless]

In my humble opinion, me-thinks the single-stage snowblowers should come already with the holes drilled into the side housing, ready to support an optional two front wheels as an option. Having the holes present, designed by the single-stage manufactorer with knock-outs so the user would not need to drill the two holes, himself, would be an innovative design improvement. This way the two front wheels could be sold as an option and much easier to do than drilling two new holes and possibly making a major boo-boo with the drilling.

You know that lawn mowers all have four wheels, so why not single-stage snowblowers, as well? installing front wheels on a single-stage snowblower seems like a good design improvement.

[John Mercier]

The lawn mowers do not propel themselves by the action of the blades against the grass.

The rubber-style processor should gently pull the unit forward until it wears out its edge.

It was designed mostly to clear sidewalks and decks/patios... where the cutting edge of a two-stage could either do damage or leave slop behind to refreeze.

[VitaBene]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Nothing like the old Tecumseh motors! So simple to work on or fix and bulletproof!! I have an old log splitter with a 10 HP Tecumseh that is 40 years old. What a workhorse!!

Hope all is well John!

Dan

Doing well Dan! Thank you