Cheap? No. Used, yes. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are your best bet.
***Official 2022 Weather Thread***
- Thread starter wxman1
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Cheap? No. Used, yes. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are your best bet.
We made it from the great white north. Roads were typical winter. The real issues were older people that wanted to go 15 mph on highway 20 and on highway 69. I swear timid drivers like that cause more accidents then anything.
Let’s go Clones
Let’s go Clones
I think we ended up with 8” in Waukee. Like others said there’s a lot of drifting so it’s hard to tell, but I just took some measurements on the driveway and averaged it out.
Now it looks like a woman with a strange chest.
Gotta give it up to the predictions, finally got a good storm. Now this spring and summer please rain and get us out of the drought thanks Mother Nature!!
Agree. But only rain on like Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s. No weekends. Thanks.
Don't know your threshold for "cheap", but keep checking Menards and others (Harbor Freight) for a sale. We bought our large two stage on clearance 6 years ago at Menards for $150. No electric start, no lights....basic model. Didn't even blink at what last night dumped. Even if it's a little more, brand new is always better than used.
One of the best purchases a person can make as they get older, I scooped snow for years, 4 years ago after a storm like we had last night, I called my wife and told her we have a choice, "either purchase a snowblower or get ready to pay for the heart attack that this scooping is going to give me." So we broke down a got a 2 stage snowblower. Took me about an hour today to do the drive, the walks all the way to the end of the street and part of my neighbors drive that we share.
Sure, I only use it 3 or 4 times a year, but it beats the hell out of scooping for hours, and really its kind of fun.
Check out craigslist, but blowers are slim picking this time of year, wait until spring and see if you can pick one up at the big box stores or dealers when they are trying to get rid of last years models.
Obviously doesn’t help you today, but I made sure to look for a used one in the summer time. Set a reminder in my phone for June 1 to find one last year. Found a used John Deere two stage for $350 in great condition. Thing is a beast. Did my 4 car driveway plus sidewalks in about an hour today.
Part of the problem (or at least my fear of a problem) with hiring it done:
- Hard to find a quality plow guy who is available. I know 2 people who used to do it but don't anymore.
- The one time I hired it done a year or two ago, he did a crappy job. Ram, ram, ram. No detail work. Big swathe and done.
- I used to be in a housing association and the plow guys didn't give a crap what they did to the yard, fence, etc. No one cares about my property more than I do. I will take the time to do it right
- I don't want to wait 24 hours to get dug out. My neighbor hires a plow guy and he just showed up at 5:30 PM. If that had been me, I would not have been able to leave my house today.
So these are the reasons why I'm starting to strongly lean towards getting a good quality 2-stage, self-propelled blower. My little single stage guy is great for under 6 inches, but today was brutal. Did it in multiple stages and I'm sore!
You could have just said never buy a single stage snow blower. It doesn't matter who makes them these days. You're already paying 2/3 the cost of a 2 stage, just spend a bit more and get one that is self propelled and built with steel, not plastic.
I have/had a guy as an emergency backup and for the times that a walk behind will not be able to handle it. My driveway gets beat up by his blade and loader. The break points in the concrete were slowly getting a little broke off here and there. Not bad enough to do anything yet but it’s been a few years since I’ve had him.
The more horsepower, the more throwing power you have. Had a 5.5 or 6 hp one first and that struggled at times to clear the full driveway. Now have a 10hp and it launches it well.
My Toro 824 OE was a BEAST today. Bought it for $850 at Ace in the spring of 2019. One of the best Purchases i've ever made. NO SHEER PINS!! It's not as big to store as some of the massive ones out there. It was the best build quality though
Did 3 driveways and sidewalks in just over 2 hours with 2+ foot drifts in many spots
Always a real pleasure after the first major snowfall of the year to learn which sections of your driveway or sidewalk have settled or heaved over the past year. Nothing like smashing into your snowblower when it hits a high joint you couldn't see under the snow cover.
I got up at 6:30 this morning to shovel, took about an hour. Felt a nice sense of accomplishment, then the snow plow came by and had to go back out. I felt like the character in Southpark that owns the Chinese restaurant when he's building the wall and the Mongolians keep coming to break it down.
