Firstgens.com

As you may have guessed from my "snow" post, the little single stage blower I have now is no good in the wet snow. Someone has offered me an old Ariens self propelled 2 stage blower real cheap. Only 2.7 HP but 3 fwd, 1 rev speed with electric start for cheaper than I could sell the one I have now for. I hear Ariens is a good brand, the guy is the original owner, has all the manuals & tells me it has been well maintained. Will only 2.7 HP with the dual stage be an upgrade from a single stage? I go to check it out tomorrow morning.

I don't have any Ariens experience.
I do however have a 2 stage track drive snow launcher myself. 2 speed FWD 1 rev. Even this wet mushy stuff we got the other day I can launch the yuck about 30'. Even when these other guys (neighbors) bring out their "monster" snowpukers they get from the local Home depots and lowes and it barely trickles out the nozzle and gets blocked up. Get a real machine and enjoy the power. Not sure 2.7HP is going to give you that, but will do better than a single stage in most cases.

It's like asking a guy with a blown 572 cu in if your 327 needs more power.

Well I went looked and bought it. The manuals have yellowed from age (printed in '77). A couple of pumps on the primer and one pull on the recoil & it fired right up. It's a 4 stroke so it sounds much better than the two stroke I have now. Checked the oil and it looked great. Everything works fine. I don't think I can go wrong for $60. Almost all metal except for one plastic shroud. Now I just have to sell my old one before the weather turns warmer or I'll be storing 2 all summer.

Glad to see you added some more vintage Iron to the garage

Yep, I have one - starts with 1 pull every time I use it - It has electric start but I never use it because it's so easy to pull start. You can't bog mine down even when it's in over the top of the scoop in the front, but it's 6hp. They are reputed to be one of the best in the industry. A 2 stage will blow snow further than a single stage blower, you probably don't need more than 3fwd and 1 rev speed. I have 2 rev and 6 fwd and only use 3 of the fwd and 1 of the reverse speeds. I would be they have the scoop sized to match the HP so it won't bog down. 60 bucks is a steal for a usable snow blower.

When I got home last night There was nothing to try it on except for some 8" deep stuff that was slushy snow and had frozen into stuff I could only kick about 4" into. It went right through it It's snowing again but it a light fluffy snow & not very much of it. Might be a good day to clean the sidewalk up and down the block with a for sale sign on the old one so it looks impressive

Here she is.

Lookin good! Snow blowin is fun when you have a nice blower - and it's not more the 10 below outside.

Sold the old one for $100 this afternoon, If only I could get paid to upgrade my tools every day

Well I'll find out how the old 4 stroke works today!