For five years I've maintained about two acres of lawn in summer, and
a 200 foot sloped driveway in winter. I use 30-year old a Deere 214
lawn/garden tractor with a 4' mower deck and a single-stage snow
thrower (never at the same time!). In summer, it's a nice 1.5 hour
drive in the country. In winter, it ranges from a nice jaunt up and
down the drive (well-packed base, 3" or so new snow) to a several-hour
nightmare. It occasionally gets stuck badly (anything I can undo in
under 15 minutes doesn't count) and doesn't throw the stuff as far as
I'd like. If I know that much more than 6" will fall overnight, I
generally plan to plow twice, the first time after the first 6".
I think I paid $300 for the thrower and $900 for the tractor/mower.
The $300 was well-spent, but the thrower is starting to show its age.
The auger needs to be heated and straightened, and the drive-end
bearing lost its balls a month ago. I'm trying to decide whether to
try to repair or just to replace the thrower with a new two-stage
machine at great expense. I'll probably repair, as that means I get an
acetylene rig. :) It would cost me about $200/winter to have someone
else plow the drive, so either way is probably economically sensible.
My neighbor uses a nice tracked two-stage thrower for his 1/4 mile
drive and loves it. For him it's a nice stroll in the woods. Of
course, I've invested less than he has so far...
Stan
Peacham VT
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