Rabbit929
Active member
Ariens
Rapidtrack
Snowblower.
420cc 21.0ft/lbs of torque
Hydrostatic transmission
I gotta say this thing is goddamn ridiculous.
I spent the better half of a year trying to find something I’d like, and just before the apocalyptic blizzard last year in North Dakota leaving us under 6ft of heavy wet white wonderful ness I bit my tongue and bought this.
I tested various friends snow blowers, and wasn’t impressed that few did better than my old Briggs.
Tracks: you can adjust up or down to switch between wheeled-like handling to tracked, to tracked with extra down pressure. On the fly.
Heavy snow and ice: let’s just say I did better than all the riding blowers combined.
Ease of use: I’m a little disappointed there are 2 separate levers for the chute, as if your not careful, you might grab the wrong one and **** up a garden hose and spread it across the yard magnificently, or plow your new grill into the fence like it owes you money. Ask me how I know.
Chute controls work great, just not all that intuitive for the best walk behind on the market.
Power: is stupid. I can eat up about 3 feet at a walking pace, and throw that **** 80ft. Over the neighbors house, and into his neighbors yard. It’s an absolute monster.
All-in-all I can’t wait for the next blizzard. I had so much fun with it last year I started a temp business doing work with it skid steers struggle with. In wheeled, it turns easy. In tracked, it will push through about anything. And if you force it it will plow a pile till you give it a chance to chew.
Speed: fast. The hydro makes it awesome to speed up for the thin spots and slow down for the big ones. I did 11 5ft piles from the plows plus the double wide driveways of 11 different properties in about 14 hours. Most of that time was driving from job to job.
Cons: “auto steer” seems to think you want it to turn when you don’t want it to. Honestly I think it should have a twist grip for each side to control the wheel speed. That would be awesome.
Sheer pins: I broke one of mine when I ate an ice boulder, and continued to use it for 20 minutes not knowing one side was down.
The only reason I noticed is it pulled to the left a bit. I put grade 5 bolts in instead, and if I break something well I got a welder.
Other than that I don’t even use the electric start. It’s honestly easier to giver her a rip rather than drag a cord out and put it back away. I’ve used it, but it starts easy enough not to. Even after sitting all summer it started in the 3rd pull. (Carb was empty)
For anyone who does any serious (walk behind) snow blowing, you don’t know what your missing. The only thing better would be a gravely or this same one turbocharged.
The other snowblower is an 8hp craftsman for size comparison.
Rapidtrack
Snowblower.
420cc 21.0ft/lbs of torque
Hydrostatic transmission
I gotta say this thing is goddamn ridiculous.
I spent the better half of a year trying to find something I’d like, and just before the apocalyptic blizzard last year in North Dakota leaving us under 6ft of heavy wet white wonderful ness I bit my tongue and bought this.
I tested various friends snow blowers, and wasn’t impressed that few did better than my old Briggs.
Tracks: you can adjust up or down to switch between wheeled-like handling to tracked, to tracked with extra down pressure. On the fly.
Heavy snow and ice: let’s just say I did better than all the riding blowers combined.
Ease of use: I’m a little disappointed there are 2 separate levers for the chute, as if your not careful, you might grab the wrong one and **** up a garden hose and spread it across the yard magnificently, or plow your new grill into the fence like it owes you money. Ask me how I know.
Chute controls work great, just not all that intuitive for the best walk behind on the market.
Power: is stupid. I can eat up about 3 feet at a walking pace, and throw that **** 80ft. Over the neighbors house, and into his neighbors yard. It’s an absolute monster.
All-in-all I can’t wait for the next blizzard. I had so much fun with it last year I started a temp business doing work with it skid steers struggle with. In wheeled, it turns easy. In tracked, it will push through about anything. And if you force it it will plow a pile till you give it a chance to chew.
Speed: fast. The hydro makes it awesome to speed up for the thin spots and slow down for the big ones. I did 11 5ft piles from the plows plus the double wide driveways of 11 different properties in about 14 hours. Most of that time was driving from job to job.
Cons: “auto steer” seems to think you want it to turn when you don’t want it to. Honestly I think it should have a twist grip for each side to control the wheel speed. That would be awesome.
Sheer pins: I broke one of mine when I ate an ice boulder, and continued to use it for 20 minutes not knowing one side was down.
The only reason I noticed is it pulled to the left a bit. I put grade 5 bolts in instead, and if I break something well I got a welder.
Other than that I don’t even use the electric start. It’s honestly easier to giver her a rip rather than drag a cord out and put it back away. I’ve used it, but it starts easy enough not to. Even after sitting all summer it started in the 3rd pull. (Carb was empty)
For anyone who does any serious (walk behind) snow blowing, you don’t know what your missing. The only thing better would be a gravely or this same one turbocharged.
The other snowblower is an 8hp craftsman for size comparison.
