# Platinum 24 SHO



## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

I just purchased a Platinum 24 SHO from SBD yesterday after our most recent and first snowstorm of the season over the weekend. I couldn't get my tiny Toro SS to start so I ended up having to get the shovel out. Not fun. Once I was done I went inside and began my research on an upgrade. It was time for an upgrade because the Toro can't handle 90% of what we get here anyway.

I can't wait to get it and will be sure to leave some reviews but I'm hoping I won't ever have to use it. Wishful thinking.


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

Congrats, reviews of that machine has been widely positive. Can't argue with lots of power in a little package.


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## all3939 (Dec 21, 2014)

Congrats, Great choice of power vs size. Buy once buy right.


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

I was originally looking at a 28 or 30" Deluxe but opted for the 24 due to the bigger engine than the 30 and being the easiest to move around in tight spaces.


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## nastorino (Jan 28, 2016)

Congrats on the new unit. I just bought the Platinum EFI 24 today myself. I won't be sleeping tonight until it's delivered tomorrow. 

I gotta ask though, what is SBD? I work at Stanley Black & Decker which abbreviated to SBD....we definitely don't sell blowers lol


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## Fred9 (Dec 21, 2013)

Snow Blowers Direct


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## nastorino (Jan 28, 2016)

Fred9 said:


> Snow Blowers Direct


Totally missed that acronym lol


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## slybarman (Nov 28, 2016)

Silent But Deadly.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk


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## AbominableSnowman (Nov 14, 2016)

slybarman said:


> Silent But Deadly.


Not many snowblowers fit that description, but I had a college roommate who gave meaning to that phrase.:icon-sick::icon-sick::icon-sick:


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## ih8thepackers (Jan 4, 2014)

slybarman said:


> Silent But Deadly.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk


Similar to a Dutch oven..


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

So on Tuesday I called the freight company to schedule a delivery and they said they had today open. I asked for their latest appointment but she said they don't have appointment, they only have a delivery window and that it would be between 2-6pm and that I'd receive a phone call about an hour before it was set to arrive. No problem as I would have been home around 2 from work and I had my brother and buddy waiting for my phone call to let them know to head over to give me a hand with it.

11am this morning and I get an automated message saying that they will be at my house within an hour. That's not good cause I still had 3 more hours of work. I quickly called back and told them I had a 2-6pm delivery window and that I had just received a call saying the truck would be at my house around noon. The service rep was puzzled and said he didn't know who had gave me a delivery window because they just deliver from 9-6pm but they call before arriving. In any event, he contacted the driver and informed him of the situation. He said that they would just rearrange the deliveries but that I'm still on for later today.


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## uberT (Dec 29, 2013)

Good luck with it. I hate those delivery "windows". They think you can take the day off work and sit around waiting for them to show.







It's absurd.


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## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

It's not like they have a large number of drivers and can arrange everyone's schedule and route to suite everyone. Welcome to the 21st century! Sucks don't it  For most service companies around here, they give me a morning or an afternoon window though, that does help a bit.


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## all3939 (Dec 21, 2014)

I've been down that same road and learned a lesson from it. Window shmindow, when they call get over there and be ready. Once you mess with it you lose control. I had a similar situation and made them change it for later time the same day but guess what, at six o'clock I called the trucking company to find out where my stuff was, " oh you'll be on tomorrows schedule. Pissed I surely was to say the least.


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## uberT (Dec 29, 2013)

I request that the driver or technician telephone me 1/2 - 1 hour in advance. Not a big deal.


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

It came about an hour ago. It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be but it's no problem. My brother was actually here waiting with me and he brought a 6 pack  As soon as the truck showed up my buddy pulled up too. I had paid $50 for the liftgate service and the driver actually brought it right to my garage door. He would have went in the garage but I wanted to open it up in the driveway and leave all the packing material outside. I threw the handlebars on, tightened them up and wheeled her into the garage. I've had a few beers so I'll look at everything else tomorrow r over the weekend but so far, so good.

I'm a mailman and hate the snow but I'm also kind of looking forward to trying this out as I've never had a REAL snowblower before.


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)




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## uberT (Dec 29, 2013)

*Sweet! That's gonna be a hot ticket the first time it snows. Congratulations !!! ...and be safe out there.*


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## vmaxed (Feb 23, 2014)

Good luck,the SHO 24" is a beast...thanks for buying a new snowblower the weather next week will be in the 40's :wavetowel2:


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## matto (Nov 5, 2016)

vmaxed said:


> Good luck,the SHO 24" is a beast...thanks for buying a new snowblower the weather next week will be in the 40's :wavetowel2:


It was 57 two days ago here in southern NY. It's below freezing today but it's going to be in the 40's and 50's most of this week. ***?


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## IBME (Oct 28, 2015)

I bought that same machine last year and it earned it's name "The Beast" as it went through 30 in EOD snow without slowing down in 1st gear. I would play with it a while as it takes some getting used to moving while changing the chute direction.


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

Finally got around to putting the machine together today in my garage. I have a mechanic pit in there that I NEVER use and it has a wooden plank cover. Guess what happened next.

As I was installing the chute I couldn't help but notice that the chute lever and the shoot itself wouldn't line up properly. I had the chute straight forward and had the level straight up in the air but I had to slightly turn the lever to the right in order to get the long control bar to fit in the chute gear box. Upon further inspection I noticed that the two gears were off by one tooth. It wasn't a big deal because it still went side to side but when the chute was straight ahead the lever was tilted to the right a bit. I ended up taking the gears apart in an attempt to line them up properly but as soon as I got them off the plastic washer fell down. I had cardboard over the planks in case anything dropped but of course that little washer found the little opening in the cardboard and fell right down the mechanic pit. A simple 2 minute project turned into an hour long ordeal as I had to take the heavy mechanic pit cover off and climb down for that washer. I've lived here for over 9 years and this was probably only the 4th time I've opened the cover and the very first time I ever went down there. lol

I found the washer, put the cover back on and had the machine finished up about 10 minutes later. All I need now is some gas but I'm going to wait until snow is in the forecast before getting that.


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

Here's the finished project.


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## vmaxed (Feb 23, 2014)

I would start it gust in case some thing isn't right hmy:


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## Strato (Aug 6, 2016)

longislandcamper22 said:


> Here's the finished project.


Sorry you had to brave the pit. But, the finished result looks beautiful.

You'll love the machine.

17 ft. lbs. is a LOT of torque for a 24" blower.


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

vmaxed said:


> I would start it gust in case some thing isn't right hmy:


Duh, why didn't that pop in my head? lol I'll probably just buy a can of trufuel and put a bit in so that I don't have to worry about the carb.


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## jermar (Dec 10, 2014)

If you do a lot of sidewalks, you'll want to get some poly skids.


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## nastorino (Jan 28, 2016)

longislandcamper22 said:


>


Congrats on the new unit. I'm itching to try mine. It was 55 degrees in CT this weekend. It's been many years since I was aching for snowfall 

Not sure about you guys but I had my dealer toss on those poly skid shoes to prevent chewing up the metal skids. I figured it wouldn't hurt to have them on there for a few of the cracks I have in my driveway.

I also ordered the front bucket weight kit just to make sure the bucket doesn't lift when it hits EOD. It's likely overkill but ehhh oh well. 

Dealer highly suggested I buy a can of Fluid Film from Lowes and spray down the any metal components such as the bucket, auger, frame, undercarriage etc. Said it is like WD40 but is a rust inhibitor and helps to get the moisture off everything. Said spray down the springs as well to help lubricate and protect them.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fluid-Film-11-75-oz-Fluid-Film-Rust-Corrosion-Preventive-Penetrant-Lubricant/50335157


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

Well, tomorrow's the day. 

We got our first snowfall of the season in early January and it was about 6" of powder and I was sick of my shovel and tiny 98cc blower. A few days later I went and ordered the Ariens Platinum 24". Since then we've had another day or two of snow but it was only 2" or so and I never even bothered shoveling because the next day was going to be 45 and sunny.

Today was a record setting day of 62 degrees. 12 hours from now it's going to be about 32 and snowing and they're expecting 8-12" of wet snow as temps hover around freezing. Blizzard warnings should make for some nice drifts. 

I finally got gas (premium) for the new machine, poured it in and she started right up on the first pull. I barely even pulled the rope. She roared at the entrance to my garage. I let her run for a few minutes as I played with the chute control and made sure the auger works. I depressed the motion lever just to engage it but let go right away because I didn't want to do any walking. I could feel warmth in the handles about 2 minutes after flicking the switch.

I'm a mailman so I really don't want snow but I kind of do want snow only to test the new machine. I'm kind of excited.


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## all3939 (Dec 21, 2014)

longislandcamper22 said:


> Well, tomorrow's the day.
> 
> We got our first snowfall of the season in early January and it was about 6" of powder and I was sick of my shovel and tiny 98cc blower. A few days later I went and ordered the Ariens Platinum 24". Since then we've had another day or two of snow but it was only 2" or so and I never even bothered shoveling because the next day was going to be 45 and sunny.
> 
> ...


Premium isn't really the best for full sized blowers. Rather use 87 and leave the 89 for the 2 cycle equipment.


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

This machine is the best thing I've purchased since my divorce lawyer!!!

I have a pretty large driveway by this areas standards. I could fit 11 cars if I really wanted with the top area by the house being able to fit 4 cars across. That area is the worst because there's nowhere to put that snow except the side of the driveway so that's a hike with a shovel.

We got our first snow of the season today. It began as freezing rain at 5am with temps about 35 and dropping. By 4pm we had about 12" of heavy, wet snow with drifts about 20". The first thing I hit after I fired up the machine was the 20" drifts in the middle of the driveway and this thing ate it up and tossed it. I had it in first gear and it probably took about 20-30 seconds to make a path from my house to the street which included EOD heavy, wet snow. With a shovel it probably would have been 30 minutes and I'd be exhausted at the end due to the type of snow we got. This thing never slowed down at all.

From start to finish it took about 90 minutes. That included filling it with gas, familiarizing myself with the controls, cleaning my truck off, salting my steps and wiping the excess snow off the machine and hitting it with compressed air afterwards. Shoveling it would have taken 5 hours or more and I wouldn't have done as good a job and I'd be sore.

I'm sure the Deluxe would have been good too but I just wanted something with a set. I didn't want to buy the Deluxe and wish I had more power. The snow we got today is exactly the reason why I got this machine. Totally awesome.


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## packetloss (Dec 26, 2016)

I'm on LI too. Had about the same as you about 12 inches with 20 inch drifts and really heavy wet EOD stuff. My Deluxe 24 (Briggs 250cc version) ripped it apart really well. My neighbors with single stage blowers staring at it in awe. Only issue I had was it tended to ride up on the EOD stuff so I had to put my weight on the handles to keep it from doing that. Power wise though it didn't bog down, didn't clog and was throwing the snow pretty far. 


Considering how powerful the Deluxe is, that SHO must be pretty wicked.


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## outrag1 (Feb 10, 2017)

I just got my new 24 Platinum on Wednesday this week and used it for the first time yesterday. Performed great. I also had the dealer exchange the metal for poly shoes. No issues with auto steer at all. The gas cap is a little finicky and I did have to put more gas in after 45 min or so...will need to look at that closer.


The unit is a powerhouse.


Bob


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## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

after 45 min of wet heavy snow I think that would be normal for any machine.


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## longislandcamper22 (Jan 7, 2017)

outrag1 said:


> I just got my new 24 Platinum on Wednesday this week and used it for the first time yesterday. Performed great. I also had the dealer exchange the metal for poly shoes. No issues with auto steer at all. The gas cap is a little finicky and I did have to put more gas in after 45 min or so...will need to look at that closer.
> 
> 
> The unit is a powerhouse.
> ...



I purchased the poly shoes but kept the steel ones on. I had zero issues with auto steer and my driveway is a POS with cracks, bumps, missing chunks and holes.


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