# Toro Powermax HD 928 (Toro 38840) or the mighty 1428 (38843)? Which one will I need?



## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

I'll be looking at some Toro snowblowers at a Toro dealer near me this weekend which I will be coming home with one, but not sure which one I will need. I live out in the country with flat farm fields on three sides of my property and the county road in front. My graveled driveway is about 90'x30' and I will need to clear a trail to my wood pile in my backyard, 125'x12' so to back my pickup & trailer once or twice a month to my woodpile being I have an outdoor boiler near my house out back.

The back trail is always drifted shut with drifts up to 40" and an occasional 5'. The snow is blown from across the surrounding fields, so when it snows, I get 2 - 5' snowdrifts and when it doesn't snow, the NW winds create 2-3' snowdrifts, the snow fence only helps until about mid January, and I don't always have a stack of logs where they are now.

I've seen a few videos of the 928 OAE going through 15' - 22' of snow on a continues run without bogging down the engine. I'm not sure if their was some editing involved on these videos to make it appear to be doing a nonstop 60' run?
Anyway, I would like to be certain if the 928 would be enough for my situation or the 1428 might be safer. This is a one time purchase, I'll be coming off a 1996 John Deere 826D which I purchased new back then and I'm still using, but it seems the snowdrifts are getting higher and longer each year, it might just be my age related. I'll appreciate your thoughts.

I'll upload a couple of pictures.
















I have uploaded some photos I recently came across. These are snowdrifts created with only 12" of snow with prevailing NE-NW winds for 2 days.
























One here with my 2019 11HP which didn't work out, (sold it).


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

a 928ohxe 38801 here, deep snow it's adequate for smaller jobs , that much work opt for the biggest one, we never know what old mother nature will do so better safe than sorry 
good luck


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## robs9 (Sep 5, 2018)

I think you should go with the bigger one and not look back. 

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk


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## Zazzy (Dec 21, 2020)

I bought the 1428 primarily because I knew it wouldn't snow if I spent money on a snow blower. And, I figured the more I spent, the longer it wouldn't snow. 

So far, I'm right. The snow blower has been parked since I got it.


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

I would just buy a plow for that truck of yours. You have a lot of snow to move.


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

RIT333 said:


> I would just buy a plow for that truck of yours. You have a lot of snow to move.


Both tubular frame on the truck has almost rusted through, I had some metal welded to it to make the pickup last as long as possible, thanks to wisconsin liquid snow melt that's splashed on the roads.


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

I'm still planning to head up to my Toro dealer this Saturday to check out there new Toros' 928 OAE & 1428 OHXE. The way it looks, it will be the 1428 OHXE for my situation.

The wind driven snow from the fields next to my yard creates fairly packed snow drifts that my old John Deere 826D would struggle with, even tho with it's 8 hp, it still is powerhorse in other stuations.


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

I just took possession of a new Toro 1428 OHXO this morning from my dealer. Very impressed how easy it is to manuveur it around and the balance, considering the weight of the snowblower. I'll have to spray fluid film onto the critical areas before going into the little snow we have gotten so far in West Central Wisconsin.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

best of luck with that beast of a machine . 
yes spray it good, wish i had listened to leonz with mine, sprayed between every weld till it came out from under the sections , as when it comes to rust toro leaves you on your own


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

Here are some photos.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

good luck again


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## nafterclifen (Oct 14, 2015)

What are you waiting for? Grab a shovel, move that snow into a pile and then blow it, haha!


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

nafterclifen said:


> What are you waiting for? Grab a shovel, move that snow into a pile and then blow it, haha!


Lol. I have about an inch on the ground, I could go in the back yard and blow snow in a large circle into a heap in the center and plow through it, this way I get to use it twice.🤣


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## tpenfield (Feb 24, 2015)

You definitely need more snow than you have right now. If you can afford it, I'd go with the 1428. 5 extra HP will come in handy with the drifts.


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

tpenfield said:


> You definitely need more snow than you have right now. If you can afford it, I'd go with the 1428. 5 extra HP will come in handy with the drifts.


That's the one I bought last weekend, 1428 OHXE, it feels like quite the power horse when I took it for a dry run.


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

My Toro is still waiting for snow & there's none in the forcast for the next seven days🙁


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

yours isn't the only one, we've seen one storm of removeable depth 14 inches that lasted all of 3 days . i could with the air temps fire up the gas air compressor hook it up to the garden hose and make some ,


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

It's been so dry here in Wisconsin for the last 9 weeks with only 1.5 inches of snow, and no rain duting this period. On the up side, we have been enjoying mild temps, 25-30 F degrees with calm winds, although cloudy and foggy most days.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

only snow i can see is on the sloops of the 2 ski areas where they are fighting to keep the sloops covered


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

Lol.


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

I'm still waiting on a decent snowfall to test out my Toro. Midwest WI only got a 2.5" snowfall so far since Christmas.💤


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## Zazzy (Dec 21, 2020)

Toro-J said:


> I'm still waiting on a decent snowfall to test out my Toro. Midwest WI only got a 2.5" snowfall so far since Christmas.💤


Same here. In a way, my plan worked out as I expected. I bought a big machine and that is the only reason why it hasn't snowed much. 
We got some snow last week but it still wasn't much. It was barely enough to use a snow blower but it gave me an excuse to blow snow on our entire driveway. The sidewalk took 5 minutes, including scraping it. The rest of the driveway took long enough so the engine got warmed up. Other than a concrete pad in front of the garage, the entire driveway is larger decorative rock over gravel. It's nice looking but we'll be putting in concrete next year. After I blew snow off the sidewalk, I set the skids at the highest setting just to avoid picking up any rock.


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

Maybe take a trip to Illinois with my blower, looks like they're getting hit hard with snowstorms one after the other.😂


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

Photos from prior years I found, planned for my Toro whenever we get some snow.
The drifts in the first few photos occurred with only 12" of snow along with prevailing NE-NW winds for a couple of days, the other photo with 8" of snow. I typically get snow drifts averaging 2' with no snowfall but strong winds blowing snow from the fields. These are the only photos I found. Been frustratingly dry this winter.


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## Toro-J (Apr 11, 2019)

We finally got a snowfall yesterday, only 4", it was enough to for the NW winds to create 18"-30" hard packed snowdrifts to my wood pile.

The Toro went thru it with great ease even taking the full 28" swath. I can really feel the power of the engine thru the handles on each compression stroke. The hand grip heaters work very well I can feel the warmth thru my insulated leather gloves with wind chills at 15 below zero. It's a very smooth operating machine.


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## wfd44 (Nov 10, 2014)

Nice!

”I wish it had less power” - said no man ever...


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