# Upgrade or Not



## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

Hi there everyone, just looking for some helpful thoughts from other members. 

My current set up is a John Deere Garden tractor X500 with 44" front blower. Blows roughly 25' and is 10+ years old. Can get a great price if i sell it. I Cannot keep both units. 

Looking at buying a new HSS1332A and selling the JD front mount to help with financial side. 

I find JD to do a great job in open areas of drive way, but to clean up around garage, horse barn, and horse trailler very time consuming due to fact i have to blow a large enough area just to turn around, and if i get off track or on slope i have to blow a new path back to drive way just to start over again. 

I think i would feel more comfortable if my wife needed to use one or the other to put her on the walk behind. 

My neighbor has walk behind blower and it takes him less time after a storm to clean the same size drive way as mine, but if we get a 4" snow fall i can go quickly vs walk behind. 

Thoughts from other members on what they think.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Me personally... I'd sell the JD blower attachment and get the walk behind. I've had both and know what is easier to work with.
For those 4" snows I'd get a dozer blade for the JD.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Is your blower a single stage since it is not blowing very far. My son has a D140 homeowner tractor (not even close to the capability of your tractor) with a 44" dual stage blower and it blows way farther than 25 ft. The tractor blower is so much faster in all conditions than a walk behind and does a much better job. His paths around his property are wider than single pass to avoid drop-offs. You may want to talk to your dealer to tune up your blower or replace it.


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## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

Thanks for the replies. 

Its is a dual stage blower, and i looked at putting the impeller kit in to help but as it is a plastic impeller i have read that it is not a option. I adjusted the impeller left/right and foward/back with no real gain in performance. Maybe 10 years of use the impeller is stating to become smaller in diameter. It also makes me a bit nervous the age which the gear box is known to fail. Its 600 to 800 for a replacement gear box, do i sell it while its worth something and useful? 

I think i made my decision to upgraded, just hope i dont regret it down the road.


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## tdipaul (Jul 11, 2015)

.


where are you located please add it to your profile

Buffalo vs Baltimore = big difference in snowfall removal requirements

Shame on JD for using a plastic impeller and charging that much for a gearbox too

.


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## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

Sorry about the location, trying to figure out how to do add to display. 

Located in PEI Canada.

It is sad that they use plastic impellers and you cannot even buy parts for the gear box. It appears that its a comming part to fail, and they come from the factory packed in grease. Great while the grease is on the gear but as time goes buy it dries out. I have added gear oil to gear box to help prevent it from failing. They are supposed to be a sealed unit. Unservicable


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Cgreencorn1 said:


> Sorry about the location, trying to figure out how to do add to display.
> 
> Located in PEI Canada.
> 
> It is sad that they use plastic impellers and you cannot even buy parts for the gear box. It appears that its a comming part to fail, and they come from the factory packed in grease. Great while the grease is on the gear but as time goes buy it dries out. I have added gear oil to gear box to help prevent it from failing. They are supposed to be a sealed unit. Unservicable


The newer JD blowers still have the plastic impellers and the gearbox takes 80/90 GL5 gear oil or 85w-140 gear oil. Grease in the gearbox is not a great idea since rotational speed tends to fling the grease off the loading points. Both Ariens and John Deere have moved to oil. I also added gear oil to the gearbox when originally filled with grease, and never had a problem.

If you want a steel impeller you can get one from Berco, a 15" by 4 blade steel unit on a 44" blower. Some tractor dealers around Ottawa say the Berco is an excellent blower, but I have no experience, here is a site: Souffleuse Berco pour tracteur de jardin et pelouse (it is an english language site). Our Lowes store had one mounted to a John Deere tractor and it looked very beefy. The impeller to housing clearance is smaller than the JD blower impeller clearance.

Good luck.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Town said:


> If you want a steel impeller you can get one from Berco, a 15" by 4 blade steel unit on a 44" blower. Some tractor dealers around Ottawa say the Berco is an excellent blower, but I have no experience, here is a site: Souffleuse Berco pour tracteur de jardin et pelouse (it is an english language site). Our Lowes store had one mounted to a John Deere tractor and it looked very beefy. The impeller to housing clearance is smaller than the JD blower impeller clearance.
> 
> Good luck.


I had a JD 332 diesel.tractor with a Bercomac 44" blower. Very well built 2 stage unit. It was a great. setup but still I would prefer using a walk behind blower if I have to do much maneuvering.


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## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

micah68kj said:


> I had a JD 332 diesel.tractor with a Bercomac 44" blower. Very well built 2 stage unit. It was a great. setup but still I would prefer using a walk behind blower if I have to do much maneuvering.


I think this is where i'm at, as i added multiple items to work around. The grade i have now in yard would would be a pro for the tracks on the Honda. I have a 4' drop in grade over a 20' area down one side of the drive, hard to get up or down.


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

As an owner of an LA115 with the same 44 inch 2 stage snow blower I can tell you that after 7 years of ownership and expense its a piece of junk and not well built. 


Sell the snow blower and buy a Yamaha 1024 or 1332 2 stage snow mule. 
The 1024 is less expensive than the 32 inch Honda and it is lined with teflon slick sheet in the chute and a cast teflon piece that lines the top of the impeller housing and a slick sheet lining the impeller housing. 
The yamaha 1332 snow mule is also lined with slick sheet material like its sister 1024 snow mule.

Both the 1028 and 1332 have steering brakes and electric start so you wife can use either unit easily.

There are a big brood herd number of videos of the yamaha snow blowers on youtube to see working in deep snow.

They are heavier built machines which makes it easier to get rid of snow and the slick lining is also a huge plus.


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

Town said:


> Is your blower a single stage since it is not blowing very far.
> My son has a D140 homeowner tractor (not even close to the capability of your tractor) with a 44" dual stage blower and it blows way farther than 25 ft. The tractor blower is so much faster in all conditions than a walk behind and does a much better job. His paths around his property are wider than single pass to avoid drop-offs. You may want to talk to your dealer to tune up your blower or replace it.


=======================================================


Sadly, John Deere "lost its bloody mind" :crying: and stopped making single stage snow throwers when they went to the vertical crank engines and they buy the RAD junk to mount on them. I know I have one of the **** things and I would love to have a personal chat with the "A**hat" that designed it. 

If Bercomac made single stage snow throwers with a normal "A" size V-belt they would sell a lot more of them but they have no intention of making a single stage snow thrower, "I called and asked them".
I decided to not buy a bercomac to replace the 44 inch junk as they have a "Special V belt" and that translates into a $150.00+ driven belt.


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## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

leonz said:


> As an owner of an LA115 with the same 44 inch 2 stage snow blower I can tell you that after 7 years of ownership and expense its a piece of junk and not well built.
> 
> 
> Sell the snow blower and buy a Yamaha 1024 or 1332 2 stage snow mule.
> ...



I was at local honda shop and they have a left over 10/28 and 13/32. 700$ more for the 1332. Which makes it almost 1000 less from the yamaha. 

Ill be going to town and making the purchase before work as the fella who wants to purchase my blower wants to get deal over with in case he misses the next deal he wasnt watching. 
He want to replace his blade thats on his x300 with my used blower. Then he can have the best of both worlds.


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## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

leonz said:


> Both the 1028 and 1332 have steering brakes and electric start so you wife can use either unit easily.


Not that the wife does it much in a year, it would be nice that i feel she could do it without much issue, she went once with the X500 and got stuck and then left it in front yard for the day till we were both home from work. Not a easy machine to get out when stuck.


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

I know the Yamaha units cost more but the benefit of having the slick sheet material in the impeller housing and the chute will only make your life easier with less chances of plugging with wet heavy snow. 
Before you spend your money you should visit the Yamaha snow blower forum and read more about them. The folks at Yamaha tested these units on Hokkaido Island and the northern Part of Honshu Island where they get plenty of heavy wet snow off the Yellow Sea and the Pacific Ocean.


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## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

leonz said:


> I know the Yamaha units cost more but the benefit of having the slick sheet material in the impeller housing and the chute will only make your life easier with less chances of plugging with wet heavy snow.
> Before you spend your money you should visit the Yamaha snow blower forum and read more about them. The folks at Yamaha tested these units on Hokkaido Island and the northern Part of Honshu Island where they get plenty of heavy wet snow off the Yellow Sea and the Pacific Ocean.


I ended up purchasing a Honda HSS1332A yesterday before work. I called the local Yamaha dealer and to purchase a 1332 yamaha was almost 1700 more then honda. The Honda alone was over my budget that i set in place and couldnt even think about spending another 1700 more to get the yamaha. Couple hundread would have been easier to swallow. I just hope at the end of the day that ill not regret selling front mount blower and buying the walk behind. Wont know till the first real big snow storm.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

Congrats on the new toy!


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## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

nwcove said:


> Congrats on the new toy!


Thanks ☺


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Cgreencorn1 said:


> I ended up purchasing a Honda HSS1332A yesterday before work. I called the local Yamaha dealer and to purchase a 1332 yamaha was almost 1700 more then honda. The Honda alone was over my budget that i set in place and couldnt even think about spending another 1700 more to get the yamaha. Couple hundread would have been easier to swallow. I just hope at the end of the day that ill not regret selling front mount blower and buying the walk behind. Wont know till the first real big snow storm.


If PEI has wet snow on occasion then you should talk to your dealer about a revised chute to prevent clogging. Here is the Honda update: 
https://www.snowblowerforum.com/for...oncerns-official-update-honda-parts-info.html 

Some HSS1332 models suffer from air getting into the hydro transmission resulting in very slow speed. There is apparently a fix, but I don't know if your machine would be affected. 

Good luck with your new Honda.


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## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

Town said:


> Cgreencorn1 said:
> 
> 
> > I ended up purchasing a Honda HSS1332A yesterday before work. I called the local Yamaha dealer and to purchase a 1332 yamaha was almost 1700 more then honda. The Honda alone was over my budget that i set in place and couldnt even think about spending another 1700 more to get the yamaha. Couple hundread would have been easier to swallow. I just hope at the end of the day that ill not regret selling front mount blower and buying the walk behind. Wont know till the first real big snow storm.
> ...




I have read about the plugging issue, and will mention it to the dealer and see if they can get the upgraded chute for me. 

As for the slow speed due to air in the hydro is it on newer models? Ill look around and see what i can find out about that issue. Do you have a link to any info on that problem?


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Cgreencorn1 said:


> I have read about the plugging issue, and will mention it to the dealer and see if they can get the upgraded chute for me.
> 
> As for the slow speed due to air in the hydro is it on newer models? Ill look around and see what i can find out about that issue. Do you have a link to any info on that problem?


Here is the Honda service bulletin on the slow speed issue: https://www.snowblowerforum.com/for...lletin-intermittent-ground-speed-slowing.html 

You can see if your machine is affected by the frame serial number and if so it should already have the reservoir fix. I think there were a lot of complaints leading up to this Bulletin so make sure your machine has the internal baffle or the reservoir fix.

Good luck.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Town said:


> Here is the Honda service bulletin on the slow speed issue: https://www.snowblowerforum.com/for...lletin-intermittent-ground-speed-slowing.html
> 
> You can see if your machine is affected by the frame serial number and if so it should already have the reservoir fix. I think there were a lot of complaints leading up to this Bulletin so make sure your machine has the internal baffle or the reservoir fix.
> 
> Good luck.


I thought the reservoir mounting was on the handlebar and quite visible, but it is not. There is a picture of the reservoir tank in the"Bulletin link" on page 2 in post #13 by Lake Effect. That "transmission problem" link takes you to the post containing the picture of the reservoir and its location. This thread shows issues people had with very slow operating speed with the re-designed HSS transmission. All well now though.

A number of Honda users recommend the side mounted skid shoes. Here is the link that Honda posted to this site about their side mounted skids: 
https://www.snowblowerforum.com/for...36257-new-polyethylene-skids-shoes-honda.html I think there are some issues with the rear mounted skid shoes on the Honda so you may want to talk to your dealer about your conditions to see if they are recommended or not.

Many snowblowers like Honda have a recommended engine operating speed of 3,600 rpm, but the factory does not always set the speed correctly. A number of users recommend having the engine speed dealer confirmed to get peak operating performance.

Let's hope your first use of your new machine is as good as it can be.


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## Cgreencorn1 (Sep 5, 2018)

Town said:


> Town said:
> 
> 
> > Here is the Honda service bulletin on the slow speed issue: https://www.snowblowerforum.com/for...lletin-intermittent-ground-speed-slowing.html
> ...


Thanks for all the info, I hope the first time out I dont have any regrets spending over 5k for a blower and wanting to go back to the old way. Time will tell and i have learned alot on this site.


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