# Bought new Power Max 724OE and added a 7th speed



## Blosumsno (Dec 7, 2016)

Hi all,

I went to a local OPE clearance dealer after I asked the owner if he had any Toro Snowthrowers and he said he had one so I stopped up to see it.

This dealer is an "outlet store" of sorts and he carries mainly box store brands like Husqvarna, Toro, Troy Bilt and some John Deere. All machines are new but I guess some are previous year models and/or display units.

This 724 OE I believe MSRP's for $849 and he had it priced at about $200 off so I popped on it.

So in reading a number of reviews on this machine some reviewers stated that 1st speed is a little too fast, so once I got it fueled up and started on the first pull,and I drove it and could see that 1st may be a bit quick for deeper wet snow so I decided to add a slower "LO" speed.

Since the machine is propelled by a 6 speed friction disc drive it theoretically is capable of infinitely variable speed control (not sure why they don't do it like Snapper's "Easy Speed" variable disc drive on their walk behind mowers) so I figured why not just cut a notch in the shifter plate in between the 1st fwd speed and the 1st reverse speed.

In the 1st photo I've marked the location of the cut for the notch after test driving the machine to find a reasonably slow speed. Using my cheap 20V cordless jigsaw fitted with a metal cutting blade made quick work of cutting on the marks i made to establish the width of the notch. Next I simply used pliers to bend the tab that is left after the cuts, I bent it repeatedly to break it off leaving a rough squared off notch (2nd photo). I used a file to sort of shape the notch to resemble the factory ones and touched it up with some satin black paint.













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## gibbs296 (Jun 22, 2014)

Congrats on the new machine, I'm sure it will be a great performer as many engineers have spent countless hours in designing a snowblower that will work very well in nearly all conditions.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Most people will adjust the linkage but that's a handy way to get a slower forward without making the reverse faster.

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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Nice! 



At some point you're close enough to the center of the aluminum disk that the rubber wheel is "grinding", more than rolling. Imagine positioning the rubber wheel at the exact center of the aluminum disk, the rubber wheel would never actually turn (you'd never move), it would just get a flat spot worn into it by the spinning aluminum disk. 



So using your new, slower speed may increase the wear on the rubber disk a little bit. Or a small mis-adjustment of the gear-selection linkage may result in barely moving at all. 



But hopefully it helps! There are times that I do wish I had a slower forward speed (different brand). I have adjusted my tranny linkage a bit to slow down the forward speeds, and the corresponding quicker reverse is helpful. But I haven't been brave enough to make permanent changes to my control panel by cutting another notch in it


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## gibbs296 (Jun 22, 2014)

Or maybe just take a little smaller cut of snow if it's that heavy. I guess I would rather adjust my method of operation before cutting up a brand new machine, although it makes for good conversation.


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

Certainly cutting a slot in a brand new snowblower will take the sting out of getting the first rock chip in the chute !


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## Blosumsno (Dec 7, 2016)

RedOctobyr, Thanks yes I am familiar with the friction disc setup since I've used Snapper mowers for years and also have a Snapper 2 stage (avatar photo), I didnt check the wheel and where it sat on the disc but as a dry run on pavement it works well, no jumping or jerking which might leave me to believe it's getting too much side thrust by being too close to the center. 

I didn't set it up as a crawler gear it's only somewhat slower than 1st ( maybe 30% less, enough to notice) and close to the 1st speed on my snapper.

Hi gibbs296, the metal piece that I cut simply screws onto the underside of the control panel and is easily replaced if I need to based on the parts diagram.


Thanks everyone for the congrats, I was looking at these last winter at HD and I liked the fact that it has a 212cc engine wheras some other 24 inch models have smaller engines (tho the 824 would be ideal, but can't swing the cash, hence the leftover 724). I like Toro snowthrowers as the first 2 stage our family had was a 3521 with the old drum auger we bought new back around 1989.

Some of you may have seen my post back in march where I expressed the first disappointment with the Snowmaster I bought in 2016. It's a great machine in most cases but that storm left a semi frozen slush under layer and snow on top so when the snowmaster dug in the tires have so much bite that when they let go it turns into a bucking bronco contest.

So I wound up clearing the 175 ft long 2 car wide drive with the 5.5HP 21" Snapper, she was a trooper but went slow because I didnt want to bog the engine and so it took me a while to get it done and also the machine left rows as the snow spilled around the sides of the bucket even in 1st (used the Snowmaster to clean up after the Snapper).

That's why I chose this mod rather than taking narrower swaths so I can take advantage of the machine's size and still have the power to do it once. If I notice wear on the friction wheel I'll either put a new plate in and return the machine to stock or just not use the lower speed.

BTW: I was going to title the thread "Bought a new 724OE...And cut it up" but I decided that seemed to be too "click-baity"


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## Blosumsno (Dec 7, 2016)

RIT333 said:


> Certainly cutting a slot in a brand new snowblower will take the sting out of getting the first rock chip in the chute !


LOL  but at least this I can un-sting if need be.:grin:


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## gibbs296 (Jun 22, 2014)

That looks to be a pretty solid group of machines you now have at your disposal. Hopefully a good snow season will allow you to have some fun with them!!


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Blosumsno said:


> BTW: I was going to title the thread "Bought a new 724OE...And cut it up" but I decided that seemed to be too "click-baity"



"Bought a new 724OE... what he did next will shock you!" :grin:



It sounds like this should be a nice upgrade! That's cool that you can replace the modified piece if you needed to. On my Ariens, that's part of the main dashboard, so it would either be permanent, or probably fairly expensive to undo. 



My machine will sometimes leave an overflowed strip of snow in the area I just cleared, especially if the snow is fairly deep. I've tried taking narrower cuts, and using slower ground speeds, to avoid this. But what I've found, personally, is that the quickest approach seems to be to use a quick ground speed (just avoiding bogging down), and full-width cuts, and leave the overflowed snow. Then at the end, I go back and make top-gear cleanup passes for the overflow, which moves pretty quickly. It lets me move faster on the first passes, and the top-gear cleanup passes don't take long, and they also help clean up snow that blew around, etc. 



It's a 24", 318cc OHV machine, so it usually has enough power to move faster than it can really process the snow, without leaving an overflow strip. I'd like to try a bigger engine pulley, to speed up the impeller and augers, but that would be something of a hassle, so I haven't tried it. But with those turning faster, it could process & throw more per second, and reduce the overflow.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

[email protected] up a new machine hardly
nice job on the notch
as stated you could have adjusted the linkage
not likely that notch effects the alum disk
I (cut notches in my chute rotation and my deflector up and down control to get more adjustment out of both)
Ariens should have made it that way to start with


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

Genius. So simple an idea Blosumsno had, many of us think about changing the pulley; and a Great caveat and explanation RedOctobyr had. So what it comes down to, to protect the machine, take the bottom pan off, move the lever and judge how much the lever moves and how much room you have left before the rubber friction disk gets to the center, or the opposite way if you decide, to the edge.


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## Blosumsno (Dec 7, 2016)

RedOctobyr said:


> "Bought a new 724OE... what he did next will shock you!" :grin:
> 
> 
> 
> It sounds like this should be a nice upgrade! That's cool that you can replace the modified piece if you needed to. On my Ariens, that's part of the main dashboard, so it would either be permanent, or probably fairly expensive to undo.


The speed selector shift gate is called "Mount-Selector, Speed" and retails for $3.41 on the Toro site.


Part no. is 120-9258-03.


There is a metal panel under the plastic dashboard but this piece screws to it.


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