# New Deluxe 24 - not a great first experience



## kjjb0204 (Oct 31, 2016)

New England, first storm, maybe 6" mostly fluffy. I like to scrape the pavement, as my driveway is very smooth. This seems way too light in the front end - it just keeps stuttering across the pavement, bouncing the front end constantly. Auto-turn seems to not like scraping pavement either, as it really fought me trying to go in a straight line. Was better if I was turning or curving. 

Anyhow. I guess I'll have to get weights. Is there a way to adjust the scraper to less aggressive of an angle so it doesn't want to skip?


UPDATE - After yesterday's storm here in New England, went out around 7pm, this is really dialed in now, because it slid so nicely across and was oh-so-close to the pavement. There was so much wind and blustery snow that the ground was covered immediately again anyhow. I was so WRONG and am very appreciative of everyone's suggestions below. If you have a new Ariens, go to the dealer and complain about the skids and they will replace with poly under warranty. An amazing difference!


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## Ariens1976 (Jan 1, 2013)

Raise your side skids....


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## ih8thepackers (Jan 4, 2014)

kjjb0204 said:


> New England, first storm, maybe 6" mostly fluffy. I like to scrape the pavement, as my driveway is very smooth. This seems way too light in the front end - it just keeps stuttering across the pavement, bouncing the front end constantly. Auto-turn seems to not like scraping pavement either, as it really fought me trying to go in a straight line. Was better if I was turning or curving.
> 
> Anyhow. I guess I'll have to get weights. Is there a way to adjust the scraper to less aggressive of an angle so it doesn't want to skip?


I used my new deluxe 24 for the first time yesterday,the skid shoes were not adjusted right,so I had to raise them so the scrapper bar was scrapping the pavement more,because it was leaving too much snow on my blacktop driveway.only thing I noticed was at the end of my driveway was a lot of ice buildup,it was kinda bouncing up and down and I was getting traction,but the rest of my driveway was fine,I love the auto turn seems to work great...I had to re-adjust the shoes this morning because I had the scrapper dragging too much,hopefully I got it right this time,I'll see next snow storm..so my first impressions of
My new Ariens is excellent,hopefully it stays that way,and is reliable for many years to come!!


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## kjjb0204 (Oct 31, 2016)

Ariens1976 said:


> Raise your side skids....


I had them in their highest position and the scraper bar was indeed in contact with the pavement. So much so, that it kept catching and bouncing the front end up. It doesn't want to glide across the pavement when it's resting on the scraper bar.


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## 69ariens (Jan 29, 2011)

The scraper bar should not be in direct contact with the ground. You should have the scraper bar1/8 off the ground. The runners will break in on a few storms and the scraper will get closer to the pavement .


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## Strato (Aug 6, 2016)

kjjb0204 said:


> I had them in their highest position and the scraper bar was indeed in contact with the pavement. So much so, that it kept catching and bouncing the front end up. It doesn't want to glide across the pavement when it's resting on the scraper bar.


As Ariens69 indicated, the scraper bar should be at least 1/8" off the ground. 

If you have a piece of 1/8" cardboard, just place it under the scraper bar, and loosen the skid shoes until they drop down, and make contact with your level garage surface. Then tighten, and you're good to go.

You'll leave a bit of snow on the driveway, but you'll have the required clearance, and Autoturn should work flawlessly.


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## kjjb0204 (Oct 31, 2016)

Strato said:


> As Ariens69 indicated, the scraper bar should be at least 1/8" off the ground.
> 
> If you have a piece of 1/8" cardboard, just place it under the scraper bar, and loosen the skid shoes until they drop down, and make contact with your level garage surface. Then tighten, and you're good to go.
> 
> You'll leave a bit of snow on the driveway, but you'll have the required clearance, and Autoturn should work flawlessly.


That's the problem, I think any snowblower should be able to scrape along the pavement for the cleanest surface and have no problems doing it. My previous two machines could slide right along with the skids raised all the way and the scraper bar taking the weight. Why should I have to make adjustments and buy accessories to get this thing to do the same?


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## uberT (Dec 29, 2013)

The single stage machines will scrape the pavement clean. You're going to have wear issues doing that with the 2 stage Ariens.


I understand you don't want to have additional expense, but the poly skids are likely to improve your experience.


Make sure everything is squared up. Ariens has a video covering this.


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

Be sure that your tires are equally and well inflated as that will also cause it to pull one way and seem awkward - but yeah, a 1/8" difference from the shoes and scraper bar is about right on adjustment. The poly skids are also very nice to have.


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## kjjb0204 (Oct 31, 2016)

Again today, this snowblower doesn't want to scrape the pavement without bouncing and leaving little piles of snow. Why do I have to spend more $$ and add weight to this to get it to do what I want? I do NOT want to leave 1/8 of snow on the ground. In New England, that turns into a sheet of ice for the rest of the winter. No thanks. I sold my 8-year-old craftsman thinking I was upgrading but that would scrape right along the pavement with no issues, ever. The dealer is going to need to do something here because I am just not happy with this performance at all.


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## Loco-diablo (Feb 12, 2015)

I think you're just in need of some adjustment tweaking. My deluxe 27 gets right down to the pavement as I like it. If I have to buy a new scraper bar every 5 years, so be it. My machine is a 2010 and the bar shows little wear. I still have the original skids as well. I live in MA , so my machine get a lot of use each year. Proper adjustment can take time and can be frustrating. Keep at it. You'll eventually get it how you want it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## SnoThro (Feb 20, 2016)

Then you shouldn't of bought a 2 stage. They are not meant to scrape the ground clean-period. It also sounds like your driveway is in rough shape. People told you how to use the machine and you clearly don't want to hear it. Walk into my shop with that belligerent attitude and i'd fire you as a customer and show you the door.


There is nothing wrong with leaving a light coat of snow on the ground. Either buy a single stage or scrape with a shovel if your a fanatic or let it melt in a couple days like a normal person.


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## 69ariens (Jan 29, 2011)

A 1/8 '' of snow will melt off very fast with just the sun heck my drive way is in the shade most of the day and i don't have to clean it off any thing that's under an inch, it melts by it self most of the time with in a day or two depending on how cold it is.


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

kjjb0204 said:


> I had them in their highest position and the scraper bar was indeed in contact with the pavement. So much so, that it kept catching and bouncing the front end up. It doesn't want to glide across the pavement when it's resting on the scraper bar.


Thats the problem..you have ALL the weight on the scraper bar, no 2-stage snowblower will work well that way.
If you really want the scraper bar to be *right* at the pavement, try adjusting it this way:

1. Put a 1/4 inch (or so) piece of wood under the scraper bar to raise it up.
2. Lower the skids to the ground so that ALL the weight of the bucket is on the skids alone, and the scraper is hanging in the air with a large gap between the scraper bar and the pavement.
3. Then, lower the scraper bar so that it is *just barely* touching the surface, but just resting there, not supporting the weight of the bucket at all..then tighten it up.

Then you will have 99.9% of the weight being supported by the skids, and 0.1% of the weight being supported by the scraper bar. but the scraper bar is still right on the ground. Ideally you should still leave a small gap, but try it like that first, and see how it works.

many people use the wood "paint stir sticks" you can get for free from Home Depot or Lowes..those leave an ideal gap.

Scot


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## swcheese (Jan 4, 2017)

I just bought a new Ariens Deluxe 30 EFI but read up ahead of time about the setup and it seems to be working great for me, and I love that it isn't so dang front heavy. An 1/8th inch is not a lot of snow to leave on the driveway tbh but it seems like you might be better off with your old one if the dealer doesn't have any answers for ya.


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## swcheese (Jan 4, 2017)

sscotsman said:


> Thats the problem..you have ALL the weight on the scraper bar, no 2-stage snowblower will work well that way.
> If you really want the scraper bar to be *right* at the pavement, try adjusting it this way:
> 
> 1. Put a 1/4 inch (or so) piece of wood under the scraper bar to raise it up.
> ...


 Great advice!


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## kjjb0204 (Oct 31, 2016)

SnoThro said:


> Then you shouldn't of bought a 2 stage. They are not meant to scrape the ground clean-period. It also sounds like your driveway is in rough shape. People told you how to use the machine and you clearly don't want to hear it. Walk into my shop with that belligerent attitude and i'd fire you as a customer and show you the door.
> 
> 
> There is nothing wrong with leaving a light coat of snow on the ground. Either buy a single stage or scrape with a shovel if your a fanatic or let it melt in a couple days like a normal person.


I see you are in Boston - does that small light coat of snow on the ground just vaporize somehow? At my house in southern NH, that 1/8" on my 120' long driveway will turn into a sheet of ice and will stay that way until the end of winter. That is NOT acceptable. That's funny about firing the customer - you do know what customer satisfaction is, right? They told me how they think it should be used, but I know from experience that a two stage should be able to rest on the scraper and have no problems. Like I said before, I've had 3 machines prior to this one and they all did what I wanted just fine. I love it when a fan of a brand tries to justify when it just can't do what other brands can. If the scraper bar isn't supposed to scrape the pavement, 1. why is it called a scraper bar and 2. why would it be so easy to buy and replace it if it isn't going to get worn down at all from NOT scraping the pavement.


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

You can scrape the ground with a 2 stage, it's not using the machine as directed but you'll get the results you are looking for. 

You will wear out the shave plate and gouge it up real good but there aren't to many negative consequences to doing this. Watch out for raised edges as to not jab yourself in the gut with the handle bar. Another thing to note is if a chunk of blacktop rips up you have some heavy shrapnel launching out. Just saying.

As for setting it up, you'll want to adjust the skids to support most of the load as sscotsman explained. You shouldnt have the shave plate supporting all the weight of the bucket. Also with the shave plate being brand new, it has an edge that will absolutely bite and bounce. Once the edge is consistent with the blacktop it won't bounce.


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## ih8thepackers (Jan 4, 2014)

I'm picky also with trying to leave the driveway down to bare blacktop,when I'm done snow blowing,when I'm done with the Snowthrower,I go along with a shovel and scrape as much as possible up.but my drive isn't very big.i agree that if i leave a thin layer of snow on the ground,after it's been driven over and walked on it turns to ice.but it usually melts for the most part the next sunny day,even if it's cold...


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## kjjb0204 (Oct 31, 2016)

Updated, have dialed it in and cleared really easily today in heavy wet snow that my old machines would have choked on.


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## Elt31987 (Sep 6, 2015)

Yup, that snow yesterday was a wet slushy mess. Fun to snowblow though!!


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## Prime (Jan 11, 2014)

ih8thepackers said:


> I'm picky also with trying to leave the driveway down to bare blacktop,when I'm done snow blowing,when I'm done with the Snowthrower,I go along with a shovel and scrape as much as possible up.but my drive isn't very big.i agree that if i leave a thin layer of snow on the ground,after it's been driven over and walked on it turns to ice.but it usually melts for the most part the next sunny day,even if it's cold...


I do driveways for some fussy people. I have the scraper set at 1/4 and pass it with a 36 " push shovel after. Takes only a few more minutes and leaves a clean job. Works for me and everyone is happy


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## GregNL (Jan 9, 2017)

Another option, buy a 1/4" sheet of UHMW plastic at Grainger.com, cut off a 2" wide strip, drill corresponding holes to your metal bar and bolt it in place. No more bar replacement, no scratching the pavement, no rusting, no noise. Scrape away!


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## NVA4370 (Sep 12, 2016)

Has anyone tried something like a strip of baler belt bolted to the scrapper belt and that extends 1/8" to 1/4" in front of the scrapper bar? 

Seems to me that a piece of baler belt would probably not catch on the bumps, snags, and cracks in sidewalks and paved driveways and would help to clean "to the pavement". But if it's too flexible I could imagine it causing some problems.


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## CalgaryPT (Dec 7, 2016)

I've tried a bunch of different materials too, more for the fun of it. UHMW is good, that is what they use on many single stages. More politely put, and as others have said, two stage blowers are not intended for "perfectly clean" surfaces. They by nature leave a gap. For most of us (I am in Calgary, Alberta), when you have 8"+ of snow leave a 1/8" bit behind, no one cares. For commercial or even volunteer removal in your hood a brush follow-up solves the "problem." But realistically it isn't a true problem, just an appearance thing. We get "Chinooks" here (or "DiCaprios" as we now call them  ). The 1/8" the scraper bar leaves behind pales in comparison to the melt from the snow on the lawns on to the sidewalks.

Having said this...I do understand the horrible feeling people get when you run the scraper bar into a heaved sideway expansion gap that is 1" high. The sound of steel is nasty. Years ago I opted for a large 24" (by my standards) two stage tracked machine. I then follow up with a small single stage with rubber paddles for some areas and neighbours. When the paddles are new, the results are great. I now swap my paddles out every year religiously. And I always install a new scrapper bar (I think the Honda ones are UHMW). In addition to not sounding so nasty when you hit a lip, they have some give and are more forgiving.

I know having two machines isn't the more economical for homeowners though. Fortunately the newer single stages are getting more powerful. I can only speak for Hondas, Ariens. I have a HS520 (older, smaller model). It works great. I test drove a newer HS720 model recently and think it is very powerful. More than enough for many homeowners.

Two stage blowers I love. But they aren't designed to leave a perfectly clean surface.


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## NVA4370 (Sep 12, 2016)

I'm not really too concerned about getting it scrapped clean to surface as we are fortunate enough to live on the sunny side of the street. If I get it down to 1/8" the rest will be gone when the sun shines and it doesn't take long for it to happen on the black asphalt driveway.

I was just curious about some of the ways that have been tried by others and if any of them had been very successful.


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## CalgaryPT (Dec 7, 2016)

NVA4370 said:


> I'm not really too concerned about getting it scrapped clean to surface as we are fortunate enough to live on the sunny side of the street. If I get it down to 1/8" the rest will be gone when the sun shines and it doesn't take long for it to happen on the black asphalt driveway.
> 
> I was just curious about some of the ways that have been tried by others and if any of them had been very successful.


Gottcha. I think your baler belt idea has merit. Please post your results if you try it. I knew a guy who had good results with heavy duty stair tread, although it had to be changed more frequently. It's kinda fun to experiment isn't it? Cheers.


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## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

swcheese said:


> Great advice!


I do the paint sticks. Best and easiest way to set the shoes.

If you want a gap then use 4 sticks, 2 together on the left and 2 together on the right. Before my wheels I'd use 4 sticks and the shoes would wear down fairly fast. When the scraper was riding the sidewalk, then I'd have to service the machine. That was rotating the shoes and I'd reset the bucket with 4 paint sticks again...


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## jermar (Dec 10, 2014)

I used two paint sticks to set the scraper height on my Compact 24. The remaining snow turned to ice & lasted for days. It seems like it left more than 1/8" behind. I know I need to shovel when done, but I did seven homes on my block. Not good for them.
Note the dry sidewalk a few houses behind me. That guy has hot water pipes in the concrete with a separate boiler. Costs him $100.00 every storm.


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## CalgaryPT (Dec 7, 2016)

jermar said:


> That guy has hot water pipes in the concrete with a separate boiler. Costs him $100.00 every storm.


Seriously???

1) The sidewalk must be private. I can't imagine the liability issues otherwise.
2) 100 bucks per storm? The boiler must also heat his money press / gold storage room as well.
3) When if gets hot does he have air conditioners that blow across it as well?

Wow. Thanks for the pic. I'd never heard of this before. Is it April 1st already?


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