# ariens rapidtrack 28 sho or pro



## allenltownsend (Oct 2, 2018)

I just joined this forum because I am looking for your advice on a new snowblower I am about to purchase.

A bit of background. I live 30 miles north of Boston. My driveway is several hundred feet long with a wide area for turn around. I also want to use my snow blower to clear my front and back walks. Each of these are about 8 to 10 feet higher than my driveway. I need to drive over my lawn/grass to get to the highest areas and then clear the walks. The snow can drift in up to about 2' on these upper walkways. To get to the back walk, it is a 16 degree slope on grass for about 20 feet, or up multiple flights of stairs. To get the top of the front, I need to drive on the lawn about 100 feet where the steepest incline is about 15 degrees. 

My current snow blower is an Ariens st824. I have used it for about 25 years and it has worked well for me. it is a wheeled unit. I have used ramps on the approach to the back and that works ok. If the snow is deep, I get stuck on the front and cannot clear it. Getting up to the higher areas, even with ramps takes a lot of muscle. I am getting a bit older, and trying to make this easier for the future.

I am looking to get a track snow blower. I have looked at the Honda HSS928 and the Ariens Rapidtrack 28. This purchase will be expensive, so I want it to work well in the worst conditions, heavy wet snow and large drifts.

I think the rapidtrack system sounds great. There are two 28 inch wide units in the Ariens line. 28 width works better than 30 for me because of my garage storage. I think either the Rapidtrack SHO or Pro versions would have the power that I need. 

My question is about the benefit of the Hydrostatic transmission. This sounds to me like a huge advantage which comes with the Pro version. The down side is the extra weight of this unit. I think the SHO would have enough power, but it has the manual transmission. Sooooo, if price is not an object, would you recommend the heavier professional model with the hydrostatic transmission or the lighter SHO version with the manual transmission.

I would appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Thank you
Allen


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

allenltownsend said:


> I just joined this forum because I am looking for your advice on a new snowblower I am about to purchase.
> 
> A bit of background. I live 30 miles north of Boston. My driveway is several hundred feet long with a wide area for turn around. I also want to use my snow blower to clear my front and back walks. Each of these are about 8 to 10 feet higher than my driveway. I need to drive over my lawn/grass to get to the highest areas and then clear the walks. The snow can drift in up to about 2' on these upper walkways. To get to the back walk, it is a 16 degree slope on grass for about 20 feet, or up multiple flights of stairs. To get the top of the front, I need to drive on the lawn about 100 feet where the steepest incline is about 15 degrees.
> 
> ...



if its over a long time frame 15 to 20 years get the rt pro hydo its 40 more lbs then a 28 pro wheeled model

impeller kit
let it eat
the honda is and option they have much tighter drum and impeller speeds makes up for the less powerfull engine vs ariens
the ariens with and impeller kit would run circles around the hss928 imo


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Welcome to the forum! 

A hydrostatic has a bunch of benefits, from what I've read. You can pick any ground speed that you want, of course, and you can seamlessly transition between forward and reverse. Which can be useful for chewing into the end of driveway stuff, etc. There's also no friction disk to wear out, or slip. 

Downsides include cost and complexity. The friction disk transmissions are not fancy, but they're simple, and most issues can be fixed by a homeowner. Sometimes even first gear on my Ariens is too fast, and I have to feather the clutch into a heavy snowbank, but most of the time I have a suitable gear available. 

Extra weight can help with traction, assuming you don't have the wheels raised up off the ground (like getting high-centered on snow, etc). Garden tractors with plows or snowblowers typically need to add extra weight for additional traction. So the extra weight would be worse if you had to push it around, certainly, but it might actually help give you more grip. 

Honda only uses hydrostatic units, not friction disk, so they probably have more experience with them than Ariens. 

The tracked Honda units let you set the bucket to be raised off the ground. That can be useful on grass, since the machine takes care of keeping the bucket from digging into the grass. I don't know if RapidTrak allows that (I suspect not). If so, Ariens' website doesn't make it clear. 

Your inclines are pretty serious! My driveway rises about 4 feet in 40 feet, for about 5-6 degrees. I've done OK with chains on my Ariens (we are both in the same general area). But you're certainly dealing with much worse!


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## nastorino (Jan 28, 2016)

The hydrostatic drive is a pleasure to use. I had a 24 Platinum SHO for one winter and it threw snow very well. The following year i upgraded to a 28 Hydro Pro. The ability to push or pull the lever to increase or decrease speed based upon need speeds up the operation. It eliminates the need of coming to a complete stop, losing momentum, shifting, and going again with the hope that you have traction. It will take come getting used to as it feels unnatural to let go of both handles however once you get over that it's a pleasure to use. 

I too BTW only have 2 card widths and about 3 deep. I cannot throw snow to one side because it's directly parallel to my neighbors driveway. My driveway is also a 10 degree angle and comes up approximately 10' over those two car lengths. It's also a little bumpy due to the tree roots that developed under it.


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## northeast (Dec 29, 2017)

I live 40 miles west of Boston and owned a hydro 28 wheeled unit it had plenty of power but being a wheeled unit it was difficult to get through the heavy wet stuff. I purchased Honda tracked units and am loving the tracks they really do make a huge difference. I would assume that the tracks on the hydro 28 will make it a great machine and may even consider purchasing one in the near future.


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## gibbs296 (Jun 22, 2014)

Please don't put an impeller kit in the new machine if you get one. Old machine? Sure, drill some holes, but don't do the new one. If I have to modify a new $2500 machine to make it work right, I didn't buy the right one.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

northeast said:


> I live 40 miles west of Boston and owned a hydro 28 wheeled unit it had plenty of power but being a wheeled unit it was difficult to get through the heavy wet stuff. I purchased Honda tracked units and am loving the tracks they really do make a huge difference. I would assume that the tracks on the hydro 28 will make it a great machine and may even consider purchasing one in the near future.



My 28 inch ariens with the 20 ft lbs engine and impeller kit has no issues chewing through heavy wet stuff none

the 28 hydro pro is maybe the best wheeled machine ever made with 21 ft lbs
not as easy tracks no difficult no chance
i live 23 miles north of boston on the coast 

i see the worst snow there is in this area northeast
been blowing snow 42 yrs


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## allenltownsend (Oct 2, 2018)

*clearing asphalt and steep grass inclines*

Thank you for all of your comments and advice.

I decided to purchase the Rapidtrak 28 hydro pro because of the transmission and its power. The Rapidtrack is amazingly easy to turn and control both outside and in my garage. I expect the tracks will work much better at the end of the driveway and particularly up the steep grass inclines to the top of my front and back entrances, the wheel mode and hydro transmission will make it easier and quicker to do all the maneuvering I need to do.

Because the Rapidtrak is so new, my dealer does not have any real experience to offer in setting it up for both the asphalt drive and the steep grass inclines. I will have it set to clear the asphalt (chute 1/8" over the pavement). when I get to the grass, I will try the "wheel mode" and tilt the unit back to raise the chute an inch or two over the grass. This is what I did with my previous Ariens ST824. When I get to the steep areas, I will release the back of the tracks with the hand lever and the back of the tracks "fall" to see if they will dig in enough to get me up the slope. If the pressure is too light, I will tip it back further to really engage the tracks with the ground and keep the chute from digging into the turf. Even the "track mode" might work once I am on the incline and snow. I will have to see what works best, but I am confident that it will be much better that my wheeled unit.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions as to technique or set up to do both asphalt and steep grass inclines, I would appreciate them.

Thanks again for all your comments.

Allen


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