# Just received my new 24" beast



## Forcefed4door (Jan 26, 2016)

Haven't had time to put it together, just enough to take it off the pallet. This is a heavy sucker, looks solid as a rock. More pics and info once I setup the handles and put the shoot on.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

the business end looks dangerous !! lol keep us posted.


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## chrisexv6 (Feb 4, 2014)

Nice looking snowblower! I have a feeling in the next few years we'll see Husq give Ariens a run for their money.

Only thing that bothers me about Husq is that they seem to want to put plastic "pretty" pieces on everything. We dont need no stinkin pretty!


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

I know you are all excited to get it set up, congrats and good luck


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Very nice, congrats! There is some interesting detail to the impeller.


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## tinter (Apr 20, 2014)

I'd rather the force fed 4 door.☺


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## Forcefed4door (Jan 26, 2016)

tinter said:


> I'd rather the force fed 4 door.☺


Haha of course you would


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## Forcefed4door (Jan 26, 2016)

I hope to get it together tomorrow before ever last bit of snow melts . I have a small snow packed/icy pile about 1' deep by my garage. Hope to dive into that and see what happens


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

ahhh tinter......a sleeper ! ( force fed four door). i had one, not force fed, but a true sleeper.....would embarrass many units.


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## charley95 (Feb 10, 2014)

Is that the new Honda?


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

Hondvarna


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## Forcefed4door (Jan 26, 2016)

Was missing a handle bar bolt, must have vibrated loose from the factory. Got another on the way from snowblowerdirect. This is an awesome machine. Hand warmers were hot in like 2minutes, sweet. Only ran it for a few minutes. Started on first pull effortlessly. Engine runs smooth as silk, And runs quieter than my 22" 179cc mtd I had. 

So as you can see I tested in the snowy icey pile I had by my driveway. Man did it plow through that. Almost felt like it wanted to pull me through it. And look where the snow landed . The shoot was even at a slight down angle. This thing is the real deal. Love the hydro trans. And reverse gear is the perfect speed, not slow. Confident I'll be throwing the snow across the street ,over the neighbors sidewalk, and into there yard . Looking forward to the worst eod I can feed it.


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## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

LOL. Would you believe I was missing a handlebar bolt as well !

If you read the other post, upon tinkering...

- missing auger interlock spring
- trim bucket cover. Everything is all nice and tight. If you break it down though and remove it, turns out one piece was cross threaded and is not *tight*. The opposing piece that sits ontop of it kept it tight.

Just some things to look out for...


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## Vincent_Diesel (Feb 15, 2016)

Is this a 300 series Husqvarna? I considered this brand before I bought an Ariens

The impeller on this think looks sci-fi.


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## Forcefed4door (Jan 26, 2016)

Vincent_Diesel said:


> Is this a 300 series Husqvarna? I considered this brand before I bought an Ariens
> 
> The impeller on this think looks sci-fi.


As I considered ariens before I bought this haha. Yes it's the 300 series. Another interesting thing. The piece on top of the bucket that looks like plastic, is actually a metal weight. Makes the front end nice and heavy. It'll never ride up a snow bank


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## Vincent_Diesel (Feb 15, 2016)

Forcefed4door said:


> As I considered ariens before I bought this haha. Yes it's the 300 series. Another interesting thing. The piece on top of the bucket that looks like plastic, is actually a metal weight. Makes the front end nice and heavy. It'll never ride up a snow bank


Nevertheless that is one gorgeous machine. Looks so purty!


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## BTM4 (Feb 12, 2016)

Forcefed4door said:


> As I considered ariens before I bought this haha. Yes it's the 300 series. Another interesting thing. The piece on top of the bucket that looks like plastic, is actually a metal weight. Makes the front end nice and heavy. It'll never ride up a snow bank


New to the forum. Have been researching a bit to try deciding what snowblower to purchase for next winter. I have narrowed it down to either an ariens sho 24 or the ST-324P or ST-327P. Do you have any regrets about choosing the 324p over the ariens? Originally I was all in on the Ariens SHO, but I worry about the auto turn that many people say makes it hard to steer straight and around cars. The husqvarna 300 series seems to have everything I want, however it seems that a lot of people on this forum question the quality of the husqvarna machines.


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## Forcefed4door (Jan 26, 2016)

The st324 is a different animal. Lct motor and hydro trans. It's way beyond the 200series. Ide consider this machine in the top 3 with Honda and ariens. The thing with the 24" sho. I don't believe the huge motor is needed on a 24" bucket. If you have a lot of driveway or end up doing a few properties with it you'll be refilling the tank quite often. I've read of people actual considering installing larger gas tanks on them, if its even possible. Plus the auto turn which I was up on the fence about. As far as build quality, between these 2 units. The ariens wins in that department. I test drove a sho before ultimately going with the st324p. I felt like the hydro trans alone was worth the difference. And double the run time on a tank of gas. The aggressive 14" auger and the cast iron 4blade impeller make it stand out from most of the other machines too


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

I have read a lot of guys like them..... sounds like a great machine. I'll be keeing an eye out over the next few years for a nice used one on the cheap!


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## FEF3 (Feb 18, 2016)

Nice looking snowblower ! I like the layout of the control panel


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## BTM4 (Feb 12, 2016)

Forcefed4door said:


> The st324 is a different animal. Lct motor and hydro trans. It's way beyond the 200series. Ide consider this machine in the top 3 with Honda and ariens. The thing with the 24" sho. I don't believe the huge motor is needed on a 24" bucket. If you have a lot of driveway or end up doing a few properties with it you'll be refilling the tank quite often. I've read of people actual considering installing larger gas tanks on them, if its even possible. Plus the auto turn which I was up on the fence about. As far as build quality, between these 2 units. The ariens wins in that department. I test drove a sho before ultimately going with the st324p. I felt like the hydro trans alone was worth the difference. And double the run time on a tank of gas. The aggressive 14" auger and the cast iron 4blade impeller make it stand out from most of the other machines too


Appreciate your thoughts on the ariens vs husky. I feel like I really can't go wrong with either one. I will probably flip flop a few more times between now and next fall when I make a purchase :smiley-confused009:


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## Forcefed4door (Jan 26, 2016)

Either way you can't go wrong. Ide suggest going to a dealer and see if they'll let you move one around and see if you like the auto steer. Although is will behave differently in snow most likely


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Forcefed4door said:


> *The thing with the 24" sho. I don't believe the huge motor is needed on a 24" bucket. * If you have a lot of driveway or end up doing a few properties with it you'll be refilling the tank quite often.


We all know you can't have too much power on a blower  But I do think there is some truth to your statement. 

My Ariens is 24", with just a 10hp 318cc OHV engine. Smaller than the 369cc of the 24 SHO, and lower power. I've seen a spec of 11hp for the SHO engine, I think. 

But even with the 2-foot storms last year, I rarely found it lacking for power, and that was clearing after the end of the storms. And since doing some work to the governor at the end of last season, it's now holding RPM better than before. 

Now, I think the SHO has a larger impeller than mine, spinning faster. So it's using some of the added power for additional snow-processing capability. But I think this is probably reaching the point of diminishing returns, on engine size for this bucket width. 

In deep/wet-snow storms, the power can really be put to good use. But in more-normal storms, it can be difficult to really load up the engine, to take full advantage of the available power.


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## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

BTM4 -

I was in a similar boat when I made my purchase. Loved the power on the SHO but that was about it. Hydro for me anyday IMO. If you're not familiar with the Hydro, the ability the throttle F/R ~infinitely~ was the decision maker for me.


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## BTM4 (Feb 12, 2016)

mobiledynamics said:


> BTM4 -
> 
> I was in a similar boat when I made my purchase. Loved the power on the SHO but that was about it. Hydro for me anyday IMO. If you're not familiar with the Hydro, the ability the throttle F/R ~infinitely~ was the decision maker for me.


The hydro does sound nice. I have been trying to find a good youtube video of a 300 series in action, but haven't seen anything yet. Price wise, the 324P and 24 SHO pretty close. I've seen the 324p listed at 1399, and the 24 SHO is 1499 at my local dealer. Like you said, the power of the SHO sounds pretty awesome. At the same time, the 324P looks really impressive and from what I read on this forum, everyone who has bought one sounds happy with their decision.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

mobiledynamics said:


> BTM4 -
> 
> I was in a similar boat when I made my purchase. Loved the power on the SHO but that was about it. Hydro for me anyday IMO. If you're not familiar with the Hydro, the ability the throttle F/R ~infinitely~ was the decision maker for me.


Interesting, I hadn't looked up the displacement of the 324P until now. At 254cc, it's significantly smaller than the SHO at 369cc. 

If I was in an area that got a lot of deep/wet snow, I guess I'd prefer to have a somewhat larger engine. But it presumably then becomes a question of priorities, and the user's individual situation. 

(Edit- I just looked, and the Ariens Deluxe 24 is also 254cc, then they jump to 369cc for the SHO. Their only intermediate engine size is found on the Deluxe 28 SHO, at 306cc, so no middle ground on engines for a 24" bucket size)

The hydro on the Husky probably provides a usability benefit with every storm. While the extra power of the SHO only really becomes meaningful once the smaller engine starts to bog down. Until that point, both should hold RPM, so in 6" of fluffy stuff, there may be no benefit to the larger engine. The hydro would at least give the Husky the ability to creep into deeper piles, to help avoid overloading the engine. 

Hydros do sound very nice, but I haven't gotten a chance to try one, so I guess I don't realize what I'm missing :redface:


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## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

BTM4 -

FWIW, when looking at videos of SB in action, don't get so caught up in the throw distance, etc. Yes, it's pretty impressive when it goes X the distance, etc, etc....

Case in point. Recent blizzard that netted us 30". I don't know about other locales....
This was super fluffy pufffy puffilicious snow. Still nice and fluffy at least for the 1st 2-3 hrs on the following day as the sun came up. IMO, ANY snowblower could have dealt with this snow within reason..

The point I'm trying to make is that the type of snow you normally get should dictate your buying decision as well.....blowing 30 inches of fluffy light snow is much different than 6-10" of salt laid, sand spreaded snow..


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## Forcefed4door (Jan 26, 2016)

Every week we seem to have snowstorm potential and when the forecast get within a day or two it changes to nothing. Dang meteorologists. I took a stand this time and just moved the machine from garage to storage shed. We're not getting anymore snow this year in nj


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Forcefed4door said:


> Every week we seem to have snowstorm potential and when the forecast get within a day or two it changes to nothing. Dang meteorologists. I took a stand this time and just moved the machine from garage to storage shed. We're not getting anymore snow this year in nj


*Buying* one guarantees no snow. The same way that finally buying a generator ensures that you'll never lose power again. We had the brutal winter last year, so before this winter, two people at work finally bought snowblowers. So of course, we've had very little snow this year. 

But putting it in the shed, that *might* coax the snow back. Certainly if you somehow disabled the machine (back the car into it, break your only auger belt, etc), then a blizzard would suddenly materialize.


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