# After 32 years of saskatchewan winters I broken down



## Aarex (Jan 14, 2013)

And bought a new 28" Ariens Deluxe.

Maybe its just me being an inexperienced snow blower operator but I am having issues with the tires spinning on packed snow and the machine seems to almost want to climb rather then chew on through. When the tires start spinning I have to really push hard to get it moving again. I am a very large man and I don't think it should require this amount of effort to get this beast moving.

I did some research and found that the new 2012 model is shipped with these polar trac tires which honestly seem to be pretty crappy the treads are spaced very far apart and not very deep, the 2010 model shipped with Carlise X-trac tires and from pictures those things look awesome. Unfortunately to buy these x-tracs and get them shipped to me most online shops have quoted me 150 dollars just for shipping, 36 dollars for the tires.....

So am i operating this thing wrong? should I look at getting new tires or do you think i should strap on tire chains and deal with it. My driveway is exposed aggregate and i am a little concerned the tire chains may chew the rocks out of the concrete.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

hello aarex, welcome to SBF and congrats on the purchase of your new airens. what gear are you operating your machine in? have you tryed a lower gear or thought about getting chains


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## JSB33 (Jan 11, 2013)

I have been concerned about the tires on my Deluxe 28 since i bought it. I have not had enough deep snow to really test them yet but what you are telling me does not sound good.
I am sure they downgraded the tires to meet the magical sub $1000 price point. 
I hope I don't have to replace tires to get the machine to work as its supposed to.


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## 69ariens (Jan 29, 2011)

Ariens puts cheap tire's on the deluxe . They should have put carlisle snow hogs or the X- trac. But if your running on hard pack, I would run chains.


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## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

Welcome to SBF! 32 years is a long time of shoveling! 

I think all snowblowers will tend to ride up on hard packed snow. It's sort of natural given the direction the augers turn. Like detdrbuzzard suggested, try a slower speed to give the machine more time to bite into the snow. 

So far as the tires are concerned, I can't answer that, not having first hand experience with a wheeled snowblower. Chains would no doubt help, but maybe the slower speed would too.

Let us know how things go.


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## Aarex (Jan 14, 2013)

Thanks for the replies, I have tried every gear speed from turtle to rabbit, i was actually spinning not even throwing snow just sitting in 1/4 foot of lose powder. My brother in law works at quality tire and was able to find me a pair of carlisle snow hogs, they don't look quite as good as the x-tracs but hopefully they do the trick, i would rather not put chains on.

I forgot to mention that the existing junky tires work ok on my driveway, the problem occurs in far deeper snow where i was trying to clear a path in my back yard for my bulldog to do his business.


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## 69ariens (Jan 29, 2011)

Who makes the tire's on the deluxe? I have seen the tire's up close but never looked at who made them.


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## JSB33 (Jan 11, 2013)

Best I can see is "Snow Pro"


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Tires*

Welcome to the forum.

I've bought and refurbished a number of machines over the last couple of years so I've had a chance to look at a number of tire combinations on machines. I have a pair of 2 stage keepers, a 5 HP with SnowHog style tires I put on and a 10 HP with regular tires and chains. The smaller one does very good until you have ice under the snow then it has traction issues. The larger one with chains will bit into almost anything on the surface regardless of whether it's snow or ice.

I'm not sure what air pressure I'm running right now on the 5 HP but if the tires are inflated too much, they seem to float more on the hard surface and bite in less than if there's a little give in the tires. Admittedly the 10 HP has another 100-200 pounds of dead weight being put down on the chains so that's a benefit. You might want to check your tire pressue, it's kind of like running a vehicle in sand or muck, lowering the tire pressure to a degree will allow it to bite better than if it's rock solid.


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## Oldphil (Dec 7, 2010)

I have the same issue with my new Toro, all things point toward a weight kit not tires. Chains suck due to marking things up an still let it ride up on the hard pack.


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