# People who LIKE the Auto-turn



## AriensSnowman (Dec 9, 2014)

There are many threads from people who do not like the Auto-turn for one reason or another, but not one thread for those of us who like it. For prospecting buyers who are researching a new Ariens model, I think there should also be a thread showing there are people who really like it too. I'm one of them after I replaced my stock skids. Stock skids and the Auto-turn only worked well on pavement for me, but on gravel or grass it was non-existent. Now it works beautifully and I truly love the feature. I wish my DR. Field and Brush mower had the same Auto-turn differential, it would make that a perfect machine. 

So for those of you who actually like this feature and why, chime in! Support the Auto-turn!


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## bombidude (Jan 8, 2015)

I like my 2015 platinum 30 SHO with auto turn. I had lasts years model with auto turn too. It does seem to turn nicely and I put the bigger tires on mine too. I use a Honda track drive to and these machines you must throw around to turn. The auto turn Ariens my four year old boy can turn it. No problems with it either.. Had about ten hours on my 2014 model and about 1 hour on my 2015 model. I think it should be a bullet proof set up for years to come.


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## bkwudz (Jan 14, 2013)

New Pro 28 here. Upgraded from an old st1032 that I had for 25 years, with manual locking drive, which usually stayed unlocked because it was too heavy and hard to turn locked.

The Pro28 was purchased this year, (thank god) and so far auto turn works likes its not there. I use it on an old cracked paved driveway, a gravel driveway and on grass in the back yard for the dog. it works fine, I have no problem going where I want, we have had an insane amount of snow here in boston, and it pro28 has handled it without a hitch.

I've used it on inclined, and angled driveways within inches of vehicles, trying to dig them out, and it still goes straight until I turn it.

this has all been with stock skids. I just put on the armor skids to see if it went any better, and honestly after a little work yesterday, I think I might like the stock skids better. I will see how the armor skid do after this recent storm and a full test.

I


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## 1894 (Dec 16, 2014)

I'm new to snow blowing so I really don't have much to compare to 
Even with the stock skids my machine kept a pretty straight line , it wants to keep straight at slow speeds and easy to do curves and such from 2nd gear on up. One thing I did learn was not to fight it , leave a couple inches overlap on passes and just guide it along. 
My machine is only 2 feet wide so it's about the same width as the wheels , Maybe a wider 28" or 30" bucket would cause more pull just by being wider
I put on the armor skids because the stock ones would sink in on unfrozen lawn or new gravel on my drive way . I also have places where I drive up a 2-3" rise to the gravel and was catching too much gravel. Amazing how far those 1 1/2" crushed stones will fly out into the yard 
Auto turn works well for me.


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## podevil (Sep 13, 2014)

I have a new Deluxe 28 with Armor skids and it works perfectly. I do a small gravel driveway and our brother in laws 300 ft gravel driveway. and the only time my deluxe 28 varies is when I want it to. It runs straight and true until I want to turn. The auto turn takes a little getting used to, but it is a superior addition to the snow blowing world. I want to add that I use the Deluxe 28 on the grass also to keep the paths to my sheds open. It runs just as well on the grass as it does on the gravel. Also keep a path open around to the back of the brother in laws house so the oil truck can have access to the oil tanks for his heater.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

I have the plastic Ariens skids to prevent any damage to paver driveways. I clear 5 driveways with my Platinum 30 SHO and the Auto-Turn works perfectly with all the manoeuvring that entails. It is easy to manoeuvre on high traction surfaces including dry asphalt and concrete. Both the drive wheels maintain strong traction and both will spin if the machine is prevented from moving by some obstacle. I have used and repaired snowblowers for more than 40 years and this is the best setup I have ever used. 

The 1974 Canadiana 8/26 with open differential was very easy to manoeuvre but traction was limited to wheel with least traction. So it needed chains under all conditions. The chains made the machine rough to handle.

The 2004 Craftsman 11/30 with the triggers to release the drive from one or both wheels, sounded perfect but was not. Drive was not consistent and would allow one wheel to slip under load. The machine would shift left and right in straight line as resistance was encountered. A very weak drive system with this machine that Sears Technicians could not solve within the 3 year extended warranty period. The problem seemed to be due to the small gears and weak springs at each wheel unable to lock the drive wheels completely. The system only worked well on very smooth driveways. Very easy to manoeuvre with the triggers pulled on to release the drive. I gave up after 4 years and locked the wheels to the axle to eliminate the unpredictable movement. The heavy machine is quite the workout to blow out 5 driveways.


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## Dave C (Jan 26, 2015)

I like it when maneuvering in the garage and when taking a 90 degree turn doing my sidewalks. Other than that, I'll reserve judgement until after i replace the stock skids.


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## vmaxed (Feb 23, 2014)

I have had three different Ariens auto turn models and they all worked great


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## pdesjr (Feb 7, 2015)

New deluxe 28 this year.Two storms so far it works great on the driveway and cutting paths to the shed and birdfeeders in the yard. I put the poly skids on after the first storm because jt was scratching up the new driveway. No complaints so far.


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## Johnny_W (Jan 5, 2015)

In a thread about liking the auto-turn 2/3 of the people who have posted either have already or have plans to replace the stock skids. I include myself in this group. Replacing the stock skids made my Ariens go from an upper body workout to a pleasure to use. I really like the auto-turn feature now. 
But, had it not been for this forum and the many discussions about replacing the skids I would have remained very unhappy about auto-turn.


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## zeebandit (Feb 18, 2014)

I have a new 24 Deluxe. I used it with the original skids and did not have a problem. Just for comparison I put the Ariens Poly Skids on. I did watch the video on how to adjust the skids and installed them. It seems to work smoother with the Poly skids.
FYI I ordered the Poly Skids on line from Home Depot.


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## gto4evr (Feb 6, 2015)

This thread sounds like an attempt at some PR damage control, Do you work for Ariens?!

Just kidding.....I'm "okay" with it now, but that's definitely after the stock skid replacement. It still catches here and there forcing a course correction for me occasionally but overall it's a trade off. I never bothered with the triggers on my other machine so that was always just horsing it around the turns. This setup saves me the turn horsing, but adds in the corrections keeping it straight, although I feel my blood pressure rise every time I'm near the cars with a death grip on it to keep it from taking the sudden turn into the fender!


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## AverageJoe (Feb 19, 2014)

I like it now...


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## nickyb (Nov 25, 2014)

I like it when it works, we've got hit with 3 massive snow storms every time I used it so traction was at a minimum, waiting for my new skids and will report back.


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## Blue Hill (Mar 31, 2013)

I'm on record in this forum as being a fan of Auto-Turn. I participated in the debates last season. Liked it then, like it now.


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## enigma-2 (Feb 11, 2014)

Have a 2014 24" Platinum. Auto-turn beat the tar out of me last winter with all the ruts. Chintzy little skids caught on every little bump in my driveway, ready to burn the monster in the street.

Put Ariens ploy skids on and huge difference. (Also had the driveway leveled as well).
This winter it's a far different story, very little fighting to go straight. Easy to turn and maneuver. Nice to be able to blow snow one handed. Can even turn the machine using just one hand.

One thing I can think of however that would make ALL THE DIFFERENCE, if they were to install a cable that when squeezed, would LOCK the axle shafts and put equal power to both wheels. That way when you did get into an area with ruts, you could just squeeze the handle and the machine would force itself to go straight ahead.
(((Are you listening Ariens)))?


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## nickyb (Nov 25, 2014)

Installed my new ArmorSKids and blew another foot and a half yesterday. ArmorSkids did nothing for my AutoTurn in deep snow, it will try to kick on 10% of the time when I'm almost done turning. Mind you, this is trying to turn on snowpacked asphalt. 

I should've bought chains instead


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## dbcooper (Oct 2, 2014)

I'm not going to buy a bigger blower without it, I use the stock shoes on concrete and a dirt driveway with out issue. 

My only complaint is not buying a bigger frame machine as this 28" one is such a pleasure to use. It the Hydo version but I don't see why that would make that much of a difference.


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## Von (Jan 10, 2015)

For those of you who have put poly skids on your ariens, may I ask what height you have them at? We changed our skids to the poly skids, the machine was ok before but now we are having a heck of a time controlling it (deluxe 28+). It constantly pulls all over the place. We have a paved driveway. Any suggestions? thanks.


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## Snowhawg (Feb 20, 2015)

I have also found the Autoturn to be fantastic. When I bought my second machine (my Hydro Pro 28) I made sure it had it. The only time it fights me is if I'm working a snow berm down the driveway where only one side gets resistance. One reason I went with the 28" instead of the 32" was to make situations like that easier to deal with, plus I can go at full speed most of the time where the 32 needs a slower speed. The pros of the Autoturn definitely outweigh the cons.


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## Normex (Feb 21, 2014)

Von said:


> For those of you who have put poly skids on your ariens, may I ask what height you have them at? We changed our skids to the poly skids, the machine was ok before but now we are having a heck of a time controlling it (deluxe 28+). It constantly pulls all over the place. We have a paved driveway. Any suggestions? thanks.


 For pavement you should put paint stirrers or equivalent giving approx. 1/8" below the scraper bar, then just loosen the skids so they drop down evenly and tighten good. Are the poly skids from Ariens ? and lastly was your unit verified with Ariens suggestion as follow and make sure you are on an even surface for this. Good Luck


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## Von (Jan 10, 2015)

Thanks Normex,
Yes, they are ariens poly skids and they were actually put on by the dealer. I will try your recommendation.


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## PixMan (Feb 14, 2015)

Put me down as a fan. It works great!

I will try putting the polymer skids on one of mine to see the difference, but for now everything is stock and works "as advertised."

Would buy again! (So I did.)


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## jjlrrw (Feb 4, 2015)

enigma-2 said:


> One thing I can think of however that would make ALL THE DIFFERENCE, if they were to install a cable that when squeezed, would LOCK the axle shafts and put equal power to both wheels. That way when you did get into an area with ruts, you could just squeeze the handle and the machine would force itself to go straight ahead.
> (((Are you listening Ariens)))?


Good idea but don't think that will happen after watching Ariens youtube video on the auto turn as they put it "no fumbling or bumbling with levers"

So I want to be able to post as "People who like the Auto-turn" but need help!!!

1/2 or more have replaced stocks skids even the OP, is this a must do? I hate throwing more money at this thing to get it useable.

I did verify the setup watching the video and used a yard stick to adjust skid height at the end, just got the blower back from a 2 week visit at the dealer for shifting issues and they also said it was adjusted I verified again and it was. 

I have been comparing the deluxe 28 to my 10 year old 8/24 Ariens but not side by side. The Deluxe 28 I have at home black top and cement drive 150' long plus two extra parking areas, the 8/24 at the cabin 170' dirt drive uneven hump in the middle. 

8/24 has the wheels locked it seem so much less effort to control (keeping a straight line) turning around is harder. The deluxe 28 is much more effort keeping it straight but easier to turn after the long run. Also another big difference is when I want to make an area wider the 8/24 will cut a nice straight line no problem, the deluxe 28 it keeps diving deeper into the side bank once done it looks like I drank too many beers before snowblowing.

I may bring the 8/24 home this weekend and do some real comparing?

I must say making a wider turn in the road is not all that bad.

Are new skids a must for the auto turn feature? What ones are best?

Is there a way to lock the axle disabling the auto turn? It would be nice to do a "A" to "B" comparison. 

I don't have tire chains, I was thinking it may make it even worse???
the 8/24 does not have chains either it has smaller tires but has much better traction maybe a difference in weight distribution? 

Thoughts?


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## enigma-2 (Feb 11, 2014)

Von said:


> For those of you who have put poly skids on your ariens, may I ask what height you have them at? We changed our skids to the poly skids, the machine was ok before but now we are having a heck of a time controlling it (deluxe 28+). It constantly pulls all over the place. We have a paved driveway. Any suggestions? thanks.


I set mine at 1/8". One thing I found is the ploy skids need readjusting more often. It helps to tighten them more than expected. Poly will help to prevent the wild ride the longer skids produce.


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## Johnny_W (Jan 5, 2015)

I found the poly skids made a dramatic difference in my ability to go in a straight line. Before I installed them it was an intense upper body workout to go in a straight line. After the installation I can use one hand to go straight. I purchased the generic poly skids from Home Depot because I was unwilling to give Ariens money to fix an issue they seem to be well aware of but are actively ignoring. I did need to add a strip of strapping steel between the nuts and the skids and remove the wacky spacer to prevent them from riding up and needing to be readjusted after each use.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Johnny_W


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## Von (Jan 10, 2015)

enigma-2 said:


> I set mine at 1/8". One thing I found is the ploy skids need readjusting more often. It helps to tighten them more than expected. Poly will help to prevent the wild ride the longer skids produce.


I'll have a look today, maybe they came loose. I looked at the video posted above. He say's to use a yardstick, but the ones I've looked at are 1/4 inch thick. I found some paint sticks which should do. 
Also what do you mean by wild ride of longer skids? Are you referring to the Armor skids?



Johnny_W said:


> I found the poly skids made a dramatic difference in my ability to go in a straight line. Before I installed them it was an intense upper body workout to go in a straight line. After the installation I can use one hand to go straight. I purchased the generic poly skids from Home Depot because I was unwilling to give Ariens money to fix an issue they seem to be well aware of but are actively ignoring. I did need to add a strip of strapping steel between the nuts and the skids and remove the wacky spacer to prevent them from riding up and needing to be readjusted after each use.
> Hope this helps and good luck!
> Johnny_W


That's what we are finding, using the thrower is a major upper body workout even with the poly skids. 
Will tinker with it today and see how it goes.


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## gto4evr (Feb 6, 2015)

jjlrrw said:


> Are new skids a must for the auto turn feature? What ones are best?
> 
> Is there a way to lock the axle disabling the auto turn? It would be nice to do a "A" to "B" comparison.
> 
> ...


first question: I'd say "yes", definitely a must. I wanted poly skids, but with the length of the armor skids without spacers. Since that's not an option, I made my own out of HDPE. Due to the bucket design, you can't really go forward in length, but you can extend them rearwards a bit hence my bolt offset in the picture.

Second question: "no". There's no way to disable the auto turn without doing a drastic modification to the gear unit itself such as drilling holes through the two sides of the gear plates to bolt them solidly together as a simple fix, or if you're industrious, creating a spacer that would go in place of the spring, at the correct size to keep the side gears forced apart at all times so they couldn't slip. neither's a good option for the fact you're permanently modifying something on your expensive new snow blower that is basically a design flaw that shouldn't exist.

The skids tamed the problem enough for me that I'm okay with it now. Still not a fan since it still jumps around for no real reason occasionally but it's usable now. 

funny you bring up the traction problem - I have that as well, and it doesn't seem to make sense since the tires are so much larger with a more aggressive tread than my old one with tiny tires and no traction problems. I don't see the $90 chain kit really helping since it looks like the chains would slip into the valleys between the treads making them worthless. Jury's still out on this one.


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## 1894 (Dec 16, 2014)

After some more use , these are the things that stand out to me for my use.
1. I like the auto-turn 90 % of the time. The ease of following curves and turning around is great !
2. I don't fret over making perfectly straight lines. A couple inches of overlap on each pass , the machine can drift a bit and I just remember to not fight it , just gently guide it where I want it to go. It's not like having a paintbrush in my hand and cutting in a ceiling or along window trim . 

3. The 10% is trying to cut the snowplow banks back. All the things I like about the auto-turn works against me for this. Trying to cut and blow full bucket depths+ of plowed snow from one side of our road to the other and taking appropriate sized partial width passes the auto-turn wants to keep turning into the bank.  I guess I could just take full bucket widths through 3'+ deep plowed banks and just tap the drive clutch for a second or two at a time along the 100' but that can't be good for the friction disk 

I don't think Ariens could ( or even should) try to make some retrofit add on to what seems to be a simple , does what it is designed to do part. In my opinion that leads to over engineering ,over complicating , more stuff added on = more stuff to go wrong.
I hope that the designers are reading these posts , see what we like and don't like. That way , when the next generation of auto turn is ready , it will have a way to lock up the drive wheels when needed and also keep the good stuff that is there. BUT A NEW design Not some add on stuff. 
Keep It Simple , Strong ,and Reliable.


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## jjlrrw (Feb 4, 2015)

I used my 8/24 this weekend at the cabin then the Deluxe 28 tonight one thing I notice is the balance seems to be different the deluxe 28 seems heavier on the front end. After using the 8/24 I didn't notice any fatigue but after deluxe 28 my hands were sore and I used the 8/24 for a longer time and harder to blow snow (end of drive where the plow truck filled in the drive). Also my skids on the 8/24 have little wear after 10 years the deluxe 28 is almost the same after about 4 hours of use.


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## CO Snow (Dec 8, 2011)

So are you SURE you LIKE Auto Turn?


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## Blue Hill (Mar 31, 2013)

Yup.


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