# Advice - Ariens Classic 24 reviews



## potaetoSON (Oct 17, 2018)

Moving to a new place next month. 

3000 sq ft of driveway and walks to clear. 

30" annual snow, all mixes. 

Driveway is on a grade, prob 10%, not to bad.

I'm leaning towards the classic 24, basically because it is priced where i want to be. 

Any advice? 

Thanks.


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## Mountain Man (Oct 14, 2018)

Thats the basic model, not even a headlight. It reminds me of the Sno tek blowers ariens put out, all black model. They were basically a 5 or 6 hp engine, yes they mowed snow, but not a flagship model by a long shot. Had a neighbor with one few years, and it was underpowerd with any big snowfall. He had a 200+ fooot driveway, similar to your square footage. He finally upgraded. 

I prefer to start in the Deluxe lineup, bigger engine and tires, you get a headlight, very usefull at night, and optional handwarmers ! Almost everybodys hands get cold.


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## potaetoSON (Oct 17, 2018)

Mountain Man said:


> Thats the basic model, not even a headlight. It reminds me of the Sno tek blowers ariens put out, all black model. They were basically a 5 or 6 hp engine, yes they mowed snow, but not a flagship model by a long shot. Had a neighbor with one few years, and it was underpowerd with any big snowfall. He had a 200+ fooot driveway, similar to your square footage. He finally upgraded.
> 
> I prefer to start in the Deluxe lineup, bigger engine and tires, you get a headlight, very usefull at night, and optional handwarmers ! Almost everybodys hands get cold.


Thanks MountainMan!!!!


Yep, basic snow blower by best brand my research has concluded. $700 is about where i want to be. 
but obvs way better than a shovel. 

HP wise, the 208cc engine is about 13.8HP. Is that incorrect? i just did a quick search on how to find HP of CC engine. 

Will it do the job I need it to do? I dont think i need a headlight on the machine. I have lights on the drive and street lights on the corner. Also have a few headlamps lying around i could use if needed. 


My only concern is that without power steering i might have issue going up the driveway. 

Will this basic model be able to move snow and 'walk' up the driveway without slipping? or will i have to give it a push?

Thanks.


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## Mal (Oct 8, 2013)

potaetoSON said:


> Thanks MountainMan!!!!
> 
> 
> Yep, basic snow blower by best brand my research has concluded. $700 is about where i want to be.
> ...



208CC is about 6HP, give or take. This is not particularly strong but if you only get 30 inches annually, it's plenty. When you get 30 inches in a storm, it's going to be severely lacking but even then you just have to go slow.



Going up the driveway shouldn't really be a problem. All wheeled snow blowers need some help from time to time but a minor slope shouldn't be a big deal unless the conditions are very slippery. For the most part it should just walk right up there without issue. If you have trouble, chains will help. I've found the stock wheels on Ariens blowers to be pretty good.


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## Mountain Man (Oct 14, 2018)

potaetoSON said:


> Thanks MountainMan!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


As stated, thats barelly 6 hp. You need to be in 400cc for horsepower in the teens.

Will it do the job, if you have time, yes. It could get slow. With the incline, and a lightweight machine, it could have issues. Everybody has differnet expectations. Smaller tires might not grab as good.

Maybe somebody with similar machine will chime in. I know i gave my 5 hp machine away that i inherited when i bought my house, after one winter. It just wasnt up to a quick enough job to me.


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## potaetoSON (Oct 17, 2018)

Mal said:


> 208CC is about 6HP, give or take. This is not particularly strong but if you only get 30 inches annually, it's plenty. When you get 30 inches in a storm, it's going to be severely lacking but even then you just have to go slow.
> 
> 
> 
> Going up the driveway shouldn't really be a problem. All wheeled snow blowers need some help from time to time but a minor slope shouldn't be a big deal unless the conditions are very slippery. For the most part it should just walk right up there without issue. If you have trouble, chains will help. I've found the stock wheels on Ariens blowers to be pretty good.



Thanks. I googled CC to HP conversion and was seeing a lot CC#/15-17 = HP. That is where i got the HP figure from. But good to know that this machine should get the job done for me. 

i dont think we have gotten 30" in one storm in my area ever, that i can recall. I'm usually upset to hear of and upcoming 6-8" accumulation snow storm in the forecast. 

I think im gonna pull the trigger on this model. 

Thanks for your help.


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## Mountain Man (Oct 14, 2018)

I just realized, thats the exact same engine in my single stage Ariens path pro. Its a decent engine, starts easily, fuel efficeint.


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## Cardo111 (Feb 16, 2015)

Personally I would go with the Toro 824 in that price range over the Ariens Classic 24. More power and a better engineered machine. You can always wear a headband lamp if needed. Also take a good look at the JONSERED if there is a Costco in your area. I don’t think that you can beat it for $700. I attached the link to the thread below. Good luck!

https://www.snowblowerforum.com/forum/general-snowblower-discussion/143237-jonsered-husky.html


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## Mal (Oct 8, 2013)

potaetoSON said:


> Thanks. I googled CC to HP conversion and was seeing a lot CC#/15-17 = HP. That is where i got the HP figure from. But good to know that this machine should get the job done for me.
> 
> i dont think we have gotten 30" in one storm in my area ever, that i can recall. I'm usually upset to hear of and upcoming 6-8" accumulation snow storm in the forecast.
> 
> ...





I get at least one 20 inch storm per year and one 30+ inch every 5-7 years. My annual snowfall is 70-100 inches.



I used a Compact 24LE with the 205CC engine for several big storms and all the small ones. It was slow, but it got the job done.


I have a Platinum 24SHO with the 369CC engine now and there is a HUGE difference.


The compact 24 had no issue with all the piddly little 6 incher storms. It was the 15" and up storms that caused it to struggle.


You shouldn't have any issues.


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## Mountain Man (Oct 14, 2018)

In this age of "shrinkage", same package, but less content, I think this could be a similar issue. Attaching a picture of my father's Ariens Classic 8526, 8.5 hoarse, 26" cut. This was similar to his early 70's 8-24. Bought this around 10 years ago. In my honest opinion, I feel this is a minimum machine for solid performance in snow country.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

potaetoSON said:


> Thanks. I googled CC to HP conversion and was seeing a lot CC#/15-17 = HP. That is where i got the HP figure from. But good to know that this machine should get the job done for me.
> 
> i dont think we have gotten 30" in one storm in my area ever, that i can recall. I'm usually upset to hear of and upcoming 6-8" accumulation snow storm in the forecast.
> 
> ...


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## rslifkin (Mar 5, 2018)

The 208cc on the Classic 24 is listed at 9.5 lb-ft of torque at 3150 RPM. LCT doesn't publish torque curves for those engines, so there's no real way to know for sure how much HP it makes. Right around 6 HP at 3600 RPM is probably a pretty safe bet, maybe closer to 6.5 HP if it's got a particularly good power curve and/or you turn it a bit higher than 3600. 

Either way, it's not a lot of power. So it'll do for light snows, but anything deep or overly heavy / wet (including end of driveway plow slop) will be pretty slow going. It'll move it, but you'll be walking pretty slowly in the deep stuff.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

rslifkin said:


> The 208cc on the Classic 24 is listed at 9.5 lb-ft of torque at 3150 RPM. LCT doesn't publish torque curves for those engines, so there's no real way to know for sure how much HP it makes. Right around 6 HP at 3600 RPM is probably a pretty safe bet, maybe closer to 6.5 HP if it's got a particularly good power curve and/or you turn it a bit higher than 3600.
> 
> Either way, it's not a lot of power. So it'll do for light snows, but anything deep or overly heavy / wet (including end of driveway plow slop) will be pretty slow going. It'll move it, but you'll be walking pretty slowly in the deep stuff.



Most cant be turned higher without changing the gov
i changed the location of my gov spring to another hole and picked up 300 rpm to raise it anymore its a gov adjustment on lct
it was set 75 rpm low for the ariens spec they way it came
iam still 100 rpm under lct max spec


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