# Toro 828 LE



## DennisCA (Feb 5, 2019)

So here I am in another forum asking about another snowblower I found. Looks to be in good shape, I have gotten the seller down to 550 euros.














































Maybe I should wait for spring to buy one, but I'm also getting fed up with the snow and hand shoveling.


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

* What does 550 EURO'S Equate to BENJI'S????????????*


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## DennisCA (Feb 5, 2019)

Just imagine it's a straight 1:1 ratio. Technically the exchange rate is different but it alone can be misleading so for simplicitys sake I treat it as a 1:1 relationship.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

At the moment, it's about $625. But since we're not talking about prices in the US, it's not fair to compare with what we might pay in our respective areas. 

Personally, I'd go for this one, over the repowered-with-an-old-Briggs Ariens 1032. This machine is much newer, and looks to be stock. So there should be fewer surprises from things that the previous owner did while replacing an engine. 

It's less powerful, and narrower. But that can also make it easier to handle. 

I don't think you've told us how much area you need to clear, and what kind of snow storms you get. So we don't really understand your needs. The person clearing a 1 car driveway, with 6" storms, had different needs than the person with a 500 fit driveway, getting 18" storms.


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## DennisCA (Feb 5, 2019)

Never measured my driveway, I honestly have no idea how big it is. 

The way I see it is that due to the current manual labour required, I don't have the patience to clear the whole driveway, we just keep a narrow path so the car can get in and out. Part of the reason of mechanizing is so I can clear more of my drive way and also around the house and garage and also to my woodshed. 

I think we get plenty of snow, though I think the US snow belt beats us, we're not far off I think though.

To the left of this picture there is quite a lot more driveway area, and in this picture I have cleared a bigger area than I have done this year, we're even more confined this year. I don't think I cleared the front of the house at all that year, we all just go in through the mud room door.









This area here, I stop here with the manual sled but I'd like to actually have it cleared back. And these images are from a year when we did not get as much snow as this year (and we will keep getting snow possibly into april).









So ATM I don't have the patience or dedication to keep our whole driveway clear with the manual method, maybe it's lazy of me.


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## SnoThro (Feb 20, 2016)

Those were the high(er) end Toro's for almost 10 years. I really liked the models they introduced later with the triggers for pivot steering but I digress. Not to scare you off because the Power Max was a really decent machine but belt changes are an absolute pain in the ass and while you're in there I strongly recommend doing the impeller bearing assembly. Thankfully this work only need to be done every 10 years or so. I also think they were a little light on the front but there are holes drilled if you wanted to add a weight bar. Toro makes just that but they want something like $100 US for a chunk of mild steel.

Really reliable drive system and that auger gear box is very robust. That's when they started marketing 'no shear pins required' but you still need to remove the bolts and make sure the rakes are free.

Not sure what your selection is like but you could do worse (Ariens 926 series-run away).


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## DennisCA (Feb 5, 2019)

I brought this machine home today and used it and I am really satisfied with how it just chews through wet snow, we have above freezing temps now and lots of snow and I have a lot of snow that has just piled up in places we didn't used to clear when we only used manual labour. And with the thaw lot has fallen off the roof. The only problem I have is when the traction is not sufficient. Gonna have to break up those banks, they are getting too tall there, but once I do that I can plow through them too.


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## paulm12 (May 22, 2015)

I'm glad you are happy with the machine


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Awesome, enjoy it! You can add tire chains for more traction. You can also add weight to the machine, over the wheels, but tire chains are an easier place to start. Make sure that the tires are both inflated to the proper (and the same) air pressure.


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## DennisCA (Feb 5, 2019)

Today I ran it with fine powdery snow and it was quite disappointing really, it didn't throw the fine powder snow anywhere as far as it did the wet heavy snow. How odd... Perhaps it's time for that impeller mod with the rubber pads for more efficiency. I've built impellers for dust collection before so I have some idea of the principle there...


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

How much snow did you get? 2-stage blowers don't perform as well with a small amount of snow. If you have, say, 2-3” (5-8cm), there's not much moving through the impeller. One way to help is to use a faster ground speed, so you keep more snow moving through the impeller.

When the snow is very light, sometimes it slows down quickly, after being thrown, so it doesn't go very far.


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## DennisCA (Feb 5, 2019)

Yeah there wasn't a lot of snow so maybe that's it.


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## DennisCA (Feb 5, 2019)

Got plenty of slushy snow today and plenty of it and I brought out the snow blower and it threw the snow just fine. But just as I was done, something happened, I don't know, I was just turning it around and suddenly no gears engaged anymore. The auger moved, but the wheels wouldn't. Fortunately I was just about done, but I had to push it back under the car port.

So... now what's the problem? Guess tomorrow I'm gonna tip it over and look underneath where the gear box supposedly is.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

It might have broken the drive belt, or maybe the belt came off. Or perhaps the mechanism that tensions the belt had a problem. 

There are likely no actual gears under there, as you'll see. Well, not multiple sets of gears, for selecting speeds. Most blowers use a sliding friction-wheel system.


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## DennisCA (Feb 5, 2019)

Yeah I took it apart and the drive belt had jumped off the pulleys. Not sure how that happened or if it will happen again, but everything looks fine. And this time I encountered 3/8s bolts instead of 10mm ones, don't got any 3/8s so I had to use a wrench, slow going.


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