# Toro 824 Snowmaster Not Clearing Down to Pavement



## Cokomo (Jan 17, 2018)

Really like the easy handling of this model but am having trouble clearing down to pavement unless
it's fluffy snow and not in the least bit packed down. It's on the lowest setting. Notice the scraper blade is plastic and suspect thats's the issue. Is it possible to replace with a metal scraper? Does Toro make one for it?


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## LenD (Nov 17, 2020)

According to the manual it's composite metal and plastic (same as shoes). Should not be an issue.


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## Cokomo (Jan 17, 2018)

It is an issue because the driveway is on an incline and a half inch of packed snow/ice makes a huge difference for the cars to drive on .


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## Slinger (Oct 9, 2014)

I've had my 824QXE since they were first available. At first I loved it...the speed of a single stage with a slightly wider & taller bucket. I even thought I could get used to the jumpiness of the personal pace drive, although it would be better if it was smoother. It is a great machine for snow that has never been driven or walked on, or that has never been slightly melted and then re-frozen. It sucks for those situations. The machine is too light to dig down into that stuff and it just rides right up over it with the scraper bar doing nothing. The jumpiness of the drive also encourages the bucket to rise up and not clean to the pavement. I notice many times I am consciously putting some weird pressure on the handle to force the front end down while trying not to lift the drive wheels off the ground. Recently had some crusty snow below a wetter layer above it and literally had to lift the back end up to dig the bucket/scraper down enough to get the bottom layer stuff up. Half the time the drive wheel were just spinning in free air. I kept telling myself that my old junky Craftsman traditional single stage would have done a better job because it's paddles literally beat the pavement and would have chopped through the crusty layer on the bottom. I'm almost thinking about going back to something like the 821QZE or Honda 720AS. I love the quick-stick chute control on the Snowmaster but the inability to clear down to the pavement more consistently has me a bit frustrated with the machine overall.


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## Cokomo (Jan 17, 2018)

My sentiments exactly. It jumps over the slightest crust or packed snow . Wonder if there is any possible modification for scraper bar to enable it to “dig in” a little bit ?


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## tpenfield (Feb 24, 2015)

Any possibility to add a 'weight bar' to the front of the machine? Other than that, you could try the lowest skid setting. I think your trade-off is getting down to the pavement vs. longevity of the auger blade . . . perhaps.


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