I owned the Sears 42" blade. Bought it with the purchase of a Craftsman DYS 4000 24hp/hydro/T10 lawn tractor. I prefer plowing to snowblowing as I end up wearing less snow and get a cleaner drive. The plow is not heavy duty. Even slight ramming with the plow will bend the mount. Chains are a must and wheel weights are recommended. You will not be able to push a full blade bite more than a distance of 20-30 feet if snow is over 1 to 2 inches deep of medium wet snow. Steel chains will tear up the surface of the drive. Rubber chains will protect the drive surface but they are only about 60% as effective as steel chains and will cost about $125. Can it be done? With proper planning, yes. I even plowed 14" of snowfall off 1800 sq ft of driveway. Took almost 4 hours, but I did it. I did this for 2 seasons. Both seasons we got below average snowfall. I no longer own the tractor as I could tell the plowing was too much for the transaxle. I could tell by the change in the sound/pitch that it was under stress and it was not worth ruining a perfectly good mower just to plow. I replaced it with a much larger, much more expensive scut just so I could plow without problems. Bottom line, I would not recommend plowing with a lawn tracotr and although I have no personal experience to base this on, except for extrapulation, I doubt that most hydro "garden tractors" would be able to handle it without damage to the tranny either (maybe a serviceable K70+?). Much more bang for the buck to keep the lawn tractor for mowing and buy a two stage snowthrower for winter. If my back and knees were better, that's the route I would have gone.

I would look seriously at the larger single-stage machines - they are lighter and easier to handle than the 2-stage blowers. They will handle up to a six-inch snow pretty easily. The Toro 421Q has been getting some pretty good reviews. Depending on if you want to spend the $$, a Honda can't be beat. Ariens makes good 2-stage machines, but their single-stage machines seem to take a backseat to Toro. When selecting a snowblower, stick to HATS: Honda Ariens Toro Simplicity/Snapper You do NOT want to walk on the snow prior to blowing it, if at all possible. Just the pressure of your footsteps can compact the snow enough to turn it to ice, which is difficult for any snowblower to pick up. Tough snowpack or ice can be nearly impossible to clear with your average snowblower, although the tracked machines can have a real advantage here if you know how to adjust their cutting depths. Tracked machines are more difficult to handle and cost more $$. If you get many snows over six inches, then you might consider a small 2-stage, like an Ariens 624. If the smaller snows are much more prevalent, go with a 5-7hp single-stage. Leave the big 9-13hp snowblowers to the folks who regularly blow out twelve inches or more. If you make a mistake and buy a cheap snowblower like I did (Craftsman aka MTD), you can recoup some performance by installing an impeller kit (search the 'net for Clarence Impeller Kit). You might more good info at the opeonthenet forum. Here is a link that might be useful: OPEonTHEnet

Rusty I went to the Sears parts site and had no trouble finding some of the parts you need. The steering wheel is part #139768 and sells for $22.99. The other parts I was guessing at by your description but they all seem to be available.

Do you really need to have the snow removed when you're not there full-time? If you're just going up for the weekend, assuming you have a decent 4wd truck, why not just drive on the snow? Throw some calcium chloride down and shovel the immediate area from the truck to the door so your wife doesn't have to walk on ice. Then go inside, start a fire and enjoy some hot cocoa with your family instead of spending your Saturday plowing snow for a house which will sit empty all week. Sounds ridiculous, but I don't mind driving my Yukon through deep snow, over ice, sand or just good old mud. But that's me. With 265/70R17 (32") BFG All-Terrain T/As it's never a problem. That approach would work in PA. I'm not sure what part of NY you're talking about. If it's lake-effect snow, you might be driving on four feet of ice after a few weeks of not plowing. But if not, why bother? It's not like you have to clean off the driveway so your wife can get to work in her Civic or anything. And I'd imagine paying someone to plow it, while the best option in the interest of keeping the snow clear, would be pretty expensive. A buddy of mine lived in Fairbanks for about a decade. He said most of the roads up there were not plowed. They just drove on the snow.