I have the JD L118 Lawn Tractor with the JD 42" snow blower attachment. This setup works fine for my application. Nebraska snow 6" no problem....I use it on a rock driveway about 300' long and have problems only when blowing the first snow of the year when the rocks are still loose under the snow. Once the driveway has been snow packed then it works fine because the blower will just glide over the snow pack. The snow blower does not like rocks and will throw out most of them. I have replaced 3 Shear pins on the rotors in the 3 seasons that I have used the blower after hitting some larger rocks (2" inch or larger) but the pins are easy to replace and cheep at any hardware store. Tire chains from Tractor Supply Store (TSC) and the rear weight kit from JD are a must to get traction. I like this set up. The only thing that would be nice is some kind of Snow cab. JD does not have one for this tractor to my knowledge. After market companys that I looked at (www.originalcab.com)do not recommend cabs for this tractor due to exhaust issues. Ski goggles and stocking hat face masks seem to work just fine however. Keep an eye out for one of these blowers on sale at Home Depot. I got this one at 50% off in early November 2005 at HD for 599.00. This set up is kind of clumsy to turn around at the end of the drive way but in my opinion it is fun to drive, makes work easy at 42" a swath and overall is a much better option over a walk behind. Walk behinds are more work in my opinion. We have one at work made by MDT that is worthless. The L118 seems to handle this unit just fine and I think the quality of the unit is sufficient. It does not seem junky to me at all.

A note to all who helped: Tomorrow, i will call Parts Direct and order the manual for the guy. From the pics, it looks exactly like his machine. Thanks for the help! Don't know what we'd do if we didn't help each other! Oh, in case you need some snow to plow, I'd be happy to send ya some of mine! My neighbors took pity on this old Geezer, and they shovelled the front of the driveway, the front walk, and the porch! I went out and cleaned off the car and truck today. When we moved in this house, back in 1950, after our honeymoon, about three weeks later came a deep snow, and that had us stuck in our house for almost a week! My bride had lived in Pittsburgh, PA., in the city area. If she could of gotten out of here, she would have called the whole thing off, and gone back to her Mother. But, after a large, double bull-dozer finally opened the main roads, we did get out to the grocery store about 5 miles away. Oh, what was the double bull-dozer? Two massive tracked dozers welded side by side, and they cleared the back roads of everything, including stuck cars and all! And, mail boxes!

This is an old thread, and is about getting a top of line 2 stager for serious snow. That's not me, but I thought I would add this, because I saw mention of the large fan size (16") I have about 500' of driveway, and I used to use a 524 Snowking. That was OK when I was a young pup, and couldn't find two nickels to rub together. In the fall of 2000, I got a leftover deal on a 1333 Yardman (16" fan). I paid $1299 (brand new). I realize it is not a Honda, Ariens, etc., so I am usually gentle with it, but it has monster power for the heavy snow out by the street. It probably throws the clean dry stuff about 40'. What I am getting to is the 16" fan. It is so big, and with the 13HP behind it, you have to be respectful. Meaning that you can't stop the blower loaded with wet snow, then start it again with the snow in there. You will probably bust the belt straight off. (I did that the first season). And because of the size of the fan, the belt is really a maintenance item. I replaced my second fan belt a few seasons ago. Even if you baby it, they don't last that long - maybe 100 hours (for me). So, a good idea to have an extra fan belt.

Congratulations Bluesman. Buying a brand name that has been around a long time is usually a good decision, and Ariens is such a product. And I'm sure that after you use it for a while there will be features you wish you had and maybe some that you wish you didn't have. But you will figure out some 'work-arounds' and make it work for you, that's the way it goes with me. I bought a Husquevarna 24" with a 7HP about 6 years ago, when my last son moved out, (I wasn't about to go out and shovel). I didn't have a place like this to go for advice, so I just asked around at work and among my friends. I paid a big buck, but I'm one of those that believes you get what you pay for. It's been a great machine for me, but then again my driveway is flat, which is a really big factor. Good Luck. Oh, and by the way, now that you have your shiny new machine....I guarantee a mild winter