If forward works w/o slipping you just need to adjust for reverse ....,some ariens use a seperate v-belt for reverse,yours could be worn/slipping ....Jim

My 10hp 30" 2 stage blower also uses the spinning wheel drive. It does not have the raw torque of direct drive setups. It gets the job done, but the extra torque of a direct drive would come in handy in some situations.

Chains vs tires:

I would say a good set of knobby tires will get the job done a fair bit of the time. However, once there is some hard packing of the snow base or icy conditions develop, there is no substitute for chains. I'll go one step further and say v-bar 2 link chains are top shelf.

I would note, I am able to use a much lower gear to make headway without spinning the wheels, when I have chains installed. Otherwise, coaxing forward progress out of the bare wheels on a slippery surface, is too much trouble.

On the issue of the tires, I'd go with a good set of knobby snowblower tires before I'd go to chains. The Sno-Hog tires do a surprisingly good job on snow and icy terrain, even off-camber stuff.

And if I went with chains I would be hesitant to go with the Vbar chains if I was going to spend much time on pavement. I recently threw some on my 1968 JD with the old studded-style tires and promptly broke the rollpin that holds the axle together, just by motoring around the yard. Too much grip is, it would seem, a bad thing.

I never had chains on my knobby tires and went up the an extremely steep gravel drive at my last house. I think the biggest key to traction is keeping the auger down so that it cleans up well in front of your wheels. If you let the auger drift up then you lose traction. I like not using chains anywhere on my blacktop driveway - than take a couple of passes in the grass around the house to make paths.

Thanks to all, this forum is a great place. Frank

I have a similar vintage Ariens, my reverses is balky at times also, but always seems to work.

I'm old-school, I like chains, my Ariens will go thru almost anything with the chains that came stock on it. Plus they make the tires look cool.

"And if I went with chains I would be hesitant to go with the Vbar chains if I was going to spend much time on pavement. I recently threw some on my 1968 JD with the old studded-style tires and promptly broke the rollpin that holds the axle together, just by motoring around the yard. Too much grip is, it would seem, a bad thing."

Think about what you stated Computeruser, that having traction is a bad thing!? Unless you were spinning the wheels and they suddenly caught which resulted in the pin shearing(which you should never allow your wheels to spin do when chained), you obviously had a "weak link" to start with and you seem to be blaming the subsequent failure on having traction. Maybe you should go over to arboristsite and ask the pundits what they think about this?

hahahaha!

BTW, chains, even V chains, have less traction on bare pavement than rubber tires but they will pock mark or strafe the crap out the surface because all of the weight on the wheels is concentrated on a smaller surface area. This is why you should not run chains on pavement.

I've used the Sno-Hog tires with a great deal of success on icy terrain - the X-Trac line has also done well. The equipment I utilize is hefty, which helps. And when dealing with particularly icy areas, I'll approach at an angle, vs. straight up/down.

When I have chains on my 10hp/30" blade 2 stage blower, I do not have to spin the wheels. Out of 6 speeds, I set it on speed #2, and let it work right thru the snow, and it works thru very smoothly.

I agree about chains versus rubber tires on a nice clean road surface. There are particular snow falls where the road surface does not ice up and provides great traction for the tires. However, I find these perfect conditions to be the exception rather than the rule, as icy/slick conditions typically prevail in my neck of the woods.

I would also say, this year I'm doing things a little different.

I bought a nice, cheap ($370) Toto PowerLite 1 stage blower. I have used the Toro on our (2) 4" snow falls this year, leaving the big snow dawg in the shed. The PowerLite is much like a 1 stage Toro my Dad used to have, which performed very well until he let the paddles wear down and the blower got a hole in the shute.

The PowerLite weighs in under 40lbs, so I can carry it up onto decks, landings, etc. The light weight also makes it very nice for tooling around parked vehicles.

Who knows, I may end up selling my 10hp snow dawg. At the very least, it may not see snow duty on anything less than an 8" plus storm, which we typically see once a season.

In a perfect snow world, chains would not be neccessary. However, I don't live in that perfect world, so chains (V-bar) come in very handy.