When looking over various snow blower brands in local Spokane big-box stores and smaller hardware stores, I noticed that many are made with wheels in a "positive traction" mode. That is, both wheels freely roll forward and backward just fine, but to turn without muscling the whole machine, the machine must have power steering levels below each handlebar to freely turn. This leads me to a question regarding Ariens snow blowers:

According to the 2008 Ariens snow blower catalog I got the other day, and upon visiting Country Homes Power (a Spokane area dealer), not one Ariens blower is made with power steering levers, though the 927 DLE has a release lever on the left handlebar to allow free turning. I think most of the other Ariens models must have a transmission that is essentially acting like a differential. As a result, would I be right in concluding that a person could just turn left or right with the wheels still powering in this differential fashion? If so, then Ariens has nicely provided us with a way to turn with power and not hassle with power steering levers.

I'm comparing Ariens models 9526DLE and 11528DLE with the Toro 1128OXE. The Toro has power steering levers, but I can't remember if the wheels are locked together without using the levers. So do the Ariens models have power steering without needing levers? Thanks for helping me know the answer.