I picked up this model yesterday. Hopefully it arrives before the next snow!

http://www.snowblowersdirect.com/Toro-38282-Snow-Thrower/p3430.html

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Current:
2014 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion 43,000 miles.

2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport (wife's).

Past:
2006 Jetta TDI 135,970 miles. Sold Nov. '13.
1995 E-320 Special Edition. 220,200 miles. Sold Sept. '07.
1987 190-E 16 valve. 153,000 miles. Sold Feb. '06.
1980 300-D 225,000 miles. Donated to the National Kidney Foundation.
1980 240-D manual, 297,500 miles. Totaled by inattentive driver.

Why didn't you ask me for advice?

No, I don't use one. I like shovel it all manually actually. For real.

For the real big snows I have an Ariens.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

My folks have a Toro 2-stage they've been pleased with...

I fix small engines on the side (mostly lawn mower engines). From the specs or the picture, I cannot figure out what kind of engine this thing has.

The engine you want is a Briggs or a Honda. The engine you don't want is a Tecumseh. If it is a Tecumseh, I suggest you find a way to return the blower. Most likely, the engine is some Chinese variant of a Honda engine. In which case I have no opinion.

I cannot stress it enough that you should avoid any 'new' Tecumseh engines. 20 year old Tecumsehs are good but nothing newer than 5 years.

Interestingly enough, the company Tecumseh is now gone. Good riddance, their motors sucked. I could come up with worse words but I don't want to get in trouble.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

No what? you disagree with me?

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

I had no idea about Tecumseh. Sad to see them go. I always thought they built really durable stuff.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

The old stuff is good but they started making some really crappy stuff later on...mid 90's.

Prior to the chinese copycat engines, there were three small engine brands...Briggs, Honda and Tecumseh.

I rank Briggs #1
I rank Honda a close #2
I would rank Tecumseh #6

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Opinion on Stihl backpack blowers?

No, I'm not old enough to need a snow blower; check back when I turn 90.

Stihl and Echo are the best. Pricey but good.

For the two strokes, don't use gas with ethanol (gas sold during winter). the Ethanol screws up the rubber diaphrams in the carbs. Also use synthetic two stroke oil.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

You're just burning up the oil though so why synthetic?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

I think that's what Stihl recommends.

It seems to 'keep' the gas better. Keep in mind you normally mix the stuff a gallon at a time and for the normal homeowner, it takes a while to burn a gallon (maybe 8 weeks?). the gas stays fresh longer using synthetic for some reason. maybe it has a preservative.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

and I would use the real Stihl oil at 50 to 1

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo