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The On-Line Tool Guide For Tool People

This Issue We Review

The Yard-Man
Two Stage Snow Thrower 993

Before you run out at purchase a new snow blower, especially one of

this size, determine your need.

 

I'll begin this review by letting you know of my personal need for snow

blowing equipment. Both my wife and I operate our own individual businesses

and just because it's snowing up our neck of the woods isn't a good enough

reason for our customers why were not showing up to do the work we were

contracted to do. Bear in mind that just 15 miles south of us it's very likely that

people aren't even getting snowfall or if they are it's a third of what has fallen

here. To get to the point we can't earn a living if we can't get out of our drive

way. In my case I can't get to the shop to load my work truck, let alone do an

estimate or work if the snow hasn't been removed from the driveway.

 

Our past methods of removing snow from the driveway has been less than

expedient resulting in lost income, time and hardship. As you read along

you'll get a better picture of our case and the primary reason for choosing a

snow blower.

 

For many of you there is no need for me to go into detail for an explanation of

why you might need a snow blower or as Yard-Man prefers to call their model

993 a snow thrower. For most it would be more beneficial to know: "should I get

a snow blower and if so what size of snow blower should I get?".

 

I struggled with this one myself. Since I can't personally recommend what size or

model to each one of my viewers, the best I can do is to relate my need and my

choices. Later in this review I'll include a general guideline that may help you in

making your decision.

 

For the past 11 years I've been clearing my driveway of snow with of all

things a garden tractor equipped with a snow plow. Now I don't want to

get side tracked by starting another story at this time, but I'm going to

because it may save my readers a little bit of money.

 

The above mentioned tractor happens to made by the same people who

manufacture the Yard-Man snow thrower, and that manufacture is MTD.

Most people use their garden tractors for mowing grass, about 4 to 5 months

out of the year. I use mine all year long for mowing, hauling firewood and

of course clearing snow. Besides the consistent use, it is used on property that

is all hill with a few extra hills thrown in for good measure.

 

What's the point? The point is I could of spent thousands more for a tractor

but would it have been as cost effective as the the one made by MTD?

Now I'm not attempting to plug MTD, I'm just trying to tell the facts. And

you'll be among the first to know if the Yard-Man 933 can live up to it's

relatives durability.

 

Getting back to my choice of snow clearing equipment, as I said, I've been

using this garden tractor to clear my drive way for the past 11 years. It did

a good job if the snow fall was only 4 or so inches, but when it got past 6

inches of snow it started to give me problems. These generally were: loss of

steering and traction when trying to plow on the uphill return. Yes, I had

weights and tire chains on the rear. I could over come this problem if during a

snow storm I would plow every 3 inches of snowfall. Some years this

meant plowing all day for a 24 inch snowfall.

 

But then I would run into another problem with this type of snow fall and

that was: I would run out of place to push the snow. In a good snow fall my

14 foot wide drive way would turn into a 6 foot wide driveway.

 

Now your probably going to say why didn't you just hire a guy with a plow

and have your driveway plowed out? Well I did one season and you know

what he couldn't get up the hill. With 12 inches of snow and still falling his

vehicle was pushed over to the side and came close to going over the

hill. He was the grounds keeper for a race track in Maryland and had

used his company full size pickup with plow.

 

That season our driveway remained a block of ice from Christmas to March,

due to our compacting the snow and subsequent snowfalls and cold that

wouldn't let up, should I mention that the sun doesn't shine on our driveway

for more than a few hours each day. For 3 months we parked our cars at the

bottom of the hill and walked 300 or so feet back and forth to our house pulling

groceries and children up the driveway.

 

A season following we had another large snow fall that had blow 4 to 6 foot

drifts on our driveway. It was stifling. As I was trying to figure out how to

get out of this mess and observed a passing large tractor on the road, with of

all things a huge snow blower mounted on it's front end. I hailed him from

atop of the hill, luckily he must of seen me waving my arms franticly and

stopped, In the time it would take to make a hot pot of coffee he had all of

our driveways cleared. It must of been fate because I never saw the

gentleman again since then.

Condensing the above information to the essential facts the benefits of

opting for a snow blower (snow thrower) are obvious.

 

I can now wait to the snow stops to remove it, the 993 can eat through

snow two feet deep. I no longer have to witness my drive shrink to a 5 foot

wide path, I can just blow the snow up to 50 feet away. I can remove snow

going down and up the driveway. And I don't have to shovel paths around

the home or shop.

 

Our choice for snow blowing equipment was very obvious, as to why

I chose the Yard-Man Snow Thrower Model 993 in particular, I'll list

them below.

• Cost
• Construction

The simple truth is other manufactures of snow blowing equipment with the same

power and features are at about twice the cost. And after I inspected the other

models I found most of them to use the same Tecumseh gas engine as the model

993. What I liked about the the Yard Man 993 is that the shovel was made

with a substantial gauge of steel ( .100 of an inch, including paint) that would

appear to handle abuse from rocks that persistently make their way to the

top of my unpaved driveway. Smaller models of what ever manufacture had a

lighter gauge steel shovel and less reinforcement that would appear to be more

prone to damage. Also smaller snow blowers tend to have smaller wheels which

can loose traction in deeper snow.

• Large " Sno Hog"™ Snow Tires
• Electric Start (120V)
• 13 Horse Power OHV
• 33 Inch Clearing Width
• Power Steering
• Large Skid Shoe
• Large Pull Grip for manual start

On the next update to this review I'll be including a closer look at the
Yard-Man Two Stage Snow Thrower 993, it's construction and features.

This is generally where I let you know how a particular tool performs.

As of the purchase date (11-30-2000) and the publishing date (12-10-2000)

the 993 hasn't seen any snow. Look for performance results

in January & February of 2001.

This is generally where I let you know how a particular tool holds up to repetitive

use through the years. As of this publishing date (12-10-2000) this snow

thrower hasn't seen any snow. So check back through this winter to see my updates

for this tool

Next Update

Next Update

Next Update

Next Update

N/A at this time.

Last updated: 12/17/2000

 

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