Plus an Ariens Sno-Thro 926053 Hydro Pro 28 Review
The last few days of snow and clearing the driveway stirred up this memory…
We built our new old house back in 2009 and, in what seemed like a great idea at the time, set it at the back edge of a small hay field. This gave us a picturesque 450-foot driveway of crushed stone stretching from the road to our front door. Paving didn’t feel right with the style of the house, and my wife Jennifer preferred the country driveway aesthetic. Plus, paving would have cost a fortune. Which left me with one small problem: how the hell do you clear 450 feet of snow without turning your gravel driveway into a stone-free dirt path?
What follows is a sea story of trial, tribulation, and the kind of expensive mistakes that only someone like me could rack up.
Attempt #1: The Tractor That Couldn’t
My first brilliant idea was to use a 3-point grading blade on my father’s 22 HP Kubota tractor with agro rear tires and industrial front tires. This was an abject failure, and if you’ve ever tried to plow snow with this setup, you know exactly why. There is absolutely zero grip in snow with agro tires—well, even with agro tires, because my father used chains on his other tractor for a reason.
“Ok, I just need chains,” I thought. So I ordered a set of rear chains and spent probably triple the amount of time it was supposed to take mounting them. This solved the problem of not being able to pull the snow because of traction, but introduced an entirely new problem: not being able to pull the snow because the tractor wasn’t strong enough and I didn’t really know what I was doing.
Clearing the driveway became a really arduous task. There had to be a better way.
Attempt #2: The Truck Plow Disaster
“Maybe I could get a plow for my truck?” I thought. “I’d be warm and cozy while clearing the snow. What a great idea!”
What could go wrong?
Well, this is me we’re talking about, so “what could go right?” is the better question.
I only had an F-150, which wasn’t really designed for a hydraulic plow. Plus, hydraulic plows were expensive, so I researched alternatives and found one that was “reasonably” priced—a manual directional plow with an electric winch that I could install myself. Of course, it took me three times longer than it was supposed to, but I eventually got it working with help from a friend when I hit a wiring impasse.
This was going to be great, right?
Not so much. My truck had all-season tires that sucked and had no grip in the snow, so I had to drive pretty fast to keep momentum. It kind of worked and kind of didn’t. I’d never plowed with a truck before and didn’t realize how limiting the mobility would be. On top of that, this plow wasn’t really meant to do what I was doing with it. The truck struggled to push heavy snow off the driveway—both because of traction issues and because the plow wasn’t designed for that kind of weight.
After plowing all winter, spring would leave me with 900 feet of stones to rake back into the driveway.
There had to be a better way for a gravel driveway.
Attempt #3: The Tractor Snowblower (Finally, Progress!)
My father had always had the same gravel driveway problem and never solved it, so I did what any modern person does: I searched online for what other people did. It appeared that a snowblower would be the answer to all my dreams.
But it was a long driveway, so a walk-behind would take forever—and I needed to get it done fast so I could catch the train to work. An attachment for my tractor was the answer! And it was… sort of.
There was a limit to how large of a snowblower I could use on my 3-point hitch due to HP constraints, so I had to find the widest my tractor could handle. I’m not sure if I ever searched for a front-mount option at this stage, or if I just got turned off by the cost, but this ended up being a bit of an issue down the road.
I found a 60-inch model that would work. Great! Two partial passes and I’d be done—up and back. Perfect. I drove about 2.5 hours to pick it up, but it was worth the trip.
It took some playing around to get the angle correct because it had a tendency to dig in and throw huge patches of gravel to places I’d never be able to rake back onto the driveway. But with trial and error, I eventually found a setting that worked. Even though I had to start from scratch every winter figuring it out again, I’d get there.
This snowblower ended up being a godsend. It made clearing snow so much easier and faster. The only issues were: I had to drive backwards, there was no cab so I had a hard time seeing in the wind, and I had a bucket on the front that didn’t come off easily so I just left it on, which made maneuvering even more challenging.
After I put some plastic skids on the bottom that kept the blower up and really limited the stones I’d blow, I had a pretty good setup that I was happy with.
The Blizzard While I Was in LA (Or: Why We Needed a Backup Plan)
Now I could clear the driveway, but my wife wouldn’t be able to—which was fine for a while. Until I started traveling more for work and we had a blizzard while I was in LA. My family was snowbound.
I reached out to my friend’s nephew who had a snow plowing business and helped build our house, and asked if he could plow them out. He did.
However, when I got back, I was horrified by what I saw. It was a late March storm and the ground had started to melt, so the driveway was soft. He ended up plowing about half of the stones off the driveway.
WTF? I thought all country boys knew how to plow gravel driveways.
Mistakes were made.
I spent the next few weeks shoveling 900 feet of stone and snow back onto my driveway, cursing the whole time. “Why shovel the snow back on?” you might ask. Well, I’d rather shovel snow and rocks than rake. With the snowblower, I didn’t have to rake anymore.
Attempt #4: The Walk-Behind Backup Plan
Ok, new problem: how could my wife clear the snow when I was away and it snowed?
I decided to get a walk-behind snowblower as a backup to the tractor. I really liked Honda products—they came out on top in my research—but there was no dealer close to me that sold them. From my experience with my father’s old walk-behind, I knew having no nearby dealer was a pain if something serious went wrong.
I went to the place I was most comfortable with nearby, and they carried Ariens. I wanted to get a 36-inch model (the widest they had) to make the job faster. When I told the guy at the dealership why I was getting it, he suggested I get the 28-inch with the hydro drive if my wife was going to use it, as that was much more manageable.
“Ok, hydro, cool—no belts to worry about. Nice.”
Well, if you don’t know like I didn’t: even the hydro models are only hydrostatic for the drivetrain. Belts still run the blower. Now you know.
I got what I think was the top-of-the-line-ish model—the Ariens Sno-Thro 926053 Hydro Pro 28. It wasn’t cheap, but I didn’t want to have issues down the line by cheaping out. And if this was easier to turn and she could use it, fantastic.
I found some longer, wider, adjustable aftermarket skids and put them on based on my learning experience with the tractor. They worked even better with the narrower cut. I also bought a cab so I wouldn’t get covered in snow while blowing and could hopefully see better.
The Ariens Hydro Pro 28: What I Got Right and What I Got Wrong
Positives:
- The dealer was close
- Plenty of power
- Plug-in electric start (no battery, but you could start it with an extension cord)
- Heated handles
Negatives:
- It doesn’t feel well-made or solid
- Even with the hydro, it’s not that easy to turn
- The chute is mechanical and feels really lightweight and cheap
- It’s really hard to start with the pull cord; even with the electric start, you have to turn it over quite a bit to get it going
- Still uses belts for the blower
- Tires are not great in the snow
What I Would Do Differently:
- I would have liked tracks instead of tires
- Width ended up being okay, but it takes five passes for my driveway
- Would have preferred a mechanical chute control, or at least a better-made one
- I think the Honda would have checked all the boxes, even though it would have been a farther trip and more money
Maybe go with Honda over Ariens if you can? I know Ariens is made in the US, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s better. This is my dream machine, but it costs a fortune.
The Ending You Didn’t See Coming
So in the end, I do my driveway with the walk-behind snowblower.
My wife has still never cleared the snow.
The skids are absolutely critical.
The cab didn’t work—it would get covered in snow and I couldn’t see anything. Maybe it works if you have a small space, but then what’s the point? You’d be done in a few minutes anyway.
But hey, this solved my gravel issue. My friend ended up in the same place (up until the tractor snowblower), but he figured out a way to plow with his tractor that works. I’m not that smart, and I think I’ve expelled enough energy and resources on a solution that works. Plus, it ends up being exercise.
Epilogue: The F-150 Sale
Side note about the plow and the truck: I ended up selling them together to the Felice Brothers’ father, who was a carpenter. I’d bought the truck outside of Philadelphia with about 100,000 miles on it and put maybe 30,000 on it myself. I kept up with the maintenance, but I couldn’t be sure what happened before I owned it. I told him that.
Fast-forward about three years, and I saw him at a Stewart’s getting gas with the hood up. “Oh no,” I thought. “He’s been having nothing but trouble.”
I went up to him to say hello and inquire if the truck had been giving him trouble. I breathed a sigh of relief when he said it had been great and he’d put well over 100,000 miles on it with no issues. Whew. I was braced for a tough conversation.
Turns out he was doing work on my friend’s studio in Bearsville at that time. Small world.
I have another story about that F-150 that really shook me, but that’s for another post.
Lessons learned: Gravel driveways and snow are natural enemies. Skids are your best friend. Your wife will never clear the snow no matter what equipment you buy. And sometimes the expensive mistakes are just the cost of eventually figuring it out.
Even that's Odd 
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