Yard Machines 31A-32AD700 22-Inch 179cc OHV 4-Cycle Gas Powered Self Propelled Two-Stage Snow Thrower

This is the third snow blower I have owned, and does a great job in major drifts. But I have now ripped the starter cord three times, and disassembly and reassembly takes me almost an hour to repair it. In spite of several inspections, I can see nothing slicing the cord, but something us doing it. I suspect a metal burr somewhere.

All of that said, it starts dependably (when I haven't broken it), and makes short work of my driveway, even in densely packed snow. After a half season that has been especially rough, it all still seems sturdy and hasn't rattled itself apart, the way cheaper units have done in the past.

Let me give everyone a word of advice about buying this snow blower: don't. And for that matter, I suggest you don't buy any machines made by MTD (they make machines for TroyBilt, Yard Machines, and others). Why? Because their answer when it doesn't work as it should -- and all I've asked this machine to do is move about four inches of snow -- is to "take it to a dealer/repair shop."

Here's the whole story: The first time I used it it stopped about 1/2 way through my mid-sized driveway; the auger just wouldn't spin anymore. It just sat there, mocking me. I stopped it and finished the driveway by hand. I read the manual, tightened the auger control, and it worked fine (not when it was snowing).

Next snow (again, about four inches at most), it made it about 1/10th of the way through the driveway. Auger wouldn't turn. I turned it off, parked it, and again finished the driveway by hand. E-mailed MTD customer care. Worthless response was: "Take it in." Nothing...Read more

I live in Eastern Montana and we have quite a bit of snow from Oct - April so we dedcided to purchase the Yard Machine. It came nicely packaged in a crate.Quick delivery time. All we had to do was remove from the crate and attach the handle.(easy). It had oil, so we just added gas and fired it up. (The spark plug wire was not on so be sure & check that). One pull start. We had about 6 inches of snow and this blower just plowed right through it. I used my blower again on Dec. 26 after we had more snowfall and a lot of wind. The temp wa 26 so the snow was starting to melt and was wet & heavy. Blower started on first pull and plowed right through 8-10 inches of heavy wet snow.