Ariens Compact ST24E (24") 211cc Two-Stage Snow Blower

I have a Ariens snow blower that I use to clear snow from my driveway. The snow blower work very well and I am very pleased with it. Here in western North Carolina we do not get a lot of snow, but the last 2 years has been very harsh with a lot of deep snow, 8 to 20 inches at a time.

My drive way is macadam which is very abrasive, and about 640 ft. long. The original skids on the snow blower only lasted for 3 clearings of the driveway before wearing out. So I purchased the roller skids and found that they work very well on the snow blower. The snow blower now moves along without pulling, and seems to work with less effort.

The skids are also holding up well. There is almost no wear on the wheels. The only problem has been that the skids pick up fine rock particles and jam the wheels so that they do not turn. When that happens I clean out the skids with a small screw driver and all works well again. I do need to find out if I can get new wheels for the skid, because they will eventually wear out on this type of driveway surface.

I have a Ariens snow blower that I use to clear snow from my driveway. The snow blower work very well and I am very pleased with it. Here in western North Carolina we do not get a lot of snow, but the last 2 years has been very harsh with a lot of deep snow, 8 to 20 inches at a time.

My drive way is macadam which is very abrasive, and about 640 ft. long. The original skids on the snow blower only lasted for 3 clearings of the driveway before wearing out. So I purchased the roller skids and found that they work very well on the snow blower. The snow blower now moves along withou... more

Maryland- big storm coming. People are rushing around to get the essentials. I started shoveling around 6 PM and repeated this event at least twice more before midnight.

Next morning the wife got up before me and started on the driveway again- after cooking breakfast and cleaning up. I thought I'd give the wife a well deserved break, so I started again. Of course, the snow was coming down so fast that by the time I got to the end of the driveway it was time to start again.

I took at short break to warm up and cool down. That's when wife said, "You should have gotten that snow blower back in December when we were looking at them." Anyway, we didn't; so I sat down at the computer and did some quick research on the Internet.

I found the Ariens on the SnowBlowersDirect.com web site and immediately turned to the wife and asked her if she had an extra $1000. She said "if you're buying a snow blower, sure". She could barely lift her arms from all the shoveling.

So I ordered the snow blower, and paid the extra $50 for same day off the dock, and the $50 lift gate delivery. I ordered it on Saturday, and by Sunday it was on the truck and moving in my direction from Bolingbrook, IL.

I watched the progress of its movements on the carrier's Internet site until it got stranded somewhere between West Virginia and Baltimore, MD because of another storm. The storm ended, the roads were cleared and now this is where the adventure went downhill.

I got a call from the carrier on Friday asking for delivery over the weekend. Nope, I going to be out of town. Then they couldn't deliver it for two weeks. I told them to hold on to it and let me know when they could deliver.

The next morning , they called again and wanted to deliver on Sunday. BY that time we were in West Virginia, and I now repeated my conversation with this person. After out safe, snowy return from West Virginia, I took the Tuesday off after the holiday. At 3 PM on Tuesday, the carrier called me and announced that hey were in Waldorf, MD and wanted to deliver my snow blower. Then the adventure went downhill again.

The driver of the delivery truck was a salesman from PA that was asked to help the carrier catch up on deliveries. It was obvious that he was not a regular delivery person, because I had to instruct him on how to turn the truck in the proper direction to turn it around. Then the back of the truck opened. There were 8 Ariens snowblowers in the truck, and guess where mine was.

Since they had not called customers before they left the warehouse in Baltimore, no one was available to accept the deliveries; so my blower was in the front of the truck. It only gets worse. The driver did NOT know how to operate the lift gate, so I helped.

There were four other blowers on pallets in front of mine that had to be taken off the truck before mine could be taken off. So again I helped. Then I couldn't leave the guy stranded so I helped reload.

I assembled the blower the next day and it hasn't snowed yet! I have tried it out on a snow pile that was left in front off my mailbox by the county that was 7 feet high and 10-12 feet across. It took me 4 hours to move this pile of snow, but the Ariens with the Subaru engine just kicks butt.

Maryland- big storm coming. People are rushing around to get the essentials. I started shoveling around 6 PM and repeated this event at least twice more before midnight.

Next morning the wife got up before me and started on the driveway again- after cooking breakfast and cleaning up. I thought I'd give the wife a well deserved break, so I started again. Of course, the snow was coming down so fast that by the time I got to the end of the driveway it was time to start again.

I took at short break to warm up and cool down. That's when wife said, "You shou... more

In the middle of the one worst snow storms in Pittsburgh history (Feb 2010) my barely acceptable Sears snow blower died. Well, not exactly; but it was old, often breaking down and it was starting to take me more time unjamming the impeller than the time I got clearing snow with it.

With a good 26 inches already on the ground, I wanted to quickly select a new snow blower and get it delivered ASAP. The mall and most local stores were closed all weekend due to the storm. I went online and searched the inventories of local stores for a snow blower. My suspicion was confirmed that everybody was sold out of snow blowers. Oh well.

I expanded my search which lead me to SnowBlowersDirect, and after researching models late into the night and selecting an Ariens ST24, I finally went to bed. When I got up in the morning, just 4 hours later, it was already sold out. I quickly searched for an alternative, the ST24e (921019) which was the same model except for a 211 cc Subaru engine instead of the B&S 249cc engine. I ordered it immediately and noticed that it too sold out just minutes later. Whew.

That was Sunday. Local weather was calling for the next significant snowfall on Tuesday, with another 6-12 inches predicted on top of the 26 already lying. I kept my fingers crossed and on Tuesday, with light snow starting to fall, the shipper called and scheduled delivery for Wednesday - great news. By Wednesday morning of course, we had the worst of new snow already on the ground. The freight driver was unable to get his truck into my street due to the icy conditions. Since it wasn't too far, we swiped one of the kid’s plastic sleds and put the snow blower on it and pushed it up the street to the house – that worked pretty well and wasn't too strenuous.

I unpacked it and found the assembly to be very straight forward. During my 15 minute attachment belt run-in, I noticed that the auger was always turning - even when not engaged. A quick review of the linkage determined that the clip holding the rod to the arm near the case had gotten caught in a position that engaged the attachment drive. Flipping the pin to its proper position quickly resolved that issue. Everything else went swimmingly and out to the driveway I went. With about 8 inches on the ground, the Ariens ran through it like butter and threw it close to 30+ feet, by my estimate.

On to more difficult tasks. Local snow plows had packed the snow into 10 foot high piles in front of my house. What a test, I thought. In first forward gear it did a good job, bogging down but never stalling out. It just kept throwing and throwing. I did have to sort of "eat" my way down through the snow to the ground - usually 2-3 passes over the same area got it cleared.

Back into the driveway, I tackled the 30+ inch piles with a similar approach - letting the blower "ride up" the drift and then doing a second pass. The Ariens ate up everything I tried and never missed a beat. I assume this is due largely in part to the 14" impeller. The old Sears had a 10" impeller and it ALWAYS jammed up, so I think the size and design both contribute to smoother flow through the impeller. It made relatively quick work of everything and it’s easy to use. The tires are decent but can still slip somewhat. I may look into chains but my initial thought is that I won’t need them.

I commend and appreciate the excellent service from SnowBlowersDirect, and the Ariens ST24e has far exceeded my expectations. It's a great blower for what I would classify as medium duty service and the occasional (even substantially) heavy snow. If I had to deal with this volume of snow all the time, I would up-size to a bigger unit (like a 30") with a bigger engine. For the most part however, 6-8 inches of snow is what we typically see around here so for my needs 24" is great trade off between size and performance.

Highly recommended.

In the middle of the one worst snow storms in Pittsburgh history (Feb 2010) my barely acceptable Sears snow blower died. Well, not exactly; but it was old, often breaking down and it was starting to take me more time unjamming the impeller than the time I got clearing snow with it.

With a good 26 inches already on the ground, I wanted to quickly select a new snow blower and get it delivered ASAP. The mall and most local stores were closed all weekend due to the storm. I went online and searched the inventories of local stores for a snow blower. My suspicion was confirmed that... more

I live in Northern Virginia and my home has a 300 foot driveway. For 29 years I shoveled my driveway by hand since the big snow events in Washington, DC were few and far apart from each other.

This year the snow totals exceeded the last five years combined and I could no longer do it by hand. I purchased a Ariens on February 3rd, it arrived after the big snow event (Feb 6th) but at least before the second one hit DC on Feb 9th.

I covered my driveway and two of my neighbors (a total of 700 feet of driveway) which had a snow cover of 6 inches in less then 1 hour!

The Ariens started up quickly (I used the pull cord, instead of the electric starter) and had no problems cutting through the snow.

I had never used a snowblower before and it was very easy to setup and operate.

I live in Northern Virginia and my home has a 300 foot driveway. For 29 years I shoveled my driveway by hand since the big snow events in Washington, DC were few and far apart from each other.

This year the snow totals exceeded the last five years combined and I could no longer do it by hand. I purchased a Ariens on February 3rd, it arrived after the big snow event (Feb 6th) but at least before the second one hit DC on Feb 9th.

I covered my driveway and two of my neighbors (a total of 700 feet of driveway) which had a snow cover of 6 inches in less then 1 ho... more

My old snow blower gave up the farm after our last storm. I started looking for a new one. No luck locally including Home Depot and Lowes.

My father always liked Ariens snow throwers. I searched on line and found Snow Blowers Direct.com . The delivery came as scheduled. The machine was partially assembled and in the box.

Completion of assembly wasn't too difficult. After putting in some gas, turning on the fuel, and plugging in the electric start, it started right up.

The unit is a little bulky to move around, and there is no remote for the angle of discharge. The rotation of the discharge shoot works great. The engine is supposed to be the best feature. I am still waiting to find out.

Now it has to snow again.

My old snow blower gave up the farm after our last storm. I started looking for a new one. No luck locally including Home Depot and Lowes.

My father always liked Ariens snow throwers. I searched on line and found Snow Blowers Direct.com . The delivery came as scheduled. The machine was partially assembled and in the box.

Completion of assembly wasn't too difficult. After putting in some gas, turning on the fuel, and plugging in the electric start, it started right up.

The unit is a little bulky to move around, and there is no remote for the a... more