We bought an Ariens Compact 24 to replace our plowman this year, but realized that it might not be up to the task of a steep uneven mountain driveway. This summer a shed was installed and they used #3 stone for drainage (we have a lot of runoff behind the shed). The driveway often turns into a steep sheet of ice in mid-winter. We have AWD and snow tires and still have to use momentum to climb the driveway. Just enough snow has to be removed to avoid high-centering the vehicle in the driveway, so it's OK to leave 3d-4" of snow on top of the gravel/ice.
I'm posting this in the hope that it will help others, and also to solicit advice from those more experienced than we - that's pretty much everyone since this is our first snowblower.
The Compact 24 came with Kenda K478 Xtrac type tires, but they're probably not up to the task of ascending a steep, uneven, icy driveway. Security Chain Company 1060856 Max Trac tire chains were added, but confidence was not high they would do the job ascending the driveway. This is a weekend place, and we typically arrive Friday night. Arriving at night to discover that the xtrac & tire chains weren't enough to push the machine up the hill would be a sub-optimal situation. The decision was made to over-traction to avoid a possible traction issue.
10 sets of Acco Weed 7-link v-bar chains were sourced online and attached to the tire chains diagonally. This took some planning at the point where the tire chains come together. If you recreate this build, it's suggested that you start at the point where the chains come together on the wheel.
![Image]()
![Image]()
The tires with the chains in place were deflated. The v-bar chains were then attached to the inside of the unused side link (see picture).
In effort to avoid digging into the gravel driveway, Arnold poly skids were added, and the machine was taken for a test run today. Unfortunately, even with the skids all the way down and the scraper bar almost all the way up, the bucket still dug into the stone when running on the driveway, accumulating significant amounts of stone in the bucket. The concern is that stone would jam the impeller and possibly break the driveshaft.
The options to raise the bucket seemed to be ArmorSkid Pro-XT (~$100 delivered), but I started wondering whether steel plate could be used as a spacer between the auger bucket and the skid.
Enter the 4x4 3/16" steel backer plate (pretty standard item, but 3/16" is a little thicker than standard). The holes are 3" apart, which match the Ariens skid hole spacing and drilled to accept 3/8" bolts. The plan is to bolt the plate to the auger bucket and bolt the Arnold poly skid shoes to the bottom of the plate. The hope is that the plates arrive by next Friday so they're available to install on the machine next weekend.
I'll check back in. HTH!
![Image]()
I'm posting this in the hope that it will help others, and also to solicit advice from those more experienced than we - that's pretty much everyone since this is our first snowblower.
The Compact 24 came with Kenda K478 Xtrac type tires, but they're probably not up to the task of ascending a steep, uneven, icy driveway. Security Chain Company 1060856 Max Trac tire chains were added, but confidence was not high they would do the job ascending the driveway. This is a weekend place, and we typically arrive Friday night. Arriving at night to discover that the xtrac & tire chains weren't enough to push the machine up the hill would be a sub-optimal situation. The decision was made to over-traction to avoid a possible traction issue.
10 sets of Acco Weed 7-link v-bar chains were sourced online and attached to the tire chains diagonally. This took some planning at the point where the tire chains come together. If you recreate this build, it's suggested that you start at the point where the chains come together on the wheel.
The tires with the chains in place were deflated. The v-bar chains were then attached to the inside of the unused side link (see picture).
In effort to avoid digging into the gravel driveway, Arnold poly skids were added, and the machine was taken for a test run today. Unfortunately, even with the skids all the way down and the scraper bar almost all the way up, the bucket still dug into the stone when running on the driveway, accumulating significant amounts of stone in the bucket. The concern is that stone would jam the impeller and possibly break the driveshaft.
The options to raise the bucket seemed to be ArmorSkid Pro-XT (~$100 delivered), but I started wondering whether steel plate could be used as a spacer between the auger bucket and the skid.
Enter the 4x4 3/16" steel backer plate (pretty standard item, but 3/16" is a little thicker than standard). The holes are 3" apart, which match the Ariens skid hole spacing and drilled to accept 3/8" bolts. The plan is to bolt the plate to the auger bucket and bolt the Arnold poly skid shoes to the bottom of the plate. The hope is that the plates arrive by next Friday so they're available to install on the machine next weekend.
I'll check back in. HTH!
