Snow Tractor Questions

   / Snow Tractor Questions #1  

mmranch

Gold Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2010
Messages
250
Location
Crested Butte, CO
Tractor
TYM T603
I need to order snow chains for my TYM 603.

I am located in Colorado in mega snow country at 9400ft elevation on a mountaintop. Our STEEP road is a half mile long with 3 switchbacks. Let's just say, yes we know snow.

I have a 68 Chevy K20 pickup with a 7.5 Snow-Way plow that I use to plow the driveway. It works great for the long runs down the road but has taken me awhile to get the truck dialed in. I put a lot of weight in the bed (sandbags and railroad ties) and plow in 1st (granny gear) 4Wheel Low. Works fine when plowing fresh snow where I can keep up some speed and throw the snow to the sides and over the edge. But as the snow builds up on the sides (up to 5ft high during certain times of winter) it forms gutters which keep me from throwing the snow further out. When I was first putting chains on the truck, I kept shredding the chains apart (on the rear) and went through several different chain types (and of course having to repair/reinstall them all the time... a huge hassle). Finally, I got a setup that works... ice-bar chains on the front wheels and heavy-duty mud service chains on the rear that don't shred.

In the long run, the tractor will probably be outfitted and used for plowing the whole driveway, but for now I will continue to use the truck to plow and use the tractor for edge pushback as well as removing glaciers next to our house. The tractor has a backhoe on it and a toothbar on the 78" loader bucket. It worked well for edge pushback at the tail end of last winter (without the toothbar in place and no chains) so I know it will be a big help to have the toothbar to break apart glaciers (as well as the backhoe... with chains).


Question #1: I don't want to go through the hassle I had with getting the right chains on the truck. I don't want the tractor chains to come apart. Do you think I have to search for some heavy-duty mud service chains for the tractor or is the tractor tire torque so fundamentally different than the truck (because of the large rear tires/tractor weight) that the snow chains I've seen on the net won't shred apart and will be fine?

Question #2: I have seen large 'snow buckets' on the net (skidsteersolutions.com, etc.) and I know they are of a lighter construction than a dirt bucket. But I am wondering how they would hold up to heavy duty use. (Our snow here is massive with glaciers of snow/ice). Anyone have experience with these 'snow buckets'? Are they robust enough to ram into snow mounds and tear them apart?

Question #3: In the long run, I will probably put a snow plow on the tractor herself. I have seen dozer blades for a quick attach and thought about using that instead of just a snow-plow blade so that I could use the dozer blade in summer. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks for your thoughts!
 
   / Snow Tractor Questions #2  
Try a search on the net for Norse Super Tractor chains. You won't break them easily, if at all. I've been 100% satisfied with mine.

Sean
 
   / Snow Tractor Questions #3  
Question #1. Ice chains or v-chains should work nicely.

Question #2. Your bucket/toothbar will work nice. I know, not to your extreme, ice and heavy snow. Ice can and will have the same properties as cement.

Question#3. Dozer blade type of set up on a FEL? A lot of stress on FEL riggin'.

being a snowblower type of guy, blower works very well for my set up. Just a thought.
 
   / Snow Tractor Questions #4  
I do not have that much snow, just normal Indiana winters and a 900 foot drive.
I was wondering if I need chains, and if I do should I get chains for all four tires?

I test drove a tractor like mine last winter with turf tires and unloaded tires and it sucked on snow/ice mix
 
   / Snow Tractor Questions #5  
For long term durability, you'll find the Pewag brand of chains hard to beat. They have an online catalog. I work in a snowy mountain area and we used to go through at least 3 sets of chains per busy fire engine each winter before switching to Pewags. Now it is about 1.5 sets per winter. We used the "square" links. Much better on ice than the "round" links that we first tried.

I run Pewags on my Bobcat skid steer and even with the beating that they take (lots of snow removal on pavement) they hold up great.
 
   / Snow Tractor Questions #7  
I do not have that much snow, just normal Indiana winters and a 900 foot drive.
I was wondering if I need chains, and if I do should I get chains for all four tires?

I'd say it depends on how steep your drive is.
The big debate has been to get the chains for the front or the rears. I got mine for the rear only because I didn't want to stress the front axle too much. A lot of folks got by with rear chains only for a lot of years before front wheel drive assist became fairly common.
One of our bretheren, Arribil, lives fairly close and has a very steep drive. He uses chains on all four tires.
 
   / Snow Tractor Questions
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Thanks to ALL for the ideas! Will check out the chain brands.

We are located in Crested Butte, CO (200 to 250 inches of snow per season). Our dirt road (which I've been busy rehabilitating this summer) is very steep in spots so I am inclined to go with chains for all 4 wheels (maybe I'll try just the rear at first).

I have a walk behind snow thrower and it does a great job... but my road is so long that I fear a snowthrower on the tractor would take too long. As it is now, the truck plowing takes about 1 to 2 hrs if the snow is heavy and the plowing needs to be done sometimes every day or sometimes twice a day (ARRGGGHH!).

Yeah, the dozer blade may be too much for the FEL... just saw they had that for the skidsteer attach.

When I can no longer take the plowing I'll just call my plow service and they'll hit it with a giant FEL.

Thanks again.
 
   / Snow Tractor Questions #9  
.


Maybe some logging chains?

Definitely do all fours though for a steep drive. Helps w braking too, ya know.


.
 
   / Snow Tractor Questions #10  
Thanks to ALL for the ideas! Will check out the chain brands.

We are located in Crested Butte, CO (200 to 250 inches of snow per season). Our dirt road (which I've been busy rehabilitating this summer) is very steep in spots so I am inclined to go with chains for all 4 wheels (maybe I'll try just the rear at first).

I have a walk behind snow thrower and it does a great job... but my road is so long that I fear a snowthrower on the tractor would take too long. As it is now, the truck plowing takes about 1 to 2 hrs if the snow is heavy and the plowing needs to be done sometimes every day or sometimes twice a day (ARRGGGHH!).

Yeah, the dozer blade may be too much for the FEL... just saw they had that for the skidsteer attach.

When I can no longer take the plowing I'll just call my plow service and they'll hit it with a giant FEL.

Thanks again.

I get into the Crested Butte/Gunnison area 10 times year so I know what you are up against. Very different then the snow we get in Norther Indiana. I would go with the truck to the the majority of the work and the tractor to do clean up like you are doing now.

I put a 7' Meyer snow plow on my tractor last year inplace of the FEL bucket and it handles 15" of snow with no issues but you are in a different league. You really need to spend your money on a 3 point snow blower.

Chris
 
 
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