Do I need chains?

[tcreeley]

I need chains when my gravel drive is icy. I use my bucket to clear and push snow. Mostly flat driveway. We always have icy days in Maine- so the chains go on and stay on until spring. Not on yet, waiting for a warm day!

 

[k0ua]

I bought chains a couple of years ago for my current tractor, There are just times you cannot get up the hill, let alone plow anything. One day I took the tractor out of the "kioti den" and just sitting still the tractor started to drift down the hill and would have went over the edge If I didn't use the bucket to save it and get it back to the barn. I was glad I got it back inside finely and went in and ordered the chains. They make all the difference in the world. Some years we don't have enough snow and ice to worry about, and other years we have a huge mess on our road. The ice and ice pellets that freeze into solid ice are the worst. If we had flat ground, which we don't, and mostly just snow, I wouldn't bother with them, but as is I have to have them.

 

[Gcorron]

Do I need chains?
Do we really need seat heaters? No, but they sure make your life a bit nicer! My turf tires will normally do the job just fine, but boy do they make it nice when the snow is over a foot. Doesn't slip all that much without, but doesn't slip at all with them, and will push up much larger piles of snow.
I have not found any real marking on asphalt from them that doesn't disappear, and all my neighbors have asphalt driveways. So far, at least, no complaints, just thanks for clearing snow. Guess I'm lucky.
I also advocate for tirechains.com they've been really good to me and seem quite reasonable. They have some pretty good installation videos as well.

George

 

[Looking4new]

I think I am going to invest in a set for the rear of my girl. When the snow is wet and sloppy, then I slide around a bit with my R4's. I think a set of V-bars will solve that problem.

 

[Gcorron]

James - true story......unfortunately, but that which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger, and hopefully smarter!

I worked at a large prison. One of my duties was to push coal into the hopper of our boiler house. We used a 750 Case front end loader, 1964 model. That was the pre ROPS days, and no seat belt either. Made for safer operators because you did not want to die!

When it snowed, I would take the Case and clear the roads around the institution. made it nicer for everyone, didn't take me long, and built up a lot of good will.

We got about 1/4" of ice one night, followed by about 4" of snow. The shops area was down a hill from our shop so I turn down to clean up that area first as the inmate staff was about to come down, and the shop guys would be wanting to drive down shortly.

It went bad from the top of the hill, the machine started forward all by itself. I shove the bucket down.....yeah, THAT oughta do it. It flipped the machine around and we started doing 360 degree doughnuts down the hill. Remember, no ROPS, no seatbelt. At the bottom of the hill is a 10' area of grass, then 3 rolls of razor wire (Maximum security style) then a 10' high fence, interstitial area with more razor wire and another fence.

No manipulation of the bucket helped, I'm not even THINKING of leaving the machine, so I just hunker down and said "Man, this is gonna hurt"!

Thankfully, the grass area bit into the tracks. When I stopped, and subsequently opened my eyes, I could reach out and touch the razor wire! And to make it REAL nice, I could see a tower officer aiming at me, he thought it may be an escape attempt! Nice, if the wire hadn't eaten me alive, my prize was going to be a bullet.

Yes, machines do, in fact, move by themselves! I ordered 3 inmates to help me remove the seat from a strangely dark and remote area!!

George AF4JH

 

[k0ua]

James - true story......unfortunately, but that which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger, and hopefully smarter!

I worked at a large prison. One of my duties was to push coal into the hopper of our boiler house. We used a 750 Case front end loader, 1964 model. That was the pre ROPS days, and no seat belt either. Made for safer operators because you did not want to die!

When it snowed, I would take the Case and clear the roads around the institution. made it nicer for everyone, didn't take me long, and built up a lot of good will.

We got about 1/4" of ice one night, followed by about 4" of snow. The shops area was down a hill from our shop so I turn down to clean up that area first as the inmate staff was about to come down, and the shop guys would be wanting to drive down shortly.

It went bad from the top of the hill, the machine started forward all by itself. I shove the bucket down.....yeah, THAT oughta do it. It flipped the machine around and we started doing 360 degree doughnuts down the hill. Remember, no ROPS, no seatbelt. At the bottom of the hill is a 10' area of grass, then 3 rolls of razor wire (Maximum security style) then a 10' high fence, interstitial area with more razor wire and another fence.

No manipulation of the bucket helped, I'm not even THINKING of leaving the machine, so I just hunker down and said "Man, this is gonna hurt"!

Thankfully, the grass area bit into the tracks. When I stopped, and subsequently opened my eyes, I could reach out and touch the razor wire! And to make it REAL nice, I could see a tower officer aiming at me, he thought it may be an escape attempt! Nice, if the wire hadn't eaten me alive, my prize was going to be a bullet.

Yes, machines do, in fact, move by themselves! I ordered 3 inmates to help me remove the seat from a strangely dark and remote area!!

George AF4JH

George, I will have to admit your story is quite a bit better than mine!. My tractor just started to slip sideways on the ice by itself after I got it out of the barn, and I was able to stop if fairly easily with the bucket edge. I did mess around with it another 10 minutes to get it back into the barn though. It was not that easy. No razor wire or threat of getting shot here though! .:shocked: 73 de K0UA

 

[Grouseman]

That is cool, I did the same to my landscape rake with a heavy duty pvc p ipe.

 

[MaineTom]

That is cool, I did the same to my landscape rake with a heavy duty pvc pView attachment 492837ipe.

I started out using the PVC but when it's below 32 deg. it tends to break. But it worked fine until I hit some really hard ground/pavement. The PVC was not strong enough to stay on when I back dragged as well. That pipe's not moving! :thumbsup:

 

[mcj115]

I am not sure if I should be happy or not but we finally got snow! The best part of having a tractor with a plow or blower is knowing you have it, but not needing to use it.

Just to update after a 17" snow storm I am convinced for my needs I do not need chains in my application. The other than putting the plow on the tractor all I did was add ~250 lbs of weight on the hitch. I was able to plow up grade in high gear as long as I had momentum.

 

[mike69440]

James - true story......unfortunately, but that which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger, and hopefully smarter!

I worked at a large prison. One of my duties was to push coal into the hopper of our boiler house. We used a 750 Case front end loader, 1964 model. That was the pre ROPS days, and no seat belt either. Made for safer operators because you did not want to die!

When it snowed, I would take the Case and clear the roads around the institution. made it nicer for everyone, didn't take me long, and built up a lot of good will.

We got about 1/4" of ice one night, followed by about 4" of snow. The shops area was down a hill from our shop so I turn down to clean up that area first as the inmate staff was about to come down, and the shop guys would be wanting to drive down shortly.

It went bad from the top of the hill, the machine started forward all by itself. I shove the bucket down.....yeah, THAT oughta do it. It flipped the machine around and we started doing 360 degree doughnuts down the hill. Remember, no ROPS, no seatbelt. At the bottom of the hill is a 10' area of grass, then 3 rolls of razor wire (Maximum security style) then a 10' high fence, interstitial area with more razor wire and another fence.

No manipulation of the bucket helped, I'm not even THINKING of leaving the machine, so I just hunker down and said "Man, this is gonna hurt"!

Thankfully, the grass area bit into the tracks. When I stopped, and subsequently opened my eyes, I could reach out and touch the razor wire! And to make it REAL nice, I could see a tower officer aiming at me, he thought it may be an escape attempt! Nice, if the wire hadn't eaten me alive, my prize was going to be a bullet.

Yes, machines do, in fact, move by themselves! I ordered 3 inmates to help me remove the seat from a strangely dark and remote area!!

George AF4JH

That even sound more interesting than my steel tracked excavator "ride' down any icy dirt road.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/snow-removal/374534-how-steer-tractor-r4s-snow.html