Traction on ice

[450]

aczlan,

I did not know that, learned something new today after all. Thanks

 

[PILOON]

Willy,

If nothing else you should be able to make one out of a old pickup rear end. Flip the rear end so the yoke is pointing up, make a spreader plate to attach where yoke is mounted, build a hopper and then add tow bar to pull. As the tires turn while pulling it will spin the spreader plate in return spreading gravel.
I haven't built one yet but I have put some thought into it. I think it would work.

Have seen a commercial version that used a Jeep differential driven by small wheels (12")
Worked quite well!

From my experience using a seed broadcaster for sand you'd want the differential locked otherwise the one wheel slides and no spinning.
But locked on a snowy icy road is forgiving on the tires. Otherwise maybe tires should be studded.

 

[jb1390]

My road is approximately 1/4 mile of gravel and 1/4 mile of blacktop. There is timber on both sides of the road for most of its length and it goes up, down, and around. I plow snow with an L2500DT Kubota and a 7.5' Meyers snowplow mounted to the front frame. I was moving a lot of gravel to the side of the road, so I made a gravel saver out of 2' schedule 80 pipe, which saved the gravel. However, the gravel saver left 1" of snow on the road after each use and is worn half way through after 1 month of use. I removed it after the road was frozen. My problem now is approximately 2.5" of hard packed snow and ice due to traffic and the sun melting the surface during the day and the night time temperatures refreezing it. I picked up 2 yards of 3/4 minus gravel today and spread it with a shovel. At 74 I don't care to do that very often! My question is, has anyone modified a 3-point broadcaster or fabricated something to spread aggregate larger then sand?
Thanks in advance, willyC93

Do you have chains on the tractor? Often times I find that just roughing the ice up with chains increases traction pretty drastically. The ice is only slippery when it's smooth.

I'm a little surprised that your gravel saver is leaving snow that deep. For wear - get some strips of hardox plate and weld them on. If you have them sliced into 1" pieces, you can wrap the cylinder pretty well for the bottom 1/3 or so, which is the part of the pipe that touches.

 

[RNeumann]

First I want to commend you for spreading two yards by hand on ice at age 74!!! BRAVO!!

Two solutions and one problem come to mind. Any broadcaster will have to be hand loaded since it's on your 3 PT unless you have another tractor to load it. Not for me!
I got a load of material last fall and have used the BB with hydraulic top link to lay down the material. The box holds more than a bucket so it works well. I also use the BB rippers on my gravel drive when everything is frozen- it has produced good results by creating groves for traction and or removing ice.
The other option is a 4 in 1 bucket or similar so all you are going is scooping and opening the clam shell a bit to meter material as you drive. They make dedicated bucket type devises for spreading but they were more expensive from what I recall.

Edit- great to hear from another TBNer from N Idaho! Check out Idaho Implement if you end up purchasing a different type of spreader. They are just north of you in Sagle.
If you find the magic cure let us know. It's been tough at my place as well.

 

[Deadman]

You could probably hire a local contractor to sand it for fairly cheap. Then you don;t have to built a spreader, buy a spreader, store a spreader, store materials to spread, attach the spreader, and then spread it all. They could come in and be done in 5 minutes and you might not need them again for years….

Depends how much you enjoy working…..

 

[joeyd]

Willey- Welcome to Idaho winter/spring road conditions, are you asking about traction for the tractor or your personal vehicles? With or without gravel savers plows/blowers are going to leave a base that turns to ice when it gets rained on or starts to melt with warmer temps. Chains are your best friend when this happens for both your tractor and vehicles. The newer chains for your truck/car are fairly easy to put on and after a few trips on the ice it chews the surface up and makes it easier melt. For a good price on chains try Bluejay Industrial in Hayden.

 

[RNeumann]

I've thought a lot about this today and I'm wondering if you have feet on your plow? You shouldn't lose the gravel in our climate with feet. The other thought is in regards to the asphalt section. The advantage of the asphalt is you can scrape without worry of removing material. I'd take that gravel saver off and cut to the asphalt.
Both of these are basically options for next year at this point. With rain tonight and then some cooler temps it will be hard to make much progress unless you hit it hard while it's raining.

What do you have on the 3 PT?

Good luck!

 

[Deadman]

I can't even imagine how much snow would pack down with these gravel saver devices…...

 

[Oldoak]

I believe spreading aggregate of any size other than sand will quickly wear out the spinner plate in less than one season. It will wear just like your 2" pipe had worn. Stone against steel, doesn't matter if it is the steel that is moving or it is the stone that is moving.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I cleared my parking lot with a blade the other day, and when done, the glazed surface was more slippery than any ice I can remember! I have a couple of truck loads of lime stone screenings which I spread mostly by hand up to christmas, but it is frozen solid now, and I won't use salt anywhere near my equipment.

I used to use a disk to scratch up icy roads and parking lot to good effect. Especially, if it ocasionally can stir up some gravel. Our municipal graders put teeth on the grader mouldboards in the winter to achieve the same effect.