Snow Will chains help much on snow?
- Thread starter lambs
- Start date
wh22366
Bronze Member
For ten years I ran a little Ford 1710 4wd that came to me with turf tires. Just before snow flew each fall I'd put on a set of rear chains and plow and load out snow all winter with nary a slip. Worked great in mud season too. The secret really was that the chains stood proud of the tread. I've sold her and bought a MF1540 with R4's. It appears that standard chains would hide in the lugs and be a useless addition.
I can only hope that I get good traction this year with beet juice tire loading and additional 3 pt weight. Anyone out there ever use ring-type chains on R4's? Any comments on what the R4's will do without chains?
I can only hope that I get good traction this year with beet juice tire loading and additional 3 pt weight. Anyone out there ever use ring-type chains on R4's? Any comments on what the R4's will do without chains?
WilliamTO-35
Silver Member
I made a set of tire chains for my TO-35 tractor with 12.4/28 inch rears. They worked very well in snow, especially with the worn out lug type tires I had since they stood out on the tire, and helped on hard packed snow and ice too. I used standard oblong link utility chain, with no bars welded across. When I finally bought new lug tires, the chains tended to fall between the lugs, and weren't much of a help. Turf tires are flat enough so that chains will work. With good tires, my traction in snow is fairly good, but on hard snow or ice traction was poor. To address that problem, I put a couple of dozen sheet metal screws with hardened hex heads into the lugs of each tire, and my ice traction improved dramatically. I've left the screws in the tires year around, and they cause no problems.
SDT
Veteran Member
Chains are about the only thing that will help in snow or ice. You will find Ag tires less useful than turf tires in snow.
The good thing about turf tires is that you can use relatively inexpensive ladder chains withen them, whereas these chains are not ideal for ag tires because they tend to settle into the valleys between the cleats.
SDT
The good thing about turf tires is that you can use relatively inexpensive ladder chains withen them, whereas these chains are not ideal for ag tires because they tend to settle into the valleys between the cleats.
SDT
