Snow tractor

RADIUM · Jan 12, 2011

Not to beat a dead horse ;-) agricultural tires go just as poorly on hard pack snow and ice the only time the agricultural tires are better is in the mud because they don't pack up with earth from personal observation of using both tires on the farm. By the end of February around here most of the roadways and backyard skim over to ice I chain up. I would agree agricultural tires are good in deep snow when you have to get into the field to get the round hay bales my 2420 has gotten stuck a few times I am talking deep snow over the front tires and quite a hill, but when using a tractor with the snowblower or front plow there really is no issue of driving in deep snow. Take care

StrangeRanger · Jan 12, 2011

hawkeye08 said:
Surprised that you are not stuck running those R4 tires. guess you did not know that you cannot use them in snow.

What are you talking about? R4's do just fine in the snow.

JJZ 109 · Jan 12, 2011

hawkeye08 said:
Surprised that you are not stuck running those R4 tires. guess you did not know that you cannot use them in snow.

Funny, I've never had a problem with R4's doing snow removal. Tires not loaded either. Get in deep enough and anything will get stuck.

bp fick · Jan 12, 2011

StrangeRanger said:
What are you talking about? R4's do just fine in the snow.

JJZ 109 said:
Funny, I've never had a problem with R4's doing snow removal. Tires not loaded either. Get in deep enough and anything will get stuck.

Pretty sure that there was a tongue firmly planted in his cheek.

DieselnHooters · Jan 12, 2011

you guys down south are too lucky, you get to have as much if not more white stuff than us way up north and your summers are blessed with rattlers, scorpions and venomous spiders

Yoitslo2 · Jan 12, 2011

DieselnHooters said:
you guys down south are too lucky, you get to have as much if not more white stuff than us way up north and your summers are blessed with rattlers, scorpions and venomous spiders

Yea its amazing we just are not use to it.

RPK · Jan 13, 2011

I am considering chains for my 3130 with loaded R-4's. Tractor is totally useless on my sometimes icey hilly paved driveway. I don't use it for snow removal but I would like to use it for clean-up once in awhile. Like now because we just had 24" of snow.

Can anyone out there suggest type, cost and where to buy chains for my tractor.

johann · Jan 13, 2011

yeah,....I want to know about chains now too! It took me 6 hours to clear the two feet of snow we got, I never thought that it would take that long. I got stuck 7 times! aauuuuuggg! the snow was just the right moisture to turn to hard pack ice after going over it once, which also meant that you can't push it far before it turns into a 6 foot tall pile of granite on you. Running with the rear blade on an angle doesn't get you far in that stuff, once the blade starts to ride up you are done. The blade just turns into an anchor because you can't lift it up high enough to get out. I have a friend with the same machine except he has a snow blower for the front I know I will be hearing how great it worked for him any day now.

Gizmo2 · Jan 13, 2011

johann said:
yeah,....I want to know about chains now too! It took me 6 hours to clear the two feet of snow we got, I never thought that it would take that long. I got stuck 7 times! aauuuuuggg! the snow was just the right moisture to turn to hard pack ice after going over it once, which also meant that you can't push it far before it turns into a 6 foot tall pile of granite on you. Running with the rear blade on an angle doesn't get you far in that stuff, once the blade starts to ride up you are done. The blade just turns into an anchor because you can't lift it up high enough to get out. I have a friend with the same machine except he has a snow blower for the front I know I will be hearing how great it worked for him any day now.

Sorry to hear about your troubles but I do like your write up. 2 feet of snow things change.....a lot.

bandit67 · Jan 14, 2011

Here's my snow removal rig...

I have problems with the R4s after I've started plowing and the little remaining snow skims over the asphalt turning to hard pack or ice, then the front tires slide all over. Most of the time when I need to chain up, I can get away with front chains only. Front and rear chains, and there's absolutely no stopping me, but I don't think I've chained up the rears in 2 years. Haven't chained up the fronts yet this year, but I'm sure I'll need to eventually.

If I recall correctly, I got my chains from www.tirechains.com