Studs on Front Tires

[dadioh]

I have a Massey Ferguson MF1532 tractor that I bought new in 2012. My gravel driveway is about 1/2 km (about 1600ft) long and I get a fair amount of snow every year to clear. I had been using a Polaris Sportsman 6X6 with a 4ft blade for the last 13 years to clear the snow and that worked quite well but in heavy wet snow I could quickly run into traction problems.

So this fall I purchased a 7 foot quick mount snow blade for my front end loader. On the rear I keep a 6 foot "dirt" blade that I just use for pushing back snow in a straight line. The first few snow falls of the year were the nice light fluffy snow that doesn't have much weight. The new snow blade works really great for this. Recently however we have had some of the really heavy wet snow falls and that creates an issue for me. With the front blade angled to push the snow off to the right of the tractor I get into situations where the front of the tractor skids to the left even with my front wheels turned all the way to the right. This typically happens on areas where the ice is built up under the snow. I have carbide tipped studs on the rear tires and those are fantastic in icy conditions to drive the tractor forward. At the time I bought those studs I thought about putting some on the front tires too but the service guy recommended against it since he said the way the 4 wheel drive works is that the front wheels spin a little faster than the rear to "pull" the tractor. They are meant to slip a bit he said. So if I add studs to the front I am preventing this slip and placing a load on the front drive system that it isn't designed for.

Does that make sense? I don't want to do something that will damage the drive system but I imagine that better traction on the front wheels would certainly help or eliminate my sideways push issue.

Thoughts?

 

[Rustyiron]

With the ice, your tires even with studs are not going to be that firmly attached to the ground to the point you would damage your tractor.

 

[dadioh]

With the ice, your tires even with studs are not going to be that firmly attached to the ground to the point you would damage your tractor.

Yeah that makes sense to me. I think the more likely thing would be the studs ripping out of the tire before anything could go wrong in the drive train.

 

[3930dave]

If there is a gearing difference front to rear, there may be something to what the service guy was saying. If that drivetrain is a little light-duty, somebody may have busted one by now. I'd cross post this to the Massey sub-forum, with a title about the front end, and see what the peanut gallery has to say.

Stud systems I'm familiar with aren't quick to remove/replace. Chains for the front might be a part-time solution.... just put 'em on for icy days, as needed.

Rgds, D.

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

The service guy is right, the front drives faster than the rear. The manual recommends not running 4x4 on hard surfaces like pavement because it will cause excessive tire wear. I don't think anything you do will keep your tractor from being pushed by the plow. In theory studs might help but I probably wouldn't risk it. Chains may be a better choice because they will probably slip more than the tire studs. You could also sip the tires for better traction on ice.

 

[arizona98tj]

daidioh, I beleive your 1532 and my 1529 share the same front end. There is minimal clearance between the steering linkage and the wheel. I thought about front chains for my 1529 but decided not to for that reason. I wasn't exerpiencing significant steering issues to go that route. If you go with chains, make certain your chains won't get caught between the wheel and the linkage.

 

[dadioh]

The service guy is right, the front drives faster than the rear. The manual recommends not running 4x4 on hard surfaces like pavement because it will cause excessive tire wear. I don't think anything you do will keep your tractor from being pushed by the plow. In theory studs might help but I probably wouldn't risk it. Chains may be a better choice because they will probably slip more than the tire studs. You could also sip the tires for better traction on ice.

Thanks for the confirmation. So probably best to leave well enough alone. I just need to be more clever in how I attack the snow. I do use the rear blade to push large banks back and that reduces the size of the banks I am angling off with the front blade. It just takes a little longer.

Great to have this forum to ask the experts. Greatly appreciated.

 

[dadioh]

daidioh, I beleive your 1532 and my 1529 share the same front end. There is minimal clearance between the steering linkage and the wheel. I thought about front chains for my 1529 but decided not to for that reason. I wasn't exerpiencing significant steering issues to go that route. If you go with chains, make certain your chains won't get caught between the wheel and the linkage.

Thanks. Good point If I ever consider chains. I went with studs because I don't have to remove them since I don't drive on pavement to wear them out. So far they have lasted three years and going strong. Plus they were $200 instead of $1000 for chains

 

[PILOON]

When I purchased my tractor the previous owner had the front tires loaded with calcium.
First off that caused the rims to rot out which proved costly.
Later at about 7-800 hours the front pinion and ring gear gave out (ouch! $$$) as well as earlier blowing a bearing on the front drive train.

Looking back I believe those $$ repairs might just have been caused by the front tire loading as by design the fronts are about 5% faster than rears to compensate for different tire wear.
Makes sense as you really don't want that more fragile front end to do all the work.

 

[lamanated]

I did car studs, lasted 2 uses,, Never found one in the driveway in the spring