Tires Snow handling: Turf Tires (R3) vs. Ag Tires (R1/R4)

[Brotherdan]

When I was ordering mine, I called over to a dealer near kingwood, wv. They get a lot of snow. They recommended r4. I use them year round.

Your area gets more than mine, but last winter mine went through that 30" storm without any slippage problem at all.

 

[Jeff F.]

Turf tires with a paved driveway on my BX2660 with a box blade for weight. I never had an issue until I bottomed out in the ditch. They worked so well I have them on my B3200. I do not see a need for chains whatsoever in my situation.

I really think you should try it one winter and make your decision after that.

 

[SDT]

Agreed, Fallon.

Turf tires are better in snow than either R-1s or R-4s, though none are designed for snow and any serious snow work will require chains.

Chains work better on turf tires than on R-1s unless you have the expensive so-called Duo-Grip type chains because the ladder chains will work themselves down between the cleats on the R-1s, reducing effectiveness. Such issues are reduced somewhat when using ladder type chains on R-4s and eliminated on turf type tires.

SDT

 

[radioman]

i am laughing at those who say turfs is worthless in the snow. the op want to use a snowblower so he will ALWAYS be on a cleared path so turfs will be just fine unless he has a gravely hilly driveway. if it all blacktop - turfs is the best imho. i leave my garage on grass with my BX with plow mounted and push my way to the blacktop. from there i am just fine. if my grass is not frozen yet, i raise the plow few inches if i am in deep snow and leave a layer of snow then back drag to pack it down otherwise i just back drag on the grass to the blacktop to have a layer of snow on grass so it will refreeze into ice. dont need chains there. FYI - my rears are loaded and i did try a year the first year i had tractor. i really liked the feel of loaded turfs in the snow.

 

[Egon]

Turf tires, add studs=better, add chains=best,, chains on all four wheels will be just awesome and really help steering.

 

[art]

The biggest key here is if you are removing snow with the front snowblower you are not driving through deep snow!!! On paved driveways I have found the turfs to give the best traction if you are scraping to pavement. We have customers that have also found that the turf tire without chains has the most amount of traction. Turf tires give you the most contact area on ice!

 

[Wilburdog]

Thanks - did you have a front-mount snow blower?

I have no problem using my bx25d with tuff tires (no chains) & a front mounted snow blower. I either a box blade or blade is mounted on 3PH.

Clear snow on gravel driveway with some slope. Combination works well for me. I have no need for tire chains.

Only thing I need to be careful of is not to get the small front tires in too deep of snow but regularly blow 6+ inches of snow.

 

[RaydaKub]

BX2230, FEL, loaded rears, turfs, 5 foot blade on rear, paved driveway.
I clear more snow than anybody in the neighborhood except the neighbor with a 3/4 ton Suburban and 8 footer.
I've gotten myself stuck in the ditch a few times when I slid off, but have always gotten myself out. I have had to turn the blade totally vertical once so there was no drag at all, but I got out. I've also pushed a 14" wet snow so hard I lifted the front wheels off the ground and then squawked the rear tires. On my 5 foot rear blade, I added a 6 foot wide 1 foot high piece of horse mat to it, got Mark Hodges Stabilworks so I could swing the blade over to one side and catch the spill from the FEL and push it all to one side.

You'll be fine with some rear weight.

 

[JWR]

As usual -- more info on here than you can use. So I will add even more.

1) If you live where the snow removal is to be done (not letting it build up for long periods) you will probably be OK with turf tires. I think your next step of traction is to add chains on the front only. That gives you ability to keep it headed where you want and will probably be the worst-case needed in your area. May only have to put on the chains in rare cases.
2) With the objective of minimizing tire changes, chain mounting and time lost fooling with the machine you may like what are often called "bar tread." These are neither turf nor Ag R1 nor industrial tires. Unless your are very hyper about your lawn they really do not hurt the turf but they give way better traction in sand or snow. Here is a picture of those on a BX2200.View attachment 523120

3) Tires and wheels are expensive so surely you will want to try just using the turf tires and add front chains if and when you need them at minimal cost.
4) Comment from experience:
a) If you find yourself in deep or packed snow turf tires are nearly worthless. The tiniest bit of spinning produces ice under the tires and you are hung with 4WD being very little help. Living at the removal location you can probably just avoid letting the snow get either packed or built up that deep.
b) If your lawn tolerates them, R1 Ag tires are SO MUCH better in snow -- night and day. The lugs give you at least some traction even when you have packed snow or deep snow. The bar tread gives much better traction but not quite as much as Ag tires. To me the bar tread is a great compromise.
5) About that blower: A key thing is to keep your bottom scraping "cutting" edge underneath the rotating parts angled very slightly upward. If it is pointed down the thing will dig in, pull up gravel, damage blacktop, etc. Just a slight upward angle does wonders for routine ease of operation. With a FM blower that means the loader is off so a rear blade is nice, allowing you to do something headed both directions. You may be able to add "hard plastic" to your blower skids and avoid blacktop damage. There are high tech names for the hard plastic but many welding shops keep some of it around.
See how your first season goes and decide from there. Good luck!

 

[BigBoyToys]

R3 turfs on pavement and gravel work just fine up here using a bucket. Should be a non-issue with a snowblower up front! Lots of snow up here and have never been stuck!



If you're using a bucket, "skids" make a big difference on gravel preventing the bucket from digging in. Could be made to work with a snowblower as well.