Chains 1510 4WD 4 wheel chains?

[jstrasser]

New to this forum and new to plowing snow with a tractor- 1510 4WD. Have plowed for 8 years with a pickup and front or rear plow.

I winter plow a 1/3 mile unpaved road and do my best to grade it during the summer. I had built a 3 pt hitch for my former Dodge CTD and did the plowing with a grading blade and grading with a york rake.

My question- did my first snow plow (3 pt grading blade) with double ring chains on the rear R4 loaded tires. This snow was WET and heavy. On a steep dip in the road, the grading blade did all the steering, even with the bucket full of wet snow. Because of the blade angle this caused the front to head toward the ditch no matter how I turned the front wheels.

Does anyone run rear and FRONT tire chains? Any reason why I shouldn't put chains on the front?

Thanks,
John

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Are you plowing with a rear blade and if you are what direction are you plowing, going forward or backwards. If you don't have enough weight an angled rear blade will move you around even when moving dirt.
Bill

 

[jstrasser]

Thanks for the reply.

Plowing with a 7' rear grading blade going forward.

 

[dnafziger]

Being in snow country, I chain up all four tires. I make my own chains from chains that trucks loose off the highway. We got our first snow this year, a little late but we got a butt load. good luck with your tractor and moving snow.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Being in snow country, I chain up all four tires. .

And how does it work? Any problems?
Bob

 

[RickB]

This is a little different than what you are asking, but here goes. Last week, I replaced the front ring and pinion on a TC21D. The tractor has a front loader and the owner uses front chains ONLY. Heavy loader use, little rear ballast, and front chains placed an extrordinary torque load on the front differential over time. The pinion was simply worn out. No broken teeth, proper oil level, just worn out. The front axle is not designed to do the majority of the work. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[jstrasser]

Thanks for the replies.

Rick, I would be using 4 wheel chains in 4WD when plowing in a nearly straight line. Any tight turns would be done in 2WD. That should avoid loading up the front axle like that TC21 owner, yes? (Having long wheel base pickups for plowing in the past makes me very aware of avoiding tight turns with the tranfer case engaged)

As I indicated, I just want the front wheels (and not the blade) to provide more steering.

One thing that I did forget was using the rear diff lock when the rear blade started to "steer". Would that keep me going in a straight line better?

John

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

The diff. lock would help. It seem that you are having problems with back end sliding and not the front and the only way to help that is to add som weight to the rear.
Bill

 

[rayikeo2]

I have a 1700 4x4 with calcium in the rear tires and a 6' rear blade (no front bucket) I do 2 things when the blade wants to steer: #1 continually raise and lower the blade to follow grade of road so it doesn't go too deep. #2 Use the rear wheel brake to pull the tractor back straight. I unlock the brake lock to use only the wheel needed to pull the tractor in allignment. A have weights on the front. Have never used chains of any kind. I can grade gravel uphill with little or no problems.

 

[jstrasser]

Well, conditions softened here a bit yesterday so I was able to push the formerly frozen snow back further off the sides of our road.

The differential lock helped slightly, but the combination of having a good crown on the road and the rear blade angled to push snow towards the ditch- the front end tends to turn towards the ditch no matter which way the front wheels are pointing. (I made sure that I had the FEL bucket pretty full with wet snow for weight)

BTW, several years ago I wasn't so nuts about pushing early snow back so far then ended up with a very narrow luge run as I was unable to push later season snow up and over the earlier frozen banks. So I start at this time of year trying to clear the road as wide as possible while I still can.

So- my thought on adding front chains was mostly for directional control and not so much for forward traction- the rear double ring chains are providing good traction to keep it moving. I was thinking of these:

for the front end. Tirechains.com recommends them for tractor steering.

Might just try some tire chains left over from my last plow truck first.

Any further input?

Thanks,
John