Any good ideas for after-market wheels and tires for the BCS while snowblowing?

[NibbanaFarm]

I'm looking to go with the 28 inch snowblower this year for my 739. I have a Troy Bilt storm tracker that doesn't work all that good and only throws heavy snow a few feet. I have the stock ag tires and 85 pounds of dumbell weights on each side of my 739. My driveway is pretty flat but about 400 feet long so I have a lot of snow to move here in New England. Does anybody know if it's worth getting chains and putting them on the ag tires?

 

[cmyoung2]

Probably. I use a set of cut down, modified car chains on my 850. Our terrain is not flat, the chains do help, especially if you can keep the cross bars across the lugs instead of between them.

 

[Ford850]

I've rarely have a problem with my 850, but it's a little heavier (although no weights added). I lose traction if there is a good layer of black ice and then a heavy snow, which is rare. Once in awhile there is a heavy snow and the drive is warm and wet under the snow, and then a very cold day. As I blow the snow clear the drive freezes slick which can cause some traction issues, but mainly when going back uphill on the sloped driveway. Overall I get pretty good traction with the bar tires. When I lose traction, a little down pressure on the handle bars is all that is needed.

 

[NibbanaFarm]

Thanks for the input guys.

To the OP: I have found that, with the possible exception of sand (and even this is questionable in my mind), it is always best to go high and narrow with tires. When I was a kid, I had an old jeep that I put expensive balloon knobby tires on. It simply floated around aimlessly and spun the wheels on everything except dry pavement. I sold them, bought some regular high profile highway snow tires, and it went anywhere. That's my experience.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Floatation can help on deep loose surfaces - like loose sand, or really deep snow (as in powder snow 10 feet deep) - *IF* the mechanism is light enough to "float".

This is why snowmobiles have wide long tracks, same with a crawler tractor.

But you also need deep "lugs" to dig into the surface to move you forward and the power to push snow if that is what you are doing.

I tend towards tall standard width tires/wheels on my 4x4s with very wide open tread that self-cleans.

If I could afford tracks and they worked reliably (didn't come off the mechanisms) and could work on the terrain and obstacles, then I would use those instead. But they are expensive, and some are poorly designed to go over obstacles like large rocks or logs.