Chains Front tire chains

[bstrom]

Wondering what the consensus is on using front tire chains. I've got chains on the rear but notice the front wheels spinning sometimes especially when pushing a lot of snow backwards with my rear blade. (We get a lot of ice and wet snow here). Wondering if it could cause any damage using front chains with rear chains. Kind of like how you are not supposed to run 4 wheel drive on dry pavement, you want a bit of slippage. Don't know if it's the same principle.

It seems like if I had front chains I would never lose traction when pushing or pulling big snow piles.

 

[20 20]

I know a lot of manufacturers frown on it. personally I'd rather have some slipping then a torn up front end. Seems like this topic comes up about once a week on here?

 

[newbury]

Nah - not that often, hardly came up at all last summer. Besides, maybe the search function froze upi.

 

[Ace3]

I have chains on all four and so far haven't had any problems. (2 link, v-bar) The front chains do improve both traction and steering. I only engage fwd when needed and run in 2wd most of the time. I would be more concerned with bending your 3pt hitch arms by pushing snow back and hitting something. The 3pt hitch is designed for pulling, not pushing.

 

[bstrom]

Thanks for the sarcasm guys, gee, just asking. Next time I will search longer I guess. Maybe you should have skipped the post?

As far as pushing with the three point hitch, I only push backwards when the snow gets to deep to pull. Trying to drive through 12 inches of snow plus pull it behind does not work to good, you lose traction. Pushing snow is not that hard on the arms and I know where all the things to hit are in my driveway. I go slow.

 

[ptrotter]

I have had the same question regarding front chains. I have a front blade and a front snowblower and many times I will find that the blade or blower will steer the tractor rather than the wheels. I was wondering if front chains might improve this somewhat by giving me some extra front traction.

 

[20 20]

Thanks for the sarcasm guys, gee, just asking. Next time I will search longer I guess. Maybe you should have skipped the post?

I was not trying to be sarcastic, just saying this has been discussed a bit

As far as pushing with the three point hitch, I only push backwards when the snow gets to deep to pull. Trying to drive through 12 inches of snow plus pull it behind does not work to good, you lose traction. Pushing snow is not that hard on the arms and I know where all the things to hit are in my driveway. I go slow.

I wouldn't worry about pushing snow, doubt highly it would bent the arms. Folks around here have been pushing snow for YEARS without any troubles. You are correct once the snow gets high it is darn near impossible to pull through it, pushing works fine.

You never said the make of your tractor? Maybe you could call a dealer and see what they have to say? IMO my machine will never see front chains, to much stress. The ice and snow would not be the problem it is what lies underneath that would snag/catch that would cause the breakage. The way I figure if I couldn't move the snow, then maybe I need a more capable machine. I have a drive over 1000' long with a few very wide parking spots. I plow with a 25hp 4x4 compact with rear chains, never had a problem.

 

[SockPuppet]

This seems like an easy, cheap way to deal with the steering problems.

http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=102827

 

[savageactor7]

I've had chains on all 4's year around for over 10 years with the dealers blessing...we do a lot of excavation and logging. Makes a huge difference in performance. We don't go on a hardball road.

 

[beenthere]

I added front tire chains and felt they helped a lot getting through deep snow.
I removed the rear chains and left the front ones on for a while. Sure did help get traction, but felt the front wheel assist was being over-taxed when the rears could/should be doing most of the heavy work.
So I removed the front chains, and will only use them when needing to go into the woods (like last week to retrieve a bow-shot deer) and when the rear chains are also mounted.

Just have to go with your gut feeling if running front chains.
Deere engineers told me that their front wheel assist is designed to be on all the time and to not fear running on dry or hard roads. Said they are built for that too.

But I don't like the extra whine I get when on hard pack and in 4wd. So I kick it into 2wd when/until needed.

 

[bstrom]

I use front wheel drive all the time since I am always on gravel, in the woods, on snow or mud, rocks and dirt. After reading the pros and cons on another thread I finally found I think I won't get front chains since with rear chains only it works pretty darn good. I found that if I load the front bucket with snow and keep it low when pushing snow with the rear blade it gives me better traction up front - I've got loaded rear tires so plenty of weight back there.

Plus I'll save some money to put towards forks for all those spring projects

 

[Oleozz]

Only have chains on the front, have had no problems. We are getting a lot of ice this winter and chains are necessary with those conditions.

 

[Fromjim]

Wondering what the consensus is on using front tire chains. I've got chains on the rear but notice the front wheels spinning sometimes especially when pushing a lot of snow backwards with my rear blade. (We get a lot of ice and wet snow here). Wondering if it could cause any damage using front chains with rear chains. Kind of like how you are not supposed to run 4 wheel drive on dry pavement, you want a bit of slippage. Don't know if it's the same principle.

It seems like if I had front chains I would never lose traction when pushing or pulling big snow piles.

You mention seeing the front wheels spinning sometimes, they can't spin unless at least one rear wheel spins, as for using chains on the front, if you look at the Kubota calanders the photos often show the large Kubotas with heavy cross link ice chains on the front only. Unless you do a lot of high speed driving on hard surface I would think everything should be OK.

Jim

 

[bandit67]

I've been plowing a 3/4 mile stretch of dirt road and 4 other driveways for 2 seasons now, and run mostly the front chains only. Without chains the front gets pushed all over the place (I have a 6' plow mounted to the FEL arms).

The only reason I rarely run the rear chains is they occasionally whack the fenders as the chains move a little during the course of a 2 or 3 hour plowing run. I plan to get the wheel spacers this summer so that I can go back to running chains on all 4, without worrying about the chance of tearing off a rear fender.

I read a ton of posts over the course of a couple of years before I decided to give the front chains a try. I wasn't able to find examples of damaged front ends due to chains at the time I was researching. I do NOT engage 4wd, with or without chains, in good traction or dry conditions. Since you can easily feel the front binding when in 4wd and there is good traction, I'm not concerned that I'm doing any damage to the front when traction is bad and I'm using 4wd and chains on the front. I currently have 250 hours on the machine.