Help me with my loader technique....

[GIJOE]

I may be out of line here since we don't get snow here in S. Louisiana, but we do get more than a fair share of rain, which equals mud. With traction and steering ability being the issue, I think mud and snow would be closely related. I would think leaving the BH in place would aid in traction, and aid in extraction once you're stuck. While pushing snow with the FEL, once the front tires leave the ground and you lose steering ability, try using your left and right brake to help you steer. Make sure the diff lock is not engaged.

 

[George2615]

As the others have said you need to pick up the bucket a little to regain traction on the front wheels. The tractor does not have enough weight to allow steering on slippery snow that is being packed down by your floating loader. With the loader floating on the ground you don't have the extra weight pushing down on the front tires. Adding front weight either on the wheels or hanging from the frame will help some. So will taking smaller bites with the bucket. How do you get the tractor stuck? Couldn't you use the back hoe to lift or pull yourself out of where you get stuck? Or use the bucket to push down and lift the front of the tractor and push yourself back.

 

[jbrumberg]

jayhaitch,
It is possible that the bucket is titled up a little too much. It may be compactintg the snow underneath enough that the loader is riding up it a little which is causing the front wheels to loose traction. Try playing with the bucket angle a little more.

I agree with kwolfe- a heavy wet snow will tend to compact under your FEL and lift your front end as you move forward leading to a loss of steering. I got my old Ford 1100 with dozer blade literally hung up with all 4's spinning when going too fast pushing heavy wet snow. Jay

 

[Champy]

I've had the exact same problem in pushing snow with the FEL. My solutions that worked:

1 - Lift the FEL slightly to add weight to the front end
2 - Tip the edge of the FEL downward to scrape more versus pushing (bad on gravel though)
3 - Buy a rear blade. it is much easier to use and works better unless you have 3' of snow at one time.

FINAL & CHEAPEST ANSWER (my experience): Continue to float the bucket, and then STEER w/ the independent rear wheel BRAKES when the front begins to wander............I did this when my front end started slipping away and my control was dead on. Simply keep tapping one side or the other to slightly adjust your position and realign your direction. Easy to do, cheap to implement, and it works like driving a hot spike into a snow bank!

 

[jayhaitch]

Fabulous suggestions guys. Thanks!

Yes, I have had the front wheels off the ground when the bucket dug into the gravel in float mode. Whoa, horse! Down you go! Kinda fun actually....
Compacting snow under the bucket and less weight on the front wheels make sense. The bay our driveway opens to is asphalt, no problems using float mode clearing this, so gravel does have a lot to do with it.

The GC2310 has no individual brakes present, so cant use that technique.

We re supposed to get another 5-7 cm of snow in the next couple of days, so I will try not using float and adjusting the curl. Next winter, a front snowblower! The Mrs. has already approved it, as she wants to be able to clear the drive if Im away. I will be using the bucket a lot this summer for landscaping duties, so this winter has been good practice.

Thanks again everyone for your advice and experience.

 

[RickO]

Try putting it in 4wd... : )