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

[LouNY]

And every road surface is different, too. My comments were specific for dirt roads and drives because that is what we have here in our part of the country. Very few rural people have paved driveways here - although they are becoming popular closer to town in suburbia. Those surfaces are maintained differently, and our cleated chains would not be appropriatenon asphalt. I do some work on those asphalt & concrete surfaced drives using medium weight FEL tractors, standard industrial flat tread, 4WD, and have no need for chains.
LUCK, rScotty.

I have a 1/4 mile unpaved driveway, it is steep enough that if you put a plow vehicle in neutral with the blade down in 8-10 inches of heavy snow you have to use the brakes all the way down and I have always had to use chains, you would not make it up without studded tires or chains.


I have had and tried numerous sets of chains over the years from double ring and duo-grip to the newer studded types, I have been surprisedan d pleased with the damage that the newer studded ones don't do to the paved roads.
Because of the need for chains my tires are some what unimportant, without chains everything that uses my driveway in thew inter uses studded tires, I have had to let cars down with a chain that made it up with out studs.

 

[JWR]

I had a BX1860 and now a BX2370 both with turfs. Loaded rears. Heavy set operator. Front snowblower. Never had a problem getting stuck. Let's not forget that these tractors have 4wd. I think you'll do just fine with turfs.

Maybe. Wayne PA is not the snow capital of the world which helps. The little BX machines have small front tires that are very easily buried in snow of much depth. Clearance is not that great either. "Up to the axle" is what, around 6 or 7 inches? So they are not the very best snow removal choices to begin with. "Let's not forget" that 4wd does nothing more than guarantee that 2 wheels will turn under power. All it takes is snow that turned to ice (after the first little bit of wheel spin) letting one front wheel and one rear wheel spin freely. The rest just sit there. You can add one more rear wheel turning by invoking the rear wheel lock. There are many things we do not know about the OP's total snow removal picture including length of road/driveway, steepness, ditches, crowned road or not, etc. If he is lucky, and the FM blower is put to optimal use, and the snow is not allowed to build up too deep before blowing, and ... the many unforseens of snow removal, ... then he will probably get by with original turf tires.

My first suggestion is do not go drift-hunting on that machine.

He will find out in a season or two.

 

[dieselbob69]

Last year I used the BX 1870 a few times to clear my paved driveway. Different depths of snow,I don't think I did any that was over a foot.The loader and turf tires are fine,I actually got through w/ no ballast or weight on the back. I do have a back blade now, but doubt I'll use it this winter. I had no problem pushing snow to end of driveway w/loader,then pushing it off to side of driveway,just take smaller paths. If I did happen to get all 4 tires spinning,I just put bucket down and rolled it to get unstuck.

 

[IRISHBOOMER]

I am gearing up for winter, and would like to use my BX2230 for snow handling (FM snow blower.) Does anyone have a recommendation on tires?

I currently have turf tires (R3) installed - but I notice alot of people posting videos of FM snow blower have flat-tread R4 tires.

Does anyone have experience with Re turf tires in the snow?

I’ve used turf tires for 13 years removing snow both with a FEL and back blade and for the past 2 years with a blower on a NH TC33DA. I recently purchased a NH Boomer 37 and had them put turf tires on it also going to use to blow snow. Never had a issue in 4 wheel.

 

[ruffdog]

I致e used turf tires for 13 years removing snow both with a FEL and back blade and for the past 2 years with a blower on a NH TC33DA. I recently purchased a NH Boomer 37 and had them put turf tires on it also going to use to blow snow. Never had a issue in 4 wheel.

With my Boomer (turfs), I bet a good 50% of the time of back blade snow plowing is done in 2 wheel drive!

 

[SDT]

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

Agreed, Egon.

I've been plowing snow on my long steep driveway with my B1750HST FWA with back blade since I bought it in 1994. It has turf tires on the front and the factory matched "bar" tires (neither R-1 nor R-4) tires on the rear.

In significant snow (more than 2-3 inches), I can plow without chains going down hill but may spin out on the flats. I cannot even begin to plow significant snow going up hill.

I have HD F & R chains. With the F & R chains, it is just about unstoppable. Only once in the 23 years that I have owned it did I get it into a situation where I had to dig it out, and that took only 15 or 20 minutes.

The front chains do not add much tractive effort but are very helpful for steering, especially when using a back blade that is continually trying to push the tractor sideways.

SDT

 

[rScotty]

Maybe. Wayne PA is not the snow capital of the world which helps. The little BX machines have small front tires that are very easily buried in snow of much depth. Clearance is not that great either. "Up to the axle" is what, around 6 or 7 inches? So they are not the very best snow removal choices to begin with. "Let's not forget" that 4wd does nothing more than guarantee that 2 wheels will turn under power. All it takes is snow that turned to ice (after the first little bit of wheel spin) letting one front wheel and one rear wheel spin freely. The rest just sit there. You can add one more rear wheel turning by invoking the rear wheel lock. There are many things we do not know about the OP's total snow removal picture including length of road/driveway, steepness, ditches, crowned road or not, etc. If he is lucky, and the FM blower is put to optimal use, and the snow is not allowed to build up too deep before blowing, and ... the many unforseens of snow removal, ... then he will probably get by with original turf tires.

My first suggestion is do not go drift-hunting on that machine.

He will find out in a season or two.

Good point. Our average winter conditions are something we haven't talked much about. Where we live in the Colorado mountains, our average winter snow is a foot or rarely two. We may get six times that snowfall in any single storm...., but because of compaction the snow rarely gets more than three feet deep. Well....that's unless we get a second storm before the first is cleared away.

But regardless, the first thing that crosses my mind is whether I am going to be able to drive through yesterday's snowfall with the tractor or not. Of course with hoe and FEL, the tractor can get out of anywhere it has gotten into, snow or not....the chains just make that half mile trip much quicker.

So before I even think about spending hours plowing, pushing, or grading I want to make sure that I need to do one of those things. Otherwise the strong temptation is to simply drive back and forth enough to pack the existing snow down and I'm done.
rScotty

 

[airbiscuit]

I am gearing up for winter, and would like to use my BX2230 for snow handling (FM snow blower.) Does anyone have a recommendation on tires?

I currently have turf tires (R3) installed - but I notice alot of people posting videos of FM snow blower have flat-tread R4 tires.

Does anyone have experience with Re turf tires in the snow?

Sooo, BX2230nut, after all these posts, have you come to a conclusion?

 

[dieselbob69]

I bought a set of ag tires for the 1870- they don't make the industrial style tread, just the ag bar tread. Set of front/rear tires and rims for $432(including tax)- not as much as I thought they'd be. I'll put them on shortly so I'll be ready for winter and see how they fare in the snow compared to the turf tires.

 

[mikester]

I had a CUT with turfs and went to R4s and never looked back. In my experience the turf tires were terrible for traction all around and in deep snow ie. more than a foot deep you were stuck. The R4s work much better. On ice all bets are off and chains are your friend.