Studs vs chains for tires

[SteveMo]

Hi, all:

My name is Steve and I live in New Brunswick, Canada. I just joined today and this is my first post.

I have a long driveway, approximately 900 feet, alĺ downhill (depending on your direction, LOL). It has several curves and one steep part at the end and is prone to ice up occasionally. I use a 7.5' plow on my truck. Last year, it was a light winter and the driveway was getting tight. So, this year, I plan to buy a blower for the tractor to keep it wide. The tractor has agricultural tires and I am sure that I will run into problems, as-is, and will need chains or studs. I prefer to install studs to save money but still want to be safe.

I am looking for some advice on whether studs will be sufficient enough to tackle my driveway.

Thank you!

 

[fatjay]

Chains are removable and generally penetrate deeper giving better performance on snow/ice. From what I have seen, studs are installed from the inside of the tire and not removable, and there's plenty of times that I would want to not have concrete and asphalt destroying studs/chains on my tractor.

 

[LouNY]

The screw in tire studs will help considerably from what I have heard, I have not used them.
Tractor Studs
I run chains on my driveway, the heavy Euro studded style.
I have not seen any damage to the paved roads which we do travel while chained up,
if you spin on a paved road, Yes, they will mark and chew on the pavement.
Normally good chains Euro studded chains will not spin unless you are pulling quite hard.
I road my tractor over 3 miles many times with the chains on with no issues, I do limit my speed to around 12-15 mph.

 

[CobyRupert]

Weight will also help with traction. Remember, when you lower a 3 point hitch rear mounted snowblower to slide along the ground and blow snow, you lose the additional traction it provided as a ballast when raised.

 

[bobholland]

I use both. I have installed tire studs on the front and have chains for the rears. I don't have really steep inclines to deal with, nor do I have concrete or asphalt to deal with in the summer (yet). I have some plywood protection for the garage where the tractor is parked. The snow pack where I am varies a lot. I got tired of putting chains on the front when I wasn't getting the traction needed. Most of the time I didn't need the front chains, but when I did it was always in a blizzard! The studs in the front have worked out well.

 

[stumblinhorse]

I have never needed chains or studs on my tractors For snow removal. But no idea how ”downhill” equates to slope. But def my plowing and blowing is easier going downhill on my driveway. I don’t see many tractors around here with chains. We don’t get “a lot” of snow. Maybe just 10-20 feet annually. But my guess is that is more than 99.9% of the population. We have already received about 1 foot. If the snow gets too deep I take smaller swipes…

I think it is all what you are used to. Because a 900 foot driveway to me, is pretty short…. I consider mine very short at about 600ft. But I have to go out to the barn etc which adds distance. My neighbors all are 1/2 Mile or more. I only have chains for my pickup and used to have to use them quite often. But now everything gets closed so quick and law enforcement is very particular now about driving on closed roadways.

 

[jmc]

I just priced some screw-in, carbide tipped studs and was surprised how much they cost by the time you buy their recommended number of studs. Haven't priced chains lately but suspect stud prices would make a pretty good dent in the price of chains.

 

[stumblinhorse]

1 storm, will be happy to have a cab this winter!

 

[SteveMo]

Thank you to everyone. I am new to tractors this year. I'll post when I decide what I'll use.

 

[ruffdog]

Studs are cheaper and some will pull out. On ice they make a world of difference. If I was crawling around a woods pulling logs chains would be the best way. On a plowed drive, studs will help tremendously.

 

[seville009]

My choice would be chains; they’ll be much better when your in deep snow, slush, off the driveway, trying to get unstuck….

I used studded tires on my plow truck because the pavement would ice up quick after making a pass. The studs would leave marks on the pavement from spinning the tires; no way to avoid it

My chains have never left marks; i have just the basic twisted link chains - not the V bar or anything “sharp” like that.

 

[RjCorazza]

1 storm, will be happy to have a cab this winter!
View attachment 768601

That looks exactly like me plowing in our blizzard of 2016 ! I got a cab tractor that spring.
I had a similar plow (7' County Line) and an L3410 Kubota.
You're gonna love a cab in the winter.

 

[ruffdog]

Installing studs in ag tires:

 

[Rebeldad1]

i cant imagine studs doing anything to improve traction in plowing snow

chains and some weight on the 3 point... i can see a great improvement.

 

[Williy]

I used to live in Wisconsin and they outlawed
studs cause they destroy the roads.
IMHO I don't believe you can beat chains
a good set that is. If you don't have a cement
drive way and only have ice then I would go
with the studs! But if you have ice & snow how
will the studs help if you have a couple inches
of snow on top of the ice?? studs will be worthless

willy

 

[JJT]

800' driveway, 80" rear snow blower and double ring chains on the rear. I have been quite happy with this setup for the past 25+ years. I'd like a cab.... Chained up I have significantly more traction in 2wd vs no chains and 4wd with the diff locked.

 

[LouNY]

Studded tires may slightly increase the wear on paved roads, it was and is a ridiculous reason to outlaw them.
I have run studded snow tires on sedans and 4wd's since the 70's the difference they make on ice and hardpacked snow is tremendous.
Do they help in deep snow? No, but when your tire chews it's way down to the hard pack or ice then they do help.
Are they as good as chains? heck NO. But seeing as how many new vehicles can not run chains that takes that option out of the equation.
I wish they would get more of the automatic chains built for the smaller vehicles.
I have looked at and considered the screw in studs for my front tires often they would be expensive for an adequate number to do a good job but still less then a quality set of chains. At $1400-$1500 per pair for my rears and $950-$1000 for my fronts versus $300-$400 for the fronts they are a consideration.

 

[hube2]

As someone that has icy conditions on sloped driveway to deal with, here's a story.

Last spring my SIL was dropping of my grandson as he does every Saturday morning. I knew the driveway would be icy that morning. It was warm the day before to get some melt and it was sub zero that night. I did not get up early enough to spread salt that morning so I was at the bottom of the driveway to meet him with a sled to pull my grandson and the days supplies up to the house. Instead of stopping he waved at me and spun his way to the top of the driveway with his studded tires. He got out and got the boy out and when he closed the door on the car it started sliding and slid over 100 feet all the way back down to the bottom of the hill. Luckily, no one was hurt and no damage was done, but it could have been worse.

He learned an important lesson that day.

Would I trust my tractor on my driveway with just studs? not a chance, not when I know the ice can get so hard that studs cannot dig in. I wouldn't even use ordinary chains. I use studded diamond pattern chains. I have no problems even when it is so icy that you can't stand up. I ordered the set of chains I have now before the tractor was delivered. Quite expensive, but worth every penny. Driving over the ice with them is sometimes enough to scar it up so you don't slip on your butt when you walk over it.

But I also went through 600# of salt last spring to keep it save for cars, and we run studded tires on all of our cars.

I don't have a paved driveway, just stone, but it really wouldn't matter to me what the chains might damaged if it was paved, safety is far more important. I just take is slow when I need to be on the road with them.

 

[seville009]

One side benefit of chsins is when you do have ice or built up hard packed snow, when you get a warmer sunny day, you can just drive up and down the driveway to help break it up and melt quicker. Can the plow off the broken up snow.

 

[dj1701]

For the big jobs I use my JD4320. It has a loader and snowblower and I never need chains. However, I like to use the Kubota BX2680 for the lighter stuff. I have chains all the way around, and that little tractor is a tiny beast due to the traction the chains give her.