Redfox2
Member
About those tire chains for my tractor . . . . .
It would seem simple enough, just jack up the rear end of the beast, drape the chains over the top of the tire, pull em snug, then hook the free ends together . . . right? Perhaps if I had ordered the machine with the ' Turf ' treads? These R-4 treads have lugs!
The tractor fenders over the top of the rear tires has too little clearance for me to reach over the top of the tire to spread the chains evenly, and there's a similar problem trying to pull the chains under the tires evenly toward joining the ends together.
Frustrated and angry I decided to take the tire & rim off the machine in order to gain some advantage in trying to wrap the chains evenly around the tire. Okay, modest success . . . then I hadda mount the thing back on to the tractor. By then I was cold, numb, and a bit overly unhappy. The rims mount by removable bolts, not on bolt studs like an automobile axle. It took a bit of fine tuning with the jack in order to get the axle at a close enough altitude that I could get a bolt lined up with the threaded receptacle for it . . and then I could get the other bolt holes lined up.
. . and I'm still NOT happy with the amount of slack in the chain ( we'll see how the bungee cords adjust when I'm able to drive the tractor a few feet ) . . .
But after 2 1/2 hours of freezing, pulling, tugging, down on my knees and back up again ( too many times to count ) I managed to get ONE set of chains mounted. It may be a couple days before I have the energy to tackle the other side. At least I now have a system worked out and I won't ( hopefully ) spend all the time it took me to arrive at the decision to take the wheel off for the first side.
Time for a couple aspirin, an Aleve, and a nap!
It would seem simple enough, just jack up the rear end of the beast, drape the chains over the top of the tire, pull em snug, then hook the free ends together . . . right? Perhaps if I had ordered the machine with the ' Turf ' treads? These R-4 treads have lugs!
The tractor fenders over the top of the rear tires has too little clearance for me to reach over the top of the tire to spread the chains evenly, and there's a similar problem trying to pull the chains under the tires evenly toward joining the ends together.
Frustrated and angry I decided to take the tire & rim off the machine in order to gain some advantage in trying to wrap the chains evenly around the tire. Okay, modest success . . . then I hadda mount the thing back on to the tractor. By then I was cold, numb, and a bit overly unhappy. The rims mount by removable bolts, not on bolt studs like an automobile axle. It took a bit of fine tuning with the jack in order to get the axle at a close enough altitude that I could get a bolt lined up with the threaded receptacle for it . . and then I could get the other bolt holes lined up.
. . and I'm still NOT happy with the amount of slack in the chain ( we'll see how the bungee cords adjust when I'm able to drive the tractor a few feet ) . . .
But after 2 1/2 hours of freezing, pulling, tugging, down on my knees and back up again ( too many times to count ) I managed to get ONE set of chains mounted. It may be a couple days before I have the energy to tackle the other side. At least I now have a system worked out and I won't ( hopefully ) spend all the time it took me to arrive at the decision to take the wheel off for the first side.
Time for a couple aspirin, an Aleve, and a nap!
