Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Turf or Ag tires for snow removal

[jas67]

I have a B7100HST, and have both turf (filled) and ag (not yet filled, but I probably will if I use them again) wheels/tires for it. The turf are 29x12.5-15 rear with 20.5x8.0-10 fronts, while the ags, are the narrow 8-16 rears (31" in dia.), and 6-12 fronts (about 21.5 inches in dia).

The question is, which would be better for snow removal. I have a 50" rear-mount snowblower, and the FEL, and would use a combination of both. I may purchase a 5 or 6' back blade for lighter snows.

Thanks,
jas67

 

[Gryantaylor]

I have a B7100HST, and have both turf (filled) and ag (not yet filled, but I probably will if I use them again) wheels/tires for it. The turf are 29x12.5-15 rear with 20.5x8.0-10 fronts, while the ags, are the narrow 8-16 rears (31" in dia.), and 6-12 fronts (about 21.5 inches in dia).

The question is, which would be better for snow removal. I have a 50" rear-mount snowblower, and the FEL, and would use a combination of both. I may purchase a 5 or 6' back blade for lighter snows.

Thanks,
jas67

I'm not sure I'm the best qualified to answer your tire question. Since you have both I would think your best answer would come from a little experimenting this winter.

I can tell you that I have a B7100 with an FEL and 50" snowblower with ag tires. I also have both a 5' & 7' rear blade (for light snow the 7' is great). With the 4x4 I can get around fairly well early in the season but often can't push uphill and slide sideways when using the rear blade. To prevent the sliding I ususally chain all 4 tires fairly early in the season, with the chains on I can drive just about anywhere. Last winter with the snow blower and chains I was clearing driveways where much larger machines were stuck in or had given up. It's was little snow moving beast.

My Neighbor has a B 7200 HST (basically the same machine with turf tires but it is only 2 wheel drive (so the comparsion isn't really fair). we rarly use his machine in the winter (2 wheel drive really slows one down) but the few time's we have had it out it generally seemed to drive hard packed surfaces fairly well but failed miserbally when we tried to drive through drifted snow.

From my very limited experince using the turf tired tractor I'd say that for if you can keep the tractor in cleared area's (hard pack snow or ice) that they will probalby work as well or prehaps lightly better then ags due to the increased surface area. But if you need to drive through the snow the ag's will likly do better. And after observing all types of tractor / truck setups this winter I can safely say that when the snow is deep and ice is everywhere nothing will beat a good set of snow chains on whatever tire you've got on.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Depends where you live and how much snow. I can tell you with my 4x4 28 HP tractor and Ag's I can move more snow than my neighbors 40ish HP John Deere tractor and turfs, its a 4x4 also. My other neighbor has a 38 HP tractor with R4's and they suck in the snow also. Go for the skinny ag's which will sink and give you traction.

Chris

 

[lawn_king]

Turf tires will blow away the ag's on snow!

 

[BizDoc]

I generally refrain from opinions, but in this case I have experience in both tire types, not an expert opinion, just an experience opinion. I had turf tires on my last tractor and thought that R4's would be the answer since I had some slippage while using the turfs. But then I got a new tractor and insisted, against the dealers wishes, on the R4's. I found that the R4's had no benefit on snow removal, only more turf disrpution during mowing. The real advantage with the turf tires in snow comes to chains. It is difficult to use chains on the R4's due to the chains falling between the lugs, however on the turf tires the chains will bite on every part of the rotation. If I had to do it over again I would use the turfs.

 

[Glowplug]

Turfs!!

 

[studor]

IMHO the skinny ag tires will do better every time in snow -- ice requires chains The higher floatation of turf tires does not do well in snow of any depth -- the tires start to float on the snow and it is truly amazing how fast you can create an icy patch under the tire when it spins At the end of the day however a set of chains on any tire will work better than any set without

 

[Ductape]

I'm on my second tractor with turfs, and find they get around great in the snow. My first tractor had ags, and got around well also, but i find the turfs an all-around better year-round tire for me. I don't spend much time out in the woods though.

 

[ray66v]

I have a subcompact TLB with 4wd. I can plow snow using an over sized plow, on a gravel drive, with turfs, no problem. I have never wanted anything else. Ag's or chains would just bring up the gravel into the snow, to be plowed away. Though everyone seems to agree that chains work better on turfs.

 

[RalphVa]

In general, skinny tires are better in snow (best auto I ever had in snow was a Fiat 124 rear wheel drive with skinny tires); so, your ags will likely do better. Turfs work fine in most snow situations, probably not when the going has to be done in deep snow. In most cases, the tires will be tracking in a cleared part of the roadway, behind your blower or FEL. Turfs do fine there.

For ice, nothing beats chains on turfs. However, with Ags, you have the option, due to their deeper lugs of putting metal screws into the lugs to give them grip on ice.

My JD 4010 has turfs, and I use the FEL and back blade for snow. It has done fine, but my driveway is mostly level AND we really haven't had much snow here since the fall of 2004 when I bought it.

Before, I had a Gravely that I used with turfs, chains on the regular turfs, dual (4 tires) turfs, dual Ags and dual Ags with metal screws in the lugs. I didn't have much opportunity to try the dual Ags with metal screws because I got my JD 4010 about that time, and it was greatly better (less effort on my part) at clearing snow.

Ralph