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

[WilliamBos]

Wanna see the ultimate in traction on ice?


Pat

Already have, thanks to the folks who run the Ice Roads in Northern Canada!!

 

[DCJL]

My 02¢
Order of least to best.....

Turfs
R4s
Ags
Ags w/chains
R4s w/chains
Turfs w/chains

The reasons.....

Turfs alone fill up and float.
R4s fill up, but not as fast and float.
Ags alone can't bite into the ice.
Ags with chains have too many spaces where the chains slip into and then can't get a continuous bite.
R4s with chains have less space for the chains to slip into but still more than chains.
Turfs w/chains have no place for the chains to slip into yet have enough surface area so at least some chain is getting a grip on the ice.

Chains with some sort of spikes bite into the ice the best.

 

[Steve_Miller]

Answer a bunch of other questions and you may get closer to your answer.

1. Wet snow or dry snow, you'll know which one if you've had any amount of snow at all?
2. Paved or gravel?
3. Ground frozen or soft?
4. Is the lane level or hilly?
5. How much snow are we talking about? (worst case)
6. How much weight on tractor?
7. Do you want to plow right down to the surface or leave a layer?
8. Do you plow at an angle, straight ahead or blow it off?
9. etc, etc, etc, etc

You can boast all day long, but it comes down to preference.


Steve

 

[frank_f15]

Answer a bunch of other questions and you may get closer to your answer.

1. Wet snow or dry snow, you'll know which one if you've had any amount of snow at all?
2. Paved or gravel?
3. Ground frozen or soft?
4. Is the lane level or hilly?
5. How much snow are we talking about? (worst case)
6. How much weight on tractor?
7. Do you want to plow right down to the surface or leave a layer?
8. Do you plow at an angle, straight ahead or blow it off?
9. etc, etc, etc, etc

You can boast all day long, but it comes down to preference.


Steve

BEST ANSWER YET!!!!!

 

[Glowplug]

Just to pour a little gasoline on the fires to put them out...

It is what you have before it slips that matters. Once a tire starts to slip the traction is about the same irrespective of the area of contact. (Not conjecture, physics.)

A smaller tire will have less footprint area BUT more PSI of force making contact. The larger tire will have more contact area but less PSI. Coefficient of friction being the same with same rubber compound.

In more extreme conditions, chains are a good solution to increasing traction. Chains will be forced down into the snow and resist lateral motion (shearing forces) better than any of the three most popular tread styles Ags, Industrials, or Turfs without chains.

Studs are also a very good performer but more hassle than chains.

Wanna see the ultimate in traction on ice?

Ice racing! Motorcycles or cars at ridiculously high speeds and high G turns on flat unbanked corners. They use SPIKES on the tires, exaggerated studs to get tremendous traction.

Pat

Excellent point Pat! Didn't think of that!

Answer a bunch of other questions and you may get closer to your answer.

1. Wet snow or dry snow, you'll know which one if you've had any amount of snow at all?
2. Paved or gravel?
3. Ground frozen or soft?
4. Is the lane level or hilly?
5. How much snow are we talking about? (worst case)
6. How much weight on tractor?
7. Do you want to plow right down to the surface or leave a layer?
8. Do you plow at an angle, straight ahead or blow it off?
9. etc, etc, etc, etc

You can boast all day long, but it comes down to preference.


Steve

I guess you're absolutely right Steve. Probably IS the BEST answer and should perhaps be the last post of this thread.

 

[AndyMA]

Wow! Seems like there are probably more opinions on this than there are options! I have no experience but from everything I've seen, heard, or read the R1 Ags often will get caked with snow between the bars and turn into narrow donuts of slick compact snow. It's totally different with chains of course. Turfs have a wide footprint which gives a wide surface area for more friction and grip. And turfs are not like normal vehicle "all-season" tires. They usually resemble serious snow tires for a vehicle. Now LSW ("golf course") tires are pretty slick with very shallow lugs and would likely be horrible in snow. I would think that R4 industrial tires would do pretty well in snow. I would also think a lot would depend on whether you have 4WD or not, the weight of the machine, conditions of snow, whether the tires are loaded or not, and type of snow as well as the depth of snow. I guess that's why there's so many opinions of the subject.

Disclaimer: Note that all of this comes from what I've heard and from educated reasoning; I have no personal experience.

I've been using R1's on tractors in deep New England snow that varies from light powder, heavy wet, slush and ice for almost 50 years. R1's do not load up in my experience. If they do they tend to dump the snow when they flex during there rotation. Turfs definately do and are pretty much useless without chains. R4's fall somewhere in the middle, loading up significiently more than R1's but no where near as much as turfs.

Turfs will work if you requirements are very modest, but if you need to push 24 plus inches of heavy wet snow and make 18 plus foot high piles of it, R! are the way to go.

Just my experiences plowing hundreds of storms including things like the Blizzard of '78 (20 foot plus drifts closing down much of New England for 3 to 5 days) for myself, many neighbors and customers.

Take it for what it's worth

Andy

 

[Mech]

I only have experience with R1's in all kinds of snow conditions pushing lots of snow with my blade and I have never had R1's load up or loose traction. No chains front or back.

 

[Outlander]

Turfs with 2 link ice cleat ladder chains.

 

[DMW]

If your turfs are already filled and your ags aren't, my preference would be for the turfs. The extra weight makes handling the rear snowblower a lot easier. Add chains and it probably doesn't get any better. JMO

Dennis

 

[Builder]

All this is pretty amusing. I think most of the replies don't answer the question in a real-world manner, but really just push an agenda of "buy what I bought because I'm really smart".

One type of tire may propel the tractor through the snow better than another if there's no plow or blower, but if there's a plow or blower mounted to the front or rear, won't the tires be basically riding over a driveway with at most and inch of snow on it? What tire can't handle that? Does it really make any difference if someone has ags or turfs when driving over a coating of snow?

Seems most replies are as if the tractor were driving through 4 foot deep snow drifts for some kind of juvenile joy-ride and not the more practical scenario of snow removal.