Snow Turf Tires in the Snow

[Firefighter Kubota]

I second, (or third or forth) On Turfs..

I Have loaded Turfs on my B and they work great! I push a 6 1/2 foot plow in NH seacoast wet heavy snow and traction is not a problem..

The added ballast is nice with FEL work...Keeps the 3pt free for my implements..

I mow with a 60 " deck and no more lawn damage, Only in the tight turns and that is going to happen anyhow...Bigger turns and problem solved...

 

[nh DRAGON]

That is a whole different issue if you tear up a customer's lawn.
Don't get me wrong I used my tractor for two years without loaded rears and it was fine. The added weight does help me in the woods and in my bumpy yard and makes no difference to my ugly grass.

No, Never tearing up a yard and not talking about turns. More of a poorly compacted ground due to less than par materials used under the sod and it bothers more in damp conditions. Will not bother with a lighter machine (Lawn tractor.) and is related to weight. It would be like if you put a cord of wood in your truck then drove over your front lawn and sunk in 1" or two but never really breaking the sod its self. Does this make any sense? It does not happen every time and takes two or three days to fade away but if I had more weight on and mowed once a week they would be there all summer. And I have never had a traction problem in the woods or in the snow so that is why I didn't bother having my tires loaded that is all.

 

[taborekle]

What got me was that I could blade both UPHILL and down. Now I have a very small blade. I think it's only 5 foot. I'm thinking of trading that in for a 6 foot blade (that could do angles).

And my hills are pretty steep.

I was going up one of my neighboors drives with the blade and it was shoving the show off the road big time. Full head of snow. As I turned around in his drive way I saw that the neighbore had followed me up. He rolled down his window and thanked me for doing his driveway and said "Man, that's a impressive little tractor." I was beaming.

 

[brandoro]

We still don't have much snow here so haven't even had the blower on the tractor but was out playing skidder with my unloaded turfs. The hill in the picture isn't long but is fairly steep, the tractor walked right up it. The 800-900 lb ballast box on the 3pt is a big help with this kind of project. I bolted a hitch receiver to it before filling it with scrap steel and concrete.

 

[taborekle]

I just got off the phone with my local Kubota dealer. He has some Woods 6 ft blades for $350 (not Kubota yellow). If I want a tilting blade that's about $650. I would like to have a quick-offset tilting 6 foot blade. Anyone have a good source for one?

Larry

 

[easygo]

Nice load of poplar (?) there Brandoro. Are you pulling all those logs at the same time?
After all that is just about ideal condition for skidding wood. Next to now snow and probably rock hard frozen ground. That is not called work in my book. That is big time fun.

NH Dargon,
I know exactly whet you refer to. I have a wet area in my yard. I drove straight trough it several days after a good rain and created that 1-3" indent in the dirt. In about 15 minutes water started showing and I thought it was a foolish thing to do. I don't maintain a nice lawn I just try to keep the grass in check, but still hate to do damage like that. Needless to say I leave that area alone unless it is dry. Really dry.

 

[NuBota]

I just got off the phone with my local Kubota dealer. He has some Woods 6 ft blades for $350 (not Kubota yellow). If I want a tilting blade that's about $650. I would like to have a quick-offset tilting 6 foot blade. Anyone have a good source for one?

Larry

Larry,

I'm near you - and I'm guessing we may have the same dealer. I got my Wood's RB60 about 18 mos ago for $470 +tax at my dealer. I am curious what Wood's lines they were referring to in the quotes. AFAIK, the only Wood's 6' Rear blades are in the RB (Standard duty) and HBL (Med. duty) series - both which have offset and tilt.

When I was shopping - I also checked out Howse because they had some of the same features and good prices - but I wasn't sure the quality was as good as LP or Woods

Don't know about your neck of the woods - but in Brandwine/Aquasco (Rt. 381 just north of Rt231) there is Marlboro Trading Post that may have what you want. Further up Rt 381 (in Brandywine) is a small shop that carries Howse implements. Of course there is TSC, but don't recall their blades having the tilt (may have been only the 5')

Saw a new Wood's RB72 on Ebay for $535 - so factor in shipping the $650 may be in the ball park

 

[srs]

The 800-900 lb ballast box on the 3pt is a big help with this kind of project.

Just wondering if you feel the 800-900 lb ballast box is the maximum that would work with your B3030? Do you just let the ballast box rest at a certain height using the 3 point hitch lever? On my old B1550 I had made a chain attachment that went from the lower links to the top link and would lower the weight bucket down until the chains took up tension and held it at a certain height. This took pressure off of the hydraulics. I always wondered if using the 3 pt. hitch to hold up a weight bucket would hurt the tractor. Unfortunately I do not have any photos to explain this.

 

[jimmer2880]

Turfs are the best in snow, second only to chains & tracks.

I'll have to tell that to my neighbor. He has turfs. I pulled his JD 770 (about 2x the size of mine) twice during the snow storm with my little 1830. My 1830 has ags. After another couple hours of plowing together he told me that I have twice the traction as his 770 with turfs. His turfs are filled as well. Since his rears are taller than the hood on my 1830 - I bet he has more weight than I do as well. The problem was that his turfs just didn't empty themselves. They easily packed with snow and wouldn't empty.

 

[taborekle]

Hi NuBuota,

My dealer is Hugh Gardiner on Rt 301 south of La Plata. They have been very nice and easy to deal with, and I think I got a fair deal on my Kubota.

I took my 5 ft blade and offset it today and ran it up and down our lane. Again I think that a 6 ft blade would be even better, as it would mean another 6 inches that the blade would hang out, or that the tractor could stay more on the road. Trying to push back the previous mounds of snow meant that I had to put the outside wheels up on the snow bank, which in turn would tilt the tractor and the blade down on the inside road side. Not what I wanted as I'm trying not to tear up our milling.

I really see the advantage though to having a quick offset. It took me my giant socket set and 30 minutes to unbolt the blade and move it to the offset holes. And then if I wanted to move the offset to the opposite side, that's another 30 minutes of work. It really taught me the advantage of the quick offset. Definitely that's what I want.

Thanks for the tip on the 2 places to look for used attachments. I'll look them up.

Larry