GC1700 series weight for the front

[LevesqueOnline]

Hey all, this thing is hard to steer in the snow, seems like there needs to be some weight in the front, 4wheel is useless it seems in alot of snow where i think weight would help. I have snow blower on back and bucket in the front

 

[Mattsy Fergy]

Start out with getting a bucket full of freshly blown snow. That's pretty heavy.

 

[irvingj]

+1 for more weight in the front. These small tractors are susceptible to being light in the front, especially if going upslope. Must be your rear-mount blower is rather heavy, certainly heavier than an empty bucket up front.

 

[AxleHub]

Hey all, this thing is hard to steer in the snow, seems like there needs to be some weight in the front, 4wheel is useless it seems in alot of snow where i think weight would help. I have snow blower on back and bucket in the front

Levenesque,

If you have or acquire a Massey grill guard designed for the GC series, they are heavy built steel but not expensive. They are positioned low and still allow good clearance from the fel and you can get some "typical" cast iron tractor weights that you can "hook" on to the grill guard cross bar - just as if it was designed for it. This should give you anywhere between 100 to 200 pounds of front weight depending on the tractor weights chosen to fit - yet it still allows fel to be available and used. I've always found I don't like using snow for weight. We get the powder puff fun ones, and then we get the soggy heavy snows. And rocks or blocks in the bucket also keep me from having my fel available to use in moving snow

jmho

 

[DMW]

I foam filled the front tires 10 years ago with no ill effects. I am using R1s, probably not a good idea with turfs. Adds about 40 pounds per tire. Make steering a lot easier with a rear snowblower.

 

[LevesqueOnline]

Appreciate the replies all, lots of good options. I do use the bucket and the belower, so filling the bucket isnt an option. But I do have the guard on the front mentioned, so it sounds like weights are made specifically to fit onto that thing which would be great given it would put weight in the right spot.

They are generic or do i need to find them specific to my tractor?

 

[AxleHub]

There are a lot of weights made to sit on a weight bar - for old tractors as well as newer units. They vary in sizing quite a bit as you can imagine - depending on the tractor sizes. The key would be to make sure they clear the fel bucket.

In my case I found some smaller units and put them side by side in the area allowed. I don't know the grille guard is designed for it for this purpose, I just know its substantial enough to handle it as long as it clears the fel bucket. How know - maybe you can get brand new shiny ones too - LOL.

 

[ray66v]

If you have bar tires, that's part of your problem too.

The turf's are much better in the snow.

Adding weight is fine. Make sure your front tires can still slip when the 4wd is on. Damage can occur, if they can't.

 

[AxleHub]

A couple of great points Ray. Turf tires have excellent traction for me - even on inclines with lots of ice. I had gone to all the effort to find where you can get "rubber" tire chains - thinking I'd need on my concrete steep incline driveway area - but that effort finding them was unneeded as my turfs are great and the locking diff is used only infrequently. Now bar or "industrial" tires are wonderful tires for many purposes - but there seems to be a great deal more flat rubber in contact and not alot of cleat type gripping so you have more of an issue with frost or ice or snow that is packed down I'd imagine - especially if you're trying to be on the upward side of any inclines.

The idea of 4wd is pretty much a constant for me in winter and anytime I'm on lawn or dirt or sand or gravel. But dry concrete (no sand on it) or dry blacktop, is not so forgiving on the front wheel drive portion of 4wd. My assumption is that its rare to have "dry clear" pavement in winter. And with that snowblower on the back - you're pretty light in the front even with your fel on and certainly you don't have a lot of "push down" ability with the bucket unless you can increase the weight. I bet some weight added and you'll just be hoping for one last snowfall LOL.

 

[LevesqueOnline]

Good Day,

So I did order the front weights from my massey dealer last summer and they dont seem to fit onto my front bumper as I had assumed. Someone mentioned I may need a bracket, but i read you cant have a loader on with a bracket?

does anyone have a GC1700 series with factory parts and front weights? im wondering if i need to take off the push bar maybe