Do I Dare??

[bdhsfz6]

First day of spring and the long range weather looks to be mild here in the northeast. Do I dare take off the chains? I've got a lot of work to do this spring and the chains have to go.
The last time I took them off this early was in 1993. Two days later, we got hit with a blizzard and 32" of snow!

Should I risk it? If I'm wrong and we get another blizzard, I'll have hordes of TBN members on my back for sure!

 

[Bsavulis]

Took my plow and chains off yesterday. I'm in Northeastern Connecticut . Long range forecast did not show any thing major. Last "big" snow I recall this late was on April,1 1999 or 1998. About 15"

 

[ultrarunner]

First day of spring and the long range weather looks to be mild here in the northeast. Do I dare take off the chains? I've got a lot of work to do this spring and the chains have to go.
The last time I took them off this early was in 1993. Two days later, we got hit with a blizzard and 32" of snow!

Should I risk it? If I'm wrong and we get another blizzard, I'll have hordes of TBN members on my back for sure!

May 1 is when snow tires and chains come off is family lore in snow country… too often false spring followed by late snow…

 

[Mendonsy]

I suspect that "Murphy's Law" will apply. If you take them off it will snow and if you leave them on it will not snow.

 

[oldnslo]

Would the chains help at all for possibly being in mud or will you be on hard ground, concrete, etc. where chains are detriment? That would assist me in the darned if ya and darned if ya don’t decision.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Would the chains help at all for possibly being in mud or will you be on hard ground, concrete, etc. where chains are detriment? That would assist me in the darned if ya and darned if ya don’t decision.

I'll be moving around 20 tons of fill and replacing it with gravel. I have to travel on a portion of paved surface, which the cleated chains would damage.

It is possible to plow without chains, but it's difficult on the slopes with the heavy wet snow we tend to get this time of year. Maybe I'll wait another week or so before removing them.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I took mine off awhile ago ... Go ahead, it's already "spring"!

 

[Thomas]

Like darn if you darn if you don't,if the chains are p.i.t.a. to put on than gp with your gut feeling.

 

[bridge4]

Took the blower and snow push off about a week ago. I'm done with winter, and I'm really hoping its done with me.

I find with the plowing I do, I don't need to mess with chains and I'm thankful for that!

 

[dodge man]

Buy a new snow blower if you don’t want it to snow.

 

[ponytug]

I am curious what makes putting your chains on such a hassle?

What kind of chains do you have?

I run diamond net chains and for me, on this tractor, it is a less than ten minute effort to do all four; I lay the four chains out in straight lines in front of the wheels, and drive about halfway on. (This keeps me from rolling around on cold or wet surfaces.) Then I latch the inner chain at the tightest, lace up the outside chain and the chain keeper, and then latch, repeat three times. Drive back and forth to check chain tightness and I'm done. Usually, I need to tighten one or two wheels after ten or fifteen minutes of work. I do run at pretty low tire pressures on my R4s for better traction the soils here.

When I take the chains off, I try to store them so when I grab them out of my chain bins (they aren't light), the tire side is up.

Some years, I will put the chains on four or five times in the course of the year, depending on conditions, and because I try really hard never to drive on asphalt with them.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Rockbadchild]

You live more south but myself up here I do not put anything away before easter weekend. After easter we are good to change the tires and snow blower.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I am curious what makes putting your chains on such a hassle?

I'm old.

 

[RayIN]

I am curious what makes putting your chains on such a hassle?

What kind of chains do you have?

I run diamond net chains and for me, on this tractor, it is a less than ten minute effort to do all four; I lay the four chains out in straight lines in front of the wheels, and drive about halfway on. (This keeps me from rolling around on cold or wet surfaces.) Then I latch the inner chain at the tightest, lace up the outside chain and the chain keeper, and then latch, repeat three times. Drive back and forth to check chain tightness and I'm done. Usually, I need to tighten one or two wheels after ten or fifteen minutes of work. I do run at pretty low tire pressures on my R4s for better traction the soils here.

When I take the chains off, I try to store them so when I grab them out of my chain bins (they aren't light), the tire side is up.

Some years, I will put the chains on four or five times in the course of the year, depending on conditions, and because I try really hard never to drive on asphalt with them.

All the best,

Peter

There is a no-lifting method:

 

[MossRoad]

I am curious what makes putting your chains on such a hassle?

What kind of chains do you have?

I run diamond net chains and for me, on this tractor, it is a less than ten minute effort to do all four; I lay the four chains out in straight lines in front of the wheels, and drive about halfway on. (This keeps me from rolling around on cold or wet surfaces.) Then I latch the inner chain at the tightest, lace up the outside chain and the chain keeper, and then latch, repeat three times. Drive back and forth to check chain tightness and I'm done. Usually, I need to tighten one or two wheels after ten or fifteen minutes of work. I do run at pretty low tire pressures on my R4s for better traction the soils here.

When I take the chains off, I try to store them so when I grab them out of my chain bins (they aren't light), the tire side is up.

Some years, I will put the chains on four or five times in the course of the year, depending on conditions, and because I try really hard never to drive on asphalt with them.

All the best,

Peter

When I had chains on a machine, I would do similar, but I'd air down the tires pretty far before putting the chains on, then air them up after the chains were on. About 5 minutes a tire.

 

[BravoXray]

After changing my JD430 from the mower deck to snow blower, chains, weights and cab every spring and fall for 24 years, I bought my BX2230. It does the mowing and yard work, the JD is on permanent snow blower duty. Worst part of the job was putting the chains on.

 

[sd455dan]

May 1 is when snow tires and chains come off is family lore in snow country… too often false spring followed by late snow…

Yes, I will dare as well.

Pulled the snow blower off the tractor today and mounted the disc up, Swapped the tires back to summer on the EV and Jeep Wrangler , still have one of the RAMs to switch.

Almost the winter that never was, going to start to burn the fire pit tomorrow.

Really dislike wiping out studded snows on dry pavement especially since we have several 200 mile round trips in the near future.

 

[bdhsfz6]

What kind of chains do you have?

Peter

Seriously though, I use 3/8" cleated ladder chains which weigh 70# each.
For the last few years, I've been putting them on just the front to save a little work. Works fine 99% of the time.
I lay them out on the floor, which for me, with my bad back & knees, is most of the work.
I drive the tractor over them and use the FEL to lift the tires off the ground.
I lay a rope over the tire, tie it to the chain end links and rotate the tire to pull the chain up over the tire.

Up until 10 years ago, I just lifted the chain and threw it over the tire. No big deal. Those days are long gone now though. I may switch to a lighter set of chains to make the job a bit easier.

Thanks anyway for the advice.

 

[ponytug]

Seriously though, I use 3/8" cleated ladder chains which weigh 70# each.
For the last few years, I've been putting them on just the front to save a little work. Works fine 99% of the time.
I lay them out on the floor, which for me, with my bad back & knees, is most of the work.
I drive the tractor over them and use the FEL to lift the tires off the ground.
I lay a rope over the tire, tie it to the chain end links and rotate the tire to pull the chain up over the tire.

Up until 10 years ago, I just lifted the chain and threw it over the tire. No big deal. Those days are long gone now though. I may switch to a lighter set of chains to make the job a bit easier.

Thanks anyway for the advice.

Sorry about the bad back and knees. It suck's when things don't work well, or even as well as they used to.

The method in @RayIN's video might help, but yes, you would still have to lug/schlep the chains in place. All I can think of is getting extra chain hardware and making each chain into two pieces, but that's more connection hassles.

All the best, Peter