Traction adding weight or adding chains

[beagleboy]

I have a John deere 1070 FWD that has R1 Ag tires. I have a rear mounted blade that I push snow with and it does do a pretty fair job now but I wanted some opinions. Do you think a person would benefit more by adding more weight or by adding chains.

 

[kuboman]

I have a John deere 1070 FWD that has R1 Ag tires. I have a rear mounted blade that I push snow with and it does do a pretty fair job now but I wanted some opinions. Do you think a person would benefit more by adding more weight or by adding chains.

Chains will give you the most gain in the snow but weight will give you added benefit all year round.:thumbsup:

 

[beenthere]

Hard call to make.
So much depends on the surface (mud, snow, ice, etc.). If ice, then chains as more weight may not improve the friction between the tire lugs and the ice.
If getting some traction (cold, packed snow or snow covered drive) then weight will help.
Crap shoot if the choice is one or the other.
I pushed 2-3' of drifted snow yesterday with the 7' blade and no chains with no problem slipping.
Last year, the same drive but ice (wet snow, plowed then turned cold) and same weight combination but lost complete control of the tractor and slid back down the drive (fortunately didn't flip into a ditch).

 

[AKfish]

I have a John deere 1070 FWD that has R1 Ag tires. I have a rear mounted blade that I push snow with and it does do a pretty fair job now but I wanted some opinions. Do you think a person would benefit more by adding more weight or by adding chains.

I resolved that dilemma - added both. 'Course it wasn't the "least cost" alternative! The best answer depends greatly on your local topography, and weather conditions.

If you have hills, steep areas and ice - chains and weight. Generally flat, mostly snow - weight.

AKfish

 

[JimP]

I went throught the same question. I have a steep driveway and icing is possible in the winter. With no chains I have had a tractor start sliding out of control down the drive. On the new tractor I went with chains on the R4s and about 600 pounds of sand and sander on the three point hitch. I found the rear end was still too light and the rear tires would spin easily losing traction. I added 900 pounds of Rimguard in the rear tires and the traction improved considerably. My take is chains and weight are best overall; weight is better than only chains for only cold snow on a flat surface; chains are better than only weight for ice on a flat surface; and chains and weight are needed if you have a slippery sloped surface.

 

[beagleboy]

Thanks for the input guys, I'm going to do what was suggested above, I'm going with both. I ordered chains for it and found a place about thirty miles from me that handles the rimguard which will give almost 900 more pounds on the rear.

 

[MMagis]

I have both, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that chains will help more once things get frozen. Chainless tractor tires on frozen dirt, downhill, makes for an adventure.

 

[sunnyside360]

Thanks for the input guys, I'm going to do what was suggested above, I'm going with both. I ordered chains for it and found a place about thirty miles from me that handles the rimguard which will give almost 900 more pounds on the rear.

Good decision going with both chains and weight. Also, Rimguard is a very good choice for weight IMHO. You'll see a huge difference in traction.