Better Traction in Snow?

[Gadgetnut]

Hi guys, I've read several threads here on better traction in snow. Where I live, it's *not supposed* to snow a ton but it did snow quite a bit last December:

I currently have the factory turf tires. Is it worth buying different tires to get better traction, or should I just buy chains for these tires? Anything special, what size chains and where do you get them?

I'll need to put a lot of weight in the back, right, like maybe 800 pounds?

Thanks.

 

[Spudgunner]

I use chains all winter long. They are on a dedicated set of relatively LT235/75x15 mild snow tires. With the chains, I'm not at all convinced that tread pattern is too important. There have been a number of discussions about chains, ballast, etc...so the search function is your friend. BTW, I have a little over 800# of ballast. Really helps.

 

[Gadgetnut]

Thanks, Spud. (BTW you can call me Spud too as I most recently spent twleve years in south central Idaho.)

Let's see... yes, I did search here first before posting and I read many threads about tires, studded tires, chains, snow pushers, V-snow blades, snow throwers. The reason I'm back asking for help is I'm not sure which direction to go.

Where I live, we're not "supposed" to get much snow but I was overwhelmed last December with the white stuff. Not knowing the best practices for my Bobcat 84" angle broom, I broke it by starting/stopping it repeatedly in midair while it was caked with the weight of frozen snow and ice.

While that tool was down, I had snow to move. I was concerned about gouging my asphalt driveway with the bucket so I clamped the combo bucket onto a wolmanized 2x6" and skimmed the roads pretty well with that set up. But as the white stuff kept coming it became too cumbersome so I began moving snow from the asphalt with my combo bucket alone. I proceeded slowly and it was fun to get the hang of feeling the road surface through the machine. Anyway I did pretty well for ten days, but ended up damaging some concrete berms although the asphalt itself didn't seem the worse for scraping with the metal bucket edge.

So anyway here I am. One of my big issues last year was lack of traction on steeper surfaces. I was at my local Bobcat dealer today and they don't have any snowplow attachments available to rent to "try before you buy." So help me out here, is a snow pusher or V blade more effective than my combo bucket?

Now I know to put ballast (=800 pounds) into my TC, but still deciding whether to do studded snow tires (damage to my asphalt?) or chains. I don't want to risk doing damage by getting the wrong chains.

Thanks again guys, especially to you who live in the really snowy places. Hope everyone will have a Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[tractorski]

i think the turf tires are your biggest downfall. A more agressive tread like an r4 or r1 would be much better. I don't think you will want chains or studs as they will danage your asphalt. A plow blade will move snow with less effort than a bucket. Our driveway is a hilly 1/4 mile long. I plow with a blade to cleanit up, then when the banks start to "close in" I push back the banks with the bucket. As mentioned, the ballast will be a big help.

 

[WIMike]

I'm up in northern Wisconsin, and although we don't normally get tons of snow, we live quite a ways off the road (3/4 of a mile to the mailbox) on a tight gravel road that is heavily wooded. For me, the only combination that seems to work is to use the V-blade early in the season, then switch to the high flow bobcat snowblower the rest of the season. It was spendy, but it will REALLY move snow.
Without the blower the snow soon piles up too high on the banks to use the V-plow. I used to use the bucket, but it took a very long time. I also put ballast in the back end (a sanding unit) and that does help a lot.

Although we don't have blacktop so I can't be much help there, the R-4 tires seem to work adequately well, even on the hills, but I learned quickly not to take it too far into the woods in the winter!

I guess the shorter answer would have been to say that you may want to consider a snow blower attachment. It is easy to adjust to keep it off the asphalt, and if nothing else you could use it first then follow up with the snow blade to remove whatever is left.

BTW this is my first post!

 

[Egon]

Get the chains.

Least expensive that will not bounce you may be 2 link ladder type with no v-bars on the cross links.

 

[Redneck in training]

That is what I did for this winter.

 

[DEWFPO]

Last year I had a lot of problems with traction (steep slopes, paved drives and packed snow or ice) and I've got the standard tires (R4?). I added 500 lbs of bagged sand this year and traction was greatly improved. I picked up 2 sets of regular (non-crossbar) chains a couple of weeks ago. I'll be putting them on before the next big storm. DEWFPO

RUD Tire Chains - Search Results - 29x10.5-15

 

[yooperdave]

Hi WIMike,

How far away from Green Bay are you?

I wish I had a blower for my Tool Cat.

Yooper Dave

 

[Gadgetnut]

Thanks everybody... sounds like ballast in the dump bed will be my first and best bet. I have used only the turf tires and I had considered getting a set of R4's for improved traction on marginal surfaces around here anyway... don't know whether R4's would have much better traction on icy roads than the turf tires... probably need the chains for that.

Are these the chains you have DEWFPO? Will these fit my Bobcat factory turf tires?