Snow Attachments rear end movng sideways

tornadowatchranch · Feb 23, 2013

Hi Guys

I am pretty sure I know what you will tell me but here we go. I move snow with a 6 foot rear blade behind my Bobcat CT335 (HP38 for size comparison). While moving forward with the rear blade angled aggressively it moves the rear end of my tractor sideway preventing me from getting the snow off the drive. Gravel drive 1/4 mile long. I have added a pipe over the bottom of the blade to keep the gravel on the drive. I am thinking rear chains on my R4s (actually just missed some dual link off craigslist for $80) will help keep me straight.

My blade lives outside and is likely older than I am so has some surface rust. Next summer project is to sand and repaint so it will not collect snow. That cannot me helping me. I am even thinking of a coat of auto wax for the surface of the blade. Anyone ever done this?

Thanks in advance. More snow monday but this should be minimal compared to the 12" that was pushing me sideways. We do not get enough to justify a blower.

Thanks in advance

Tornado

GPintheMitten · Feb 23, 2013

As you probably know, the sideways pressure from the attack angle against the snow, needs to.be overcome with steering and traction on both front and rears. I don't know if its 4wd or not. But you obviosly are not getting enough traction on the rear.

You need weight and chains. Painting the blade will help too but weight and bite of chains is the real answer.

dave1949 · Feb 23, 2013

Yep, chains. R4's without chains on a slippery surface with any bit of slope will allow the backend of the tractor to "walk" sideways even when pushing with the FEL bucket if there is much resistance.

radioman · Feb 23, 2013

There is no perfect answer here. Just a bunch of tweaking needs to be done. You need more rear weight, chains can help from sliding too much, engaging the diff lock can help a little, perhaps you need to swing the blade more off to the side one one rear tire is always on the cleared side, and the other in snow.

Baby Grand · Feb 23, 2013

This is a case where loading the tires would really pay a dividend, since you can't add weight to the 3pt without degrading the desireable "float" behavior of the rear blade over the gravel.

GPintheMitten · Feb 23, 2013

Baby Grand said:
This is a case where loading the tires would really pay a dividend, since you can't add weight to the 3pt without degrading the desireable "float" behavior of the rear blade over the gravel.

Agreed, when I said add weight, I should have been more specific, either wheel weights or loaded tires. I have my industrial tires loaded with RimGuard.

94BULLITT · Feb 23, 2013

Even with chains you will still have this problem. I rarely angle mine past 15* when I am plowing.

buickanddeere · Feb 23, 2013

I was just in the office at work yesterday and was thinking that rear ends swinging from side to side looked pretty good.................

Baby Grand · Feb 24, 2013

buickanddeere said:
I was just in the office at work yesterday and was thinking that rear ends swinging from side to side looked pretty good.................

40 hours mandatory re-education boot camp for you.

Looking4new · Feb 26, 2013

I have R-4's on my Kioti and they have tubes and rim-guard (Beet juice) they work good and no sliding. I only have about 15lbs/sq inch air in the rears.

SHORT KID · Feb 26, 2013

Tornatowatchranch. I painted my front blade and I also wax it. The biggest difference I notice is when I'm done plowing, there is very little snow hanging on the blade. I also have a gravel drive and the wax wears fast, with the gravel.

55woodie · Feb 26, 2013

buickanddeere said:
I was just in the office at work yesterday and was thinking that rear ends swinging from side to side looked pretty good.................

Extra MANDATORY "De-Sensitivity" Training is a must ! and a set of blinders from TSC!

nspec · Feb 26, 2013

Even with chains you will still have this problem. I rarely angle mine past 15* when I am plowing.

Ditto. Try less angle. You'll be surprised. You'll have much more traction pulling ahead than resistance to sliding sideways. I have a much lighter tractor than you. With little angle, I pulled 16 inches of snow with a 6 foot blade. More angle I just slid. Also, less angle allows you to get the snow further away to the side. I know this seems like it doesn't make sense, but try it - you'll be pleasantly surprised.

tornadowatchranch · Feb 26, 2013

I will try that tonight since we are getting more as we speak. Iirc in the past the snow did not slide out well unless angled acutely. This am at 0430 I plowed in high range and it really worked well. I had a nice rollover of the snow. I Do not want to load the tires as I mow the lawn too. I know.....i want my cake and eat it too!

IXLR8 · Feb 26, 2013

I have a Kioti CK30 with loaded R4 rears and a 6' rear blade. The last 2 years I ran it without chains and if I was trying to move more than 8" of snow, the rear end would get pushed around. I put V-bar chains on it this year, front and rear, and pulling thru 10" of snow it tracked straight. I hate the effort of putting the chains on in the fall, taking them off in the spring. But after seeing what an improvement they made this year.. I will bite the bullet and run them in the winter from now on.

arrow · Feb 27, 2013

Personally, unless I was doing a lot of mowing on lawns., I could not consider owning a compact tractor without loaded tires. This kind of weight just makes it a different tractor.

PILOON · Feb 27, 2013

My rears are loaded and I have 2 link studded ice chains plus I carry a 60 blower when I plow with my 60 inch front blade.
In light fluffy snows I have no problem but with heavy wet snows that front wants to crab (skid) sideways, so much so that I ruined a rim.
Remember your school days; For every action, there is an equal reaction.
Pushing a ton of snow off to the side you had better have a front end that weighs a ton.
On a plow truck with a heavy V8 up front plus a bit of speed snow simply curles off to the side but with our lighter CUTS that is not about to happen.
Front end chains might help but I'd fear damaging the more fragile front differential which are mainly 'front assist'.
On my CUT, my plow is used mainly for light events as well to gather for blowing.

Might add that I also snapped more than a few right front axles on my 3/4 ton 4x4 diesel plow truck as well as a couple U-joints per season when I plowed for income.

tornadowatchranch · Feb 28, 2013

Thanks for all the advice. I think I will keep an eye out for chains. I may also borrow my neighbors new blade to see if that helps. I believe it will have to wait for next year unless we get another late snow.

vtsnowedin · Feb 28, 2013

arrow said:
Personally, unless I was doing a lot of mowing on lawns., I could not consider owning a compact tractor without loaded tires. This kind of weight just makes it a different tractor.

+1 I wouldn't consider any tractor without loaded tires. Get a lawn mower for the lawn and have a real tractor set up to do real work without compromises.