A few upgrades and changes for my mountain Toolcat this season.
I changed the tires and chains this winter to get more grip. Last winter I used Turf tires wrapped with a 2-link-spacing, square-link ladder-style chain. They worked well going straight up and down, but the machine would slide when side-hilling.
The job last year involved plowing a few unavoidable side hills, but this year the job expanded to include a steeper (up to 12 degree / 24% grade) and scarier road that also adds more severe side hill work.
I changed to the Bobcat snow tires (much narrower than the turf tires), and a
studded 2-link-spacing ladder chain custom-made from
Blue Jay Industrial. Blue Jay is based in Northern Idaho, and they specialize in chains for forestry. These are the most aggressive chains Blue Jay makes.
The difference is stunning. I now have ferocious grip in all orientations, I no longer worry about side hills, I have far more grip than last year’s setup, and I can easily plow roads going uphill that were a struggle last year.
The EdgeTamer skid shoes/skis work well in low-density snow. They take the guess work out of trying to keep the blower’s cutting edge from digging into dirt/gravel on uneven terrain. They make it trivial to leave 1-2” of snow on the ground, and I can work a lot faster. However, with heavy, sloppy, dense snow, the EdgeTamer "skis" ride up on the dense snow and result in leaving more snow on the ground than I want. I ended up removing them to clear ~4" of sloppy 40 degree slush from the roads. I'm going to leave them off for now and try to be more subtle/careful with the stock cutting edge of the blower. I think what I'd ideally want is for the "skis" to have a shorter front and come to an angled-up blade such that they work as currently designed when the blower is roughly level, but can cut into heavy snow if I tip the blower forward for a more aggressive bite.
Thanks to all of you who helped me with the machine setup. As currently set up, this machine is just about perfect for the job.
The only thing I’d ideally add is a plow, in addition to the blower, for when the snow is light and fluffy so that I could use less fuel and move faster. But I don’t currently have space to store an extra attachment, so the blower is my do-it-all snow attachment. The blower solves a lot of problems that plows cannot solve and/or that plows create.