Chains Question 4 WD- Suggestions

scotty

scotty

Weight
Chains
Four wheel drive

As luck would have it, the cheapest enhancements are at the top.

I have a neighbor with a Kubota FWD tractor loader backhoe. When the snow get over 14"-16" he is reduced to taking little bites of snow and moving them to piles behind his machine.

On the other hand, I have a F504 with loaded tires, chains. and sixteen wheel weights. It probably weighs around 9000 lbs. It has an eight foot loader bucket and will push through 24" without spinning a tire. The only thing that will stop it is old iced up snow banks.

I suggest that you add ballast to your tractor. If you still need chains, the weight will make them work better.

IH was the same way with those little British diesels like 275, 434, 444, etc. They wouldn't stand behind them if we used the Canadian ring chains with ice corks. My thinking is the diff lock is the crux of the problem.

Far and way the best outfit a JD 5410 4WD with an FEL. Even without chains it would literally run circles around the others - kept going long after the others had become stuck. Next best was a 2WD with loaded tires and fitted with “bull chains” (logger-style, heavy double ring chains). But it had to be steered with the brakes due to poor front wheel steering authority in deep snow. It also rode rough on account of the chains. After that came a 2WD fitted with regular ladder style chains. Finally the 2WD without chains was the slipperiest – it ended up sidelined once the snow depth exceeded 8” or so.

My advice: Try the 4WD first without chains. Depending on how much weight you’ve got on the 3 point, maybe add some weight in front to give it better steering authority with an empty bucket. Then if you do decide chains are required, get ‘em for the rears only – putting chains on the front is probably overkill. However spend the extra and buy double ring or X-style chains. These tend not to fall in between the tire treads and become less effective like regular ladder style chains do - especially if the tires are new and have deep treads.

Punch below for pix of the various chain types...

• tire chains

Yep, can't forget this last winter!

My neighbor has a 4 wheel front assist White and he feeds cattle up here in the hills with no chains at all.

He scoots around all over the place and has no trouble whatsoever, but he says he likes to use duals just to help prevent tipping over.

He gets around just fine while the rest of us are stuck.

Allan