Rear Chains on

[jajiu]

I finally broke down and put the Chains on the rear tires. I HATE THAT JOB! If I had two or three other people to help me, I'd STILL hate it. The chains are heavy, cumbersome and hard to hook up and get tight. Takes about an hour per tire. At least it wasn't below freezing as it usually is when I put them on. I wouldn't even put them on, but snow is coming and with the hill I have, I wouldn't even be able to get a quarter the way up without them, this I know because for several years I didn't have chains and it took forever to plow the driveway little bits at a time. The chains work great, I just hate having to put them on and the lousy ride until they come off again in the Spring. COME ON SPRING!

 

[armylifer]

I finally broke down and put the Chains on the rear tires. I HATE THAT JOB! If I had two or three other people to help me, I'd STILL hate it. The chains are heavy, cumbersome and hard to hook up and get tight. Takes about an hour per tire. At least it wasn't below freezing as it usually is when I put them on. I wouldn't even put them on, but snow is coming and with the hill I have, I wouldn't even be able to get a quarter the way up without them, this I know because for several years I didn't have chains and it took forever to plow the driveway little bits at a time. The chains work great, I just hate having to put them on and the lousy ride until they come off again in the Spring. COME ON SPRING!

Please post some pictures. I would like to see how they look on your tractor.

 

[Henro]

Please post some pictures. I would like to see how they look on your tractor.

Yes! Me too! Like they say, no pictures, did not happen!

 

[SidecarFlip]

I never put chains on the back, don't need them. Only on the front when plowing snow so the plow don't 'steer' me. I always plow in FWA.

 

[armylifer]

I never put chains on the back, don't need them. Only on the front when plowing snow so the plow don't 'steer' me. I always plow in FWA.

I think that your bigger tractors would act differently than a BX or even a B model. Yours would have a lot more weight on the rear wheels making chains unnecessary. The lighter tractors would need that extra traction that chains in the rear would give.

 

[jajiu]

My problem is my steep hill. I have chains for the front, but have yet to put them on. I purchased them when we had a few ice storms and couldn't control the front end. My tractor is in the barn at the bottom of the hill, so getting up I have to back up it and plow down. I have pictures I took today and also one of the hill. I also added wheel spacers which help with stability.

 

[armylifer]

Now that looks good.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I think that your bigger tractors would act differently than a BX or even a B model. Yours would have a lot more weight on the rear wheels making chains unnecessary. The lighter tractors would need that extra traction that chains in the rear would give.

Probably right. they are heavy in the back.

With the blower on the back and the 10 foot plow on the front, I imagine I'm around 10,000 pounds. Like I said, my big issue is plow steer. I get pushing a pig pile at speed, my tractor drives into the piled snow no matter what I do which is why I have the blower on the back. I get a pig pile going on in the road, I turn around and blow it off. The plow is much more fuel efficient than the blower is. My Lucknow is a power hog.

 

[SidecarFlip]

One nice thing about the M's is, no wheel spacers needed. Both the front and rear track is adjustable to 6 different positions by flipping the wheels and hubs around.

 

[OrangeKrush]

Now you guys have me thinking.. Do I need chains? I have the BX and R4 tires, I got this thing mainly for FEL and rear blade work, no mowing ..have 0 turn for that. I guess I should have studied up on tire choice before buying. I kinda opted for the R4 thinking it was heavier duty for weight wise than the others, since I was going to use fel and pallet forks. I have no hills and my driveway is concrete and usually not a lot of snow here in Indy.

When I had my B7510 it had R4’s and I switched them to turf tires since it was being used for mowing too. With those turf tires I had no problems with traction in snow but like I said we don’t usually get a lot but never know when the big one will hit again!

Other than different tires or chains that I’m not fond of because of scraping up my driveway.. has anyone tried a rubber type chain set? Checked reviews in some with the typical mix of good and bad, more were good! Anyone here tried something different?

 

[RCW]

Now you guys have me thinking.. Do I need chains?

I think I'd try a season without them first.

With a few exceptions, I take my chains off about the time the blower comes off. I have a stone driveway that can get icy. Your concrete drive probably won't get icy like mine.

For the most part, I haven't needed chains on my BX except for snow/ice season. Now, for snow season I need them 100%, but my neighbor pushes his snow with BX w/FEL on his paved drive without chains. We also can get quite a bit of snow - - forecast is for a foot tonight.

Sometimes I leave them on a little while if I have some "heavy" dirt work to do immediately after blower is off. Especially the case if I might be in the mud, which isn't a good time to do dirt work anyway....

I also have R4's.

 

[OrangeKrush]

I think I'd try a season without them first.

With a few exceptions, I take my chains off about the time the blower comes off. I have a stone driveway that can get icy. Your concrete drive probably won't get icy like mine.

For the most part, I haven't needed chains on my BX except for snow/ice season. Now, for snow season I need them 100%, but my neighbor pushes his snow with BX w/FEL on his paved drive without chains. We also can get quite a bit of snow - - forecast is for a foot tonight.

Sometimes I leave them on a little while if I have some "heavy" dirt work to do immediately after blower is off. Especially the case if I might be in the mud, which isn't a good time to do dirt work anyway....

I also have R4's.

Thanks RCW.. really good to hear some encouraging news of the R4s, hoping to get by without them this season. I’ve never used chains before..

 

[fruitcakesa]

I usually have my chains mounted by this time, but with little to no snow and mild temps up till now, it seemed like more work than its worth.
I did mount plow and box blade today in anticipation of the expected Nor'easter but not the chains.
I figure even with the steep twisty driveways that I plow, as long as the temps stay in the deep freeze and minimal ice occurs, I should be ok.
Like Sidecar, my 6040, with loaded R1's, BB and plow is pushing 10k pounds.
I ultimately will have to mount chains and hopefully the temps will moderate enough to minimize the struggle.

 

[OrangeKrush]

I might be pushing 3000 lbs with loader, rear blade and filled tires! Lol I said might be..

 

[SidecarFlip]

Mine are both heavy on the rear axle especially with the Lucknow on the back which weighs about 1000 pounds and the big county plow on the front and it weighs somewhere around a ton, maybe more (never weighed either), just guessing and I have the optional cast center rear hubs on both, with R1 radials, but the plow still plow steers me when pushing heavy snow and there are deep ditches along the road from the farm to the paved road that I don't want to visit so I run chains on only the front wheels. Not wheel slip that bothers me, it's the sideways slide from the plow steer that makes my butt pucker. I don't peter along either. The plow needs some ground speed to roll the snow off the moldboard and out the angled side. I usually run about 7-10 mph.

Speaking of snow, been snowing all day and now as well. Not enough to fiddle with though. I won't fiddle wit it unless it's 5" or better or it's windy and drifted.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I think I'd try a season without them first.

With a few exceptions, I take my chains off about the time the blower comes off. I have a stone driveway that can get icy. Your concrete drive probably won't get icy like mine.

For the most part, I haven't needed chains on my BX except for snow/ice season. Now, for snow season I need them 100%, but my neighbor pushes his snow with BX w/FEL on his paved drive without chains. We also can get quite a bit of snow - - forecast is for a foot tonight.

Sometimes I leave them on a little while if I have some "heavy" dirt work to do immediately after blower is off. Especially the case if I might be in the mud, which isn't a good time to do dirt work anyway....

I also have R4's.

I see you live upstate NY in the snow belt. Ohhhhh... Most times it blows by us, out over Lake Erie and dumps on you... Fine with me actually. Every once in a while (about one time every winter) we get that polar Vortex crap and it spins around and dumps on us instead. Around here, we call it the 'Lake Erie Snow Machine'.

I've seen 3 foot snows here with 10 foot drifts but it's rare. usually it's a foot or less. problem is the wind. it's all farm ground here so not many trees to break the wind and a foot of snow can easily turn into 5 foot drifts depending on how windy it is. I've made pretty go0od money in the past winters, pulling unfortunate souls out of the ditches that line our roads up here. I carry a nylon snatch strap in the tractor for those 'just in case' moments but my rule is, it's your vehicle so you hook it up. I pull it but I'm not responsible for damage, you are 25 to 50 a yank, depending on how big the vehicle is and how far down in the ditch it is. No credit cards, cash only or I leave and let you freeze your arse off.

Kubota's have tremendous pulling power.

 

[bird dogger]

I made chains for my older JD750 when that was my main snow blowing/plowing tractor. Garage sales provided the supplies in mostly brand new never used car tire chains. That JD750 is about identical in size to the B2650. The car tire chains were much lower profile than the tractor tire chains I looked at and one heck of a lot cheaper. Very little modification needed for the front tires. The rears took one set of car chains per tire with left overs for spare parts. I used chains that had the "V Bars" in the cross links and it made the JD unstoppable compared to no chains.

With the hydrostatic drive on the B2650 I've found I haven't really needed chains yet. But I tell the wife to keep a sharp lookout for them at any garage sale, etc. Other than the increased traction you can barely tell you have them on. Just had to be careful on the concrete pads. For the smaller tractors, fabbing up a set from car chains makes an excellent set of tractor chains.

 

[RCW]

I see you live upstate NY in the snow belt. Ohhhhh...

Thankfully, we're kind of on the edge of the Lake Effect area, but we can get it pretty good. Not only Ontario LE, but Erie too if the wind is straight from the West.
The old saying goes "it's too cold to snow." If your in a place like Tughill Tom, a strong, cold NNW wind and warm Lake Ontario mean you get snow in feet on a regular occasion. I've blown snow at -8F from LE snow.

Given we're more south/east of the lakes, we're also more apt for the Nor'Easters, and our 30" as of 0500 this morning is a testament to that. That said, many places got a lot more than us.

 

[armylifer]

Thankfully, we're kind of on the edge of the Lake Effect area, but we can get it pretty good. Not only Ontario LE, but Erie too if the wind is straight from the West.
The old saying goes "it's too cold to snow." If your in a place like Tughill Tom, a strong, cold NNW wind and warm Lake Ontario mean you get snow in feet on a regular occasion. I've blown snow at -8F from LE snow.

Given we're more south/east of the lakes, we're also more apt for the Nor'Easters, and our 30" as of 0500 this morning is a testament to that. That said, many places got a lot more than us.

Without pictures there is no snow.

 

[Fastball]

I was going to suggest an old-timers trick to putting on chains - namely tying a piece of rope to the tag ends of the chains and running the rope THROUGH the wheel, then slowly rolling forward so that the chain wraps itself over the tire - but i don’t see a gap in your rear wheel to slide a piece of rope through.