Do R4 tires suck in snow?

[SDT]

In a word, YES in fact theR4s are skidsteer tires I dont know the brain truss that thought putting skid steer tires on a tractor was but I hope his nutz fall off! The old R4 tires on my BX are out standing, on the B they suck!!!

R4s (so-called industrial tires) are designed to slip.

This is a desireable feature on industrial equipment, e.g., industrial TLBs, to prevent digging holes when pushing the bucket into a pile of dirt. R4 tires are not intended for AG work and no tractor tires are designed for snow removal.

 

[nbryan]

R4's here for my 8th winter, so I know pretty well by now how my particular rig handles for traction in widely varying snow blowing conditions. They slip sideways fairly easily in a certain near freezing conditions so I just slow it down and maybe stay off the driveway shoulders until things freeze up proper.
But it usually gets very cold after snowstorms around here, and the R4s are just fine to quite amazing at handling snow and ice. They're not only snowblow season tires, either. Their year-round load handling capabilities are impressive, and they do well in mud, gravel, sand...
I like my R4s for how they've handled 9 years, 1400 hours, sometimes abusive treatment, and our Manitoba climate.

 

[Grandad4]

No fluid in the tires on the BX. But I do keep the box blade attached when using the FEL bucket or grapple claw. Need the weight for ballast and probably improving rear tire traction. Occasionally on the steeper pitches of the driveway under really slippery conditions the snow blower is lifted off float to add some traction mass to the rear wheels that have chains on.

Wondering how many pounds of weight fluid would add to the front tires? They are tiny at 18-8.5 x 10s. Unsure of the mass of the LA344 loader and bucket. They stay on during snow blowing season. Guessing fluid in the fronts would not be significant relative to loader and bucket weight.

I added fluid to the rear tires on the BX we had and it improved balance and traction just like more rear weight did for the Grand L. About 110 lbs of blue window washer fluid if I remember correctly. Juice in the fronts wouldn't amount to much but there are mounting holes for attaching weights on the front. The factory weights are probably expensive but a DIY job would work just as well.