Tire Ballast Hurt or help on Snowy Hills?

[c5er]

I recently switch from a BX2360 with BX2750D Snowblower to a B2601 with a BX2822 Snowblower with turf tires on both. BX was stock, but on the B and added 2" wheel spacers and filled the tires with ballast. The B is very stable on the driveways and slopes down to the lake, even more so than the BX. However, snow-blowing my driveway, on the first snowfall of the year was a bit sketchy today. The driveway is backtop and 10-12 degrees with a couple degrees of camber. The BX used to climb the hill w/o issue, every so often I might lose traction, but it just halted forward progress and i would back down. The B today lost traction, and I went immediately to skating down the hill backwards out of control and then sideways until it flattened out. the snow was of a medium wet consistency but similar to what the BX has done many many times before. I thought the Bigger tires of the B would help with better traction over the BX. I am wondering if the weight from the filled tires is contributing to the loos of traction. Thoughts on how to improve this w/o going to chains. Maybe going to a B was a mistake.

 

[85Hokie]

Ballast helps grip - the more you have the better the traction.

Get chains that are NOT metal, as I am sure you are worried about harming your driveway.

 

[old and tired]

What air pressure are you running vs. what the tire pressure is listed on the side wall? Less pressure the bigger the foot print...

 

[Mark_BX25D]

I thought the Bigger tires of the B would help with better traction over the BX.

Larger tires of the same profile will have a larger contact patch. A larger contact patch means you will spread the weight out more. That's not what you want on snow over asphalt. You want to bite in. That's why chains or studs work. They concentrate the weight on small points to bite in.

10% slope? Turf tires? I'd be using chains.

 

[whatsupdoc]

Snow and hills on a machine is a poker game. We have cold weather, clay
soil, many hills and in the winter months you can count on some snow every night.

Depending on how deep and wet the snow is, the current temperature,
freeze and thaw cycles and the particular tires will all affect your traction.
I have R14's and mostly they provide enough traction in the snow. However there are times where they completely fail due to the condition of the snow and the surface underneath.

Be careful and learn the best routes to get the job done and use chains
if necessary.

First time I used my small excavator in the snow I assumed because it had tracks I was good to go in the snow. I was wrong.

 

[jimh406]

I didn't like sliding sideways (my driveway has a slant, too) and almost went off the driveway. Now I use chains on all 4. I can still slide but not nearly as much.

 

[c5er]

The odd part is I has the 2360 for 14 years and never had this happen. I am wonder part of the change is most impacted this response? I will check tire pressure perhaps dropping it a bit will help. I put some tera grips on a 2 wheel drive deer for my dad that worked well, They were rubber strips across the tire, but they dont come in big enough size. Does anyone have a recommendation for something similar that will fit the B series tire? Non metal type chain.

Thanks for all the responses

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

First i hopeno one and no machine was hurt in the toboggan run.

Is the ground at your place froze already?

I would wonder did the first bit of snow melt when hit the drive and then glaze over and snow on top? (Or maybe just a bit of rain that froze to drive before I t snowed?)

to me it sounds like a ground condition issue for use of the machine without traction aids. ( I suspect the BX would have slid also).

 

[BAP]

I run 2 link ladder chains on the front and rear of my B2920 with turf tires snowblowing my asphalt driveway that’s steeper than yours. The chains don’t damage the driveway. If you sat in one spot and spun the tires, they would leave marks. The towns around here run chains on their trucks plowing and sanding because we live in hilly terrain and come spring you can’t see any marks in the roads. Each there own, but I would rather risk leaving a couple of marks on the pavement than getting hurt because the tractor slid out of control and crashed.

 

[SDT]

I recently switch from a BX2360 with BX2750D Snowblower to a B2601 with a BX2822 Snowblower with turf tires on both. BX was stock, but on the B and added 2" wheel spacers and filled the tires with ballast. The B is very stable on the driveways and slopes down to the lake, even more so than the BX. However, snow-blowing my driveway, on the first snowfall of the year was a bit sketchy today. The driveway is backtop and 10-12 degrees with a couple degrees of camber. The BX used to climb the hill w/o issue, every so often I might lose traction, but it just halted forward progress and i would back down. The B today lost traction, and I went immediately to skating down the hill backwards out of control and then sideways until it flattened out. the snow was of a medium wet consistency but similar to what the BX has done many many times before. I thought the Bigger tires of the B would help with better traction over the BX. I am wondering if the weight from the filled tires is contributing to the loos of traction. Thoughts on how to improve this w/o going to chains. Maybe going to a B was a mistake.

Ballast will help a bit on snow but not much.

If you have traction problems when removing snow, you need chains, which will help a great deal.

Wet snow is more slippery than is dry snow.

Turf tires are better in snow than other types. Confused a bit. Do you have turf tires on the B?

Guessing that the snowblower on the B is heavier than the one on the BX, perhaps unloading the rear tires more.

If it happens again, drop the snowblower to the ground to stop skidding. As BAP recommends, 2-link, twist-link ladder chains will not damage asphalt so long as one uses a modicum of common sense, e.g., don't sit and spin. So called "ice chains" will damage both asphalt and concrete.

 

[Blue2Orange]

Guessing it is a combination of no chains and the light mass of the BX.

First snowfall requiring removing. Rained for ~12hrs before transitioning over to snow. +15" of heavy "Sierra Cement" over an unfrozen surface. Waited +24hrs for the cold air to suck some of the moisture out of the snow. Settled and melted from the ground up down to a foot.

Just used the attached blade and FEL bucket. Took a lot longer than normal to clear the snow. Little SCUT lacks the mass of the old NH. Traction issues. Even with chains and just skimming off ~4-6" a run would spin all four wheels when hitting the steeper pitches on the driveway. Locking the rear diff didn't help. Could only initially remove snow going downhill.

A plus of only a 60" rear blade v. old 7 or 8 footer. I can spin it around without needing to remove from 3pt. Reverse bladed final runs to smooth the surface out. Past just left the tire rutted surface as is and eventually "smoothed" by just driving the truck on it.

Now a nice smooth slippery surface covered with a night drop of 6" of Lake Effect powder. Yesterday I needed the studded boots to keep upright walking down to the mailbox. Snowblower mounted, block heater plugged in. Waiting for the township plow to clear the road before firing up LOT (Little Orange Tractor). Will see how things work with the blower. Should be zilch for snow drag, but the surface is real slippery. Might be investing in a set of front chains.

 

[Shawn T. W]

The B weighs roughly 200 Lbs more than the BX . . . More weight will help . . .

My brother in Vermont has an older B3030, I don't remember if he has the rear tires filled or not, but know the fronts are filled with foam ... He runs the studded chains on his asphalt driveway and does not see any damage from them ...

He had just moved to a new house, and I asked him to clarify about running his studded chains on his driveway, which I thought was asphalt ... His response ...

I run bar chains on the back,and V-bar on the front of my SCUT, They will leave a scratch, but no real damage if they SPIN, otherwise you couldn't tell I had driven on the concrete ...

I got studded ones for my pickup!

 

[skeets]

Those chains a home brew or factory made

 

[Blue2Orange]

First run was downhill pushing snow with bucket. Bit of an issue making the curves. Same issue I had with the NH, but in much heavier, deeper snow. Lack of mass and/or traction on the SCUT. 6" of really dry snow was more than the BX could push and still have some steering control. Had to stop and backup to correct the direction of travel. Then one round trip using the blower to clear the small snowbanks and balance of the width of the driveway. Thought. Need chains on the front. Then...

Combination of the added mass of the 3pt snowblower and moving backwards uphill improved traction. Just needed to lift the blower on the steeper sections couple inches above the surface.

Probably pass on the front chains for now. Just use the blower and forget about pushing the snow. Miss the NH cruise control in reverse function. But the smaller size of the BX makes reaching for the auger chute rotation handle easy with my butt firmly planted on the seat.

 

[Shawn T. W]

Those chains a home brew or factory made

My brothers are factory...

My fronts are cut down/shortened and closer spaced pickup chains, the rears are similar, but I added the two extra going around the tread and add a bit cobbling together bits, as the cross chains tend to slip down in-between the lugs ...

The pickups are factory ... I like the cam lock feature! (I'm thinking of adding some to my rear tractor chains, as I have some cams on some broken semi-truck chains ... )

 

[Mark_BX25D]

You a

My brothers are factory...

My fronts are cut down/shortened and closer spaced pickup chains, the rears are similar, but I added the two extra going around the tread and add a bit cobbling together bits, as the cross chains tend to slip down in-between the lugs ...

The pickups are factory ... I like the cam lock feature! (I'm thinking of adding some to my rear tractor chains, as I have some cams on some broken semi-truck chains ... )

You are fooling yourself. It's not the chains.

It's the cat that is adding the traction.

 

[Shawn T. W]

Yeah, but my brother doesn't let his cat outside ... Mine go wherever they want to!

In all seriousness ... I know it's a hard thing to do, but when sliding out of control, it's the non turning tires that are the biggest problem ... And our brains tell us to STOP!

What we need to do is step on the "go" pedal ... In the direction we are sliding, in the OP's case, reverse ... Mash the reverse pedal, Once the tires are rolling, then try to slow down.

 

[skeets]

I guess you dont have many yotes where you are, outside cats around here have become a thing of the past. Even the little yippy dogs the neighbor had down over the hill, have gone south. Do you know where brother picked up his chains?

 

[c5er]

As I was sliding backwards, I did press reverse pedal , but still getting use to pedal design for the B, so might not have been pressing hard enough. Has anyone tried these? https://www.rubbertirechains.com/product/33x12-50-15-tire-chains/
i put something similar on my dads 2wd Deere and seemed to work ok.

 

[Shawn T. W]

I guess you dont have many yotes where you are, outside cats around here have become a thing of the past. Even the little yippy dogs the neighbor had down over the hill, have gone south. Do you know where brother picked up his chains?

Nope, yotes learn to stay away ... Both electric and firearms are good training tools for them, and stray dogs ... I did loose the tiger to raccoons fighting over the feeder, but raccoons population got reduced, they make good tree fertilizer, I buried 7 of them! and 11,500 volts of electricity keeps them away now!

I buy my chains from these guys, they look like what my brother has, not cheap, but good! https://www.tirechainsrus.com/produ...r-tire-chains/?attribute_pa_full-size=11-2-16