Walt 339 #1 Posted January 14, 2018 When I inherited my tractor after the death of one of my best friends it had front tires best described as balloons with groves in them. Since I don't work for a living I am able to stay on top of snow removal so the areas I cleared didn't tend to give me many issues when adjusting my path of travel and knowing how big of bite to take with the blade angled. I like to clear around 6 feet wide on both sides of my road where the city either doesn't get near the curb and traffic doesn't use till I clear it. Where I was having the sliding issues was when changing direction of travel and side of the roadway I was clearing. When crossing the snow packed down from traffic in middle of the road I had to either feather the clutch or drop to low range and or a lower gear depending on if snow pack had turned to ice. Last weekend I had finally had enough of that so started looking to replace my front tires. I ordered them from EBay on Monday evening and they arrived Wednesday. Thursday I pulled the wheels and ran them over to the former Wheelhorse dealer who sold me the NOS wheel weights and chains a couple of years back they charged 20.00 even to break down and mount the new tires. To me 20.00 was worth avoiding the headache of doing it myself. Friday was the first time with the new tires and it was like night and day I found I could even take bigger bites with the blade angled and switching directions across snow pack was done in high range 3rd gear. Just came back in from dressing up sides of street where the plow came through last night and pushed crap from middle of road to the sides that I keep clear and I'm kicking myself for not doing this a couple of years ago. I also bought a set of chains for the front. I mounted one and when I mounted the wheel I tested it and it hit the tie rod end so am not using them this year. I will see if I can figure out what needs to be done to get them to clear the tie rods next summer when its not in the low double digits outside. I have a couple of ideas and if I solve that issue I'll let ya know. 7 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BOB ELLISON 2,976 #2 Posted January 14, 2018 I need to do this too. But I'm going to replace with tri ribs. Some guys use a #40 bicycle chain around the middle of the tire. Deflate the tire and install the chain then inflate it to hold chain in place. But there not good for blacktop or concrete drives . 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cvans 1,009 #3 Posted January 14, 2018 Your probably going to have to make your front chains narrower so they won't hit. I have front chains on the snowblower tractor and really like them. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Walt 339 #4 Posted January 14, 2018 44 minutes ago, BOB ELLISON said: I need to do this too. But I'm going to replace with tri ribs. Some guys use a #40 bicycle chain around the middle of the tire. Deflate the tire and install the chain then inflate it to hold chain in place. But there not good for blacktop or concrete drives . Everything I clear is either blacktop or concrete. I lift the blade as I transition to pushing the snow out into the side yards where I pile it. I found out many years ago if you clear down to the grass it takes a bit of time each spring for it to heal from being exposed thru the winter. As for the chains on front I'm happy with how well it now handles. So figuring out the tie rod clearance is all due to I have the chains so may as well figure out what I need to modify or do to mount them 14 minutes ago, Cvans said: Your probably going to have to make your front chains narrower so they won't hit. I have front chains on the snowblower tractor and really like them. That was one of the things I was thinking about. I have a bag of tie wires in the garage for rebar figured I could wire the cross links 1 or 2 links shorter and see how the clearance works out before actually do any cutting. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tankman 3,514 #5 Posted January 14, 2018 Like the idea of front chains. Now another item on my list. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WVHillbilly520H 10,369 #6 Posted January 14, 2018 @Walt, are those new front tires "Trac Gard" or "Hi Run" they are basically the same tread pattern as the ones I have been transitioning to on my 520Hs and IMHO are way better than the factory DICO brand and do hold pretty good mowing on wet mornings and moving snow, Jeff. 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites