My backhoe has the larger wheels but won't accept snow tire chains because it will hit a protective cover inside the wheel wells. I'm thinking to go to the 17.5 x 24 and am checking to see if anyone has done this and if there are any potential issues on the 4w drive? Thanks!
Get some wheel spacers.
Could you please be more specific as to how I would use those?
So, I looked them up. The idea is to move the wheels I have 2 inches out to give me the needed clearance? Good idea! Can't believe no one suggested this before! Do you have experience with the 580 SK? No need then for the smaller tires and rims? Way cheaper! Steel or aluminum spacers? Thanks!
Decreasing the tire size may not help much, if at all because of the rim width. I had a pair of spacers quite a few years ago. They were only an inch wide. I had them made out of aluminum. Steel would be the best choice. Remove one of the wheels and use some threaded rod and lot of flat washers on maybe two of the bolt holes. Add washers until you get enough clearance for the chains. Doing that will determine the spacer width you need. The real challenge will be finding lug bolts long enough. They are metric --> M12 Perhaps a machine shop could cut the taper needed on the bolt heads.
So much for EZ fixes. Guess it's time to resurrect the old snow plow! Will have to think on this some more. Thank you for your input.
It might be possible to turn the wheels around to get more clearance. If it is, the tire tread would then be backwards. They would have to be demount-ed and turned around.
If that’s the case just swap left to right and vice versa, then the tread will be running the right way
Smaller tires will not work with the four wheel drive..
I will have to take a look at this option. The hubs become the spacers, basically... Thanks!
Is this because of the radius of the tires impacting the gear ratio? I know on our AWD cars, one has to make sure that all tires are exactly the same size or it can screw up the works - or so I'm told...
Yes the radius it will bind up bad. There is no slippage in a backhoe transfer case with 4 wheel drive.
I've done this before, only down side is valve stem inside now, but does work. Nick
Thanks for the suggestion on turning the wheels inside out. I just bought brand new tires and did that. Lots of room! Now I'm looking for new chains. Does anyone have experience with Piedmont chains? Best prices and the chains are 7/16 inch. Waiting for a price on pewag (American made) but I'm thinking they are going to be several times as much.
I put on the Piedmont chains. They are heavy-duty! Cost $600. Best deal I could find. I've already been out plowing snow and they work great! I want to thank everyone for walking me through this. Game changer for sure.
I switched left to right on my Super N, gave me room for chains.
Yes, such a simple solution! Wish I had known this 4 or 5 years ago. I can climb my ice hill in 2WD