Was wondering. First year with the cat skid steer. It's a rubber tire model. Was out crossing over the lawn this evening. Traction was terrible. Tires are at about 85%. Snow is roughly 8 inchs deep. Any tricks to getting better traction? Such as deflating tires? Do tracks perform better?Thanks for reading.
If you have space between the tires and the chain case chain it up. If the wheel studs are long enough you can make spacers to fit over the studs and move the wheels out further. Otherwise keep the bucket down when traveling forward and never back into deep snow. Mike
Chains make all the difference. Get the HD double chain versions. They are not cheap but very effective. Depending on the machine you can flip the wheels to increase the offset without spacers.
Start with good chains on the rear wheels. The front tires have less weight on them and are off the ground while scraping snow.
I cannot say that I have ever ran anything like these. My company has track units (we run camso "zig zag" tracks fyi), but perhaps they are worth your consideration... Ol'stonebreaker makes good points about chains and using the buckets to assist with traction/not backing into anything deep. Again I can't say from personal experience if these are worth a damn and I would imagine chains might cost less, but I also live in the very far north and some of the snow removal contract guys up here swear by wheeled skidsteers and I don't see them run chains in the parking lots they are clearing.
No tracks are not better tires are the way in snow it was probably warm snow that's going to be slippery and pack under the tires making ice that's were chains will really help of course going over the lawn you don't want to drop the bucket and there is only so much snow you can pack under the belly before even chains dont help much
I use grouser tracks in the summer for muddy work I would not recommend them in the snow. I suggest chains for snow.
I prefer ordinary chains on all four, without any grouser/V bar protrusions, as the latter make a skid steer ride really rough. For moving snow, use an oversized bucket if you have access to one.
Since the question was about crossing the lawn, I'm not sure whether your intention is to use it for snow removal, or regular dirt work when there's snow on the ground. If it's the former, it was a long time ago, but I recall a discussion on one of the snow plowing forums where a snow removal contractor said they ran truck tires on their skid loaders. Truck tires are a lot more flexible than skid steer tires, and supposedly that makes enough of a difference to make it worthwhile.
If you go chains, just don't go cheap. They wont last.
Camso sks753 do well in the snow if you only want tires. Or Galaxy muddy buddy's. Chains do better, but mark up paved driveways. I like the Camso OTT rubber tracks. Got a pair on my Case...they do awesome in snow, especially deep snow. Machine is able to climb on top of it. Pal-mar sells them too.
I have a set of the Prowler tracks like posted above. It is all but unstoppable with them on. I paid about $1800 if I remember right. The problem is taking them on & off for varying conditions. Chains take 1/4 of the time. I was never a fan of rubber tracked skids in snow until I ran some ASV/Cat units. They are night & day compared to the big block pattern many companies use.
The trick is to get too the pavement, gravel etc. then you will have traction.
My tracked skidsteer goes through a few feet of snow with no problems. Alot depends on the track pattern of course. The bigger/wider the lugs, the less effective they’ll be
I've been doing snow with my machine since I bought it in 2000. The chevron style construction tires it came with were dismal in the snow. When they wore out a got a set with treads more similar to truck snow tires and they're much better. All of my work was on level ground but when that changed to doing areas with slopes I added chains to the rear axle as has been mentioned. Haven't ever been stuck with it.
My machine has foam filled tires and does very well in the snow. The foam filling adds a considerable amount of weight to the machine. Only the very iciest conditions cause it to loose traction.
Bought Camso snow track for my T770......Epic fail....Turned it into a toboggan. May work great on a flat ice rink, but NOT in the mountains.
I've had good luck using chains on the rear of my 242B for plowing snow on a 1/2 mile long gravel driveway. I use an 8 ft snow bucket to push snow off of my high profile road which means that I often am off the road surface to remove the snow. With a good set of chains, I have never been stuck. You can get various type of chain depending on how aggressive you need to be (i.e. regular link, square link, v-bar and studded in order of aggressiveness). As someone noted, aggressive chains are not suitable for pavement so you want match your chains to the type of road surface that you are plowing. Another options is studded winter snow tires ... similar to what is used on a truck. Below is my 242B chained up for winter plowing.
I ran chains on my 1845c for many year. They worked great. But for the S650 I decided to get a set of snow tires and they were even better. More ground clearance and more speed with the narrow & tall tires. Great ride and ridiculous traction. I have a steep uphill section and I can plow uphill now. Before it was always get to the top and plow down.
phil314, Good to hear that snow tires are working well for you. What size of snow tires did you go with? Are those mounted on Bobcat wheels or aftermarket?
There are a couple different sizes. I went with the biggest - 255/70R22.5 They are about 37.5 inches tall, about 4.5 taller than regular tires. They give 2.25 inches more ground clearance which is great for deeper snow. The rims are aftermarket and came with the tires, the rims are 22.5 diameter.
Anyone else see the error, in the above picture?
My windshield wiper blade is missing? My left chain chain case was low on oil (I found that out yesterday when draining it)? One of the stickers is wrong? Is this like a "Where's Waldo" photo?
I think his red part fell off
I was referring to a single set of chains, on the rear. There are those that would say it causes stress, to the drive line, in the gear cases...
DIYDAVE, Thanks for your comment on the uneven gear case loading that may result with running a single set of chains. What you say makes sense. I may try running with chains on all 4 tires to both assist in traction and even up the gear case load. I appreciate your input. Regards, 3CW
Skid steers normally experience an uneven load on the drive train because the engine is always present but the payload is not, which gives the rear tires more traction on average. Chaining up the front tires may give you more traction overall but it will also make it slightly harder to turn. And it will do almost nothing to "correct" the front/rear load bias. Personally I wouldn't worry about it.
I'll throw my 2 cent in here too. Even with 2 or 4 chains in snow/ice, I've got far less traction than on dirt or asphalt, so how much stress can this be putting on the drive train. With 2 rear chains it's still fairly easy to spin the tires. I usually ran 4 chains just because it gave better overall traction.
Wow. Didn't that throw off the lifting arm/bucket geometry a lot?
It raises the machine/quick attach about 2.25 inches. That might affect a bucket angle a little, but I don't use a snow bucket. I use a plow for plowing snow and since it's 3+ ft out in front, a couple inches at the mounting point doesn't really change the angle noticeably. In fact it even helps a little since I'm less likely to bottom out the plow frame on uneven terrain.
I wouldn't worry about the wear of only running one set of chains. I have done that for the last 20 plus years over a variety of machines and never had an issue. Chains front and back give you the best traction obviously but I had good success with only a set on the back as well.
Seems to be some different opinions on one set of chains or two. I also checked one of the snow plow forums and saw the same split response. I may try another set of chains for added traction when plowing uphill ... and perhaps (??) some benefit of balancing the load on the gear case. Thanks for the feedback.
I guess it comes down to 'do you need them?' kinda like the guys I've seen driving a car with only one chain on one driven wheel... personally I think it was their lazy side that said I only need one When I was moving snow with my skid I put on all eight chains I had!!! and was still getting stuck a few places if I had only put one on each rear tire I wouldn't have gotten anything done... all depends on your needs determined by the conditions
The best setup that I've ever had and have been running for 12 years now: Bobcat S175, chains on only the rear, 6' snow-blower. Pushing snow can be done but you will always run out of traction before you run out of power, also hard to keep the bucket from digging into the ground. I know the snow-blower is the most expensive option but hands down the easiest and fastest.
Often if you need more clearance, some of those wheels are farm wheels and can be swapped left to right to gain more space and keep the tires running in the same direction.
With the snows we get here(mostly slush), I just have a snow blade on the front of the ASC, right now... Might need it tomorrow...
Newbie , just got the 1845c for playing on the property. Built a set of chain for the rear , 12 degrees inclined gravel driveway. Works good so far. Will likely add a set to the front.
Skid steers by design constantly put uneven loads on the drive case. One set of chains or two isn't going to make a difference in the longevity of the drivetrain. Add to the mix that your inherently working in slippery conditions and there's really nothing to worry about. I run chains on the rear of my machine too for snow, I'm sure two sets would be better traction but it seemed overkill for what I do.
overkill is awesome, quad vbar chains is a good way to go. having a full cab is nice too, sure beats a set of coveralls and a motorcycle helmet to keep your face from freezing.
Carhartt coveralls and my motorcycle helmet was the combination I used many mornings at the shop when plowing with the open cab 1845C Case! Of course I used my sidecar to ride to work so the helmet was already on when I got there!
Someone gave me a huge pile of old log truck chains and I modified them for 12x16.5 skid steer tires on the 246, pretty easy job with 36" chain pliers. The smooth chains are enough to make them ride rough. I made a set of studded chains for my 1845C but haven't tried them yet. I imagine they will rattle my teeth out. Bought the 7 1/2 foot snow bucket last month, waiting for a big snow to try it out.
I bought a set of Trygg tires chains on the local buy and sell site (Kijiji) recently. The Trygg information that came with the chains had some interesting information on it about chaining up for different situations. Here is a photo of their recommendations: I find it interesting that "too much chain on the tire will make it more difficult on ice ... i.e. less chain is better". Something to keep in mind if you are primarily on ice!
Ever put ice grippers on your boots and then walked on a concrete slab? All of a sudden you find it's like a skating rink! Steel on rock is very slippery.
Yeah, or leave you logging corks on and step out something really smooth and hard
I added a second set of tire chains recently to the front wheels of our 2006 CAT 242B with the aim of improving traction. Previously I had only chained up the back two wheels. All chains are the same design ... made up of heavy duty twisted “ice claw” cross chains mounted every 4th side chain link (see attached photos). We recently had an 18” heavy snowfall so I was able to test out the 4-wheel chains during about 10 hours of snow removal. I use an 8 ft wide Virnig Snow Bucket for snow removal on 3/4 mile of gravel driveway, 1/2 mile of hiking trail, 1/2 mile of pasture feeding path and a few other gravel parking areas around buildings. Our terrain is a combination of low to moderate hills and some flat areas. Roads are mainly raised profile. Snow removal typically consists of plowing with the snow bucket, then pushing the snow off the road and dumping into piles. I noticed a marked improvement in traction with the 4-wheel chains resulting in: An increase in the amount of snow I could push Significantly less wheel spinning in all operations Being able to remove snow from a ditched area where previously with 2-wheel chains I did not have enough traction Avoiding getting stuck when backing out of ditched areas. When using 2-wheel chains, I would occasionally not have enough traction so I had to “bucket back out” of the ditch. As previously discussed in this thread, some HEF members have noted that using 4-wheel chains results in reduced stress and wear to the drive system. Now that I have experienced using 4-wheel chains in heavy-duty snow removal, I agree that 4-wheel chains seems to reduce the drive train stress. My recommendation … if you find you are spinning and getting stuck using 2-wheel chains, going to 4-wheel chains will provide better traction and reduce the stress on your drive train. If you are getting sufficient traction with 2-wheel chains, going to 4-wheel chains is not likely required.
You would benefit from Duo-Grip style chains like tractors use so more chain is in contact with the ground.
With chains on a 4 wheels, I now have enough chain on the ground to meet my traction requirements. The second set of chains made a considerable difference in traction. I agree that Duo-Grip chains are supposed to provide excellent traction ... but are also expensive at $800 to $1000 for a set of 4 ... are rougher riding than "4 link ladder" chains ... and are not recommended for pavement or concrete. I forgot to mention that I also plow about 100 ft of asphalt pavement and would hate to tear it up.
Indeed chains are what little skid steers need in the snow, esp on the farm. We ran v-bar chains on all fours during a heavy snow storm where we had 4' of snow on the ground with drifts and the donks were stranded out in the back corner of a pasture for a couple days, had to make sure not to get any snow under the belly pan. Was a long day in an open cab case skid steer. After scraping the path and making a huge pile of snow at the bottom where the long ears were. They stood on the pile of snow...
My old man had a couple leftover steer axle chains that he chopped up to fit the skid steer. Doubled up on the cross links and he claims that thing is nearly unstoppable in winter.