So that time has come again for us in the snowy parts of the world. The summer construction season has ended, and every ones snow plows are ready for action. I work for a paving company as a grader man in the summer. We have not had any plowing contracts for the grader in a long time, so I take a loader with a box blade. For the last 5 winters my employers have put snow tires on all 8 of their loaders. A huge expense, but what a difference a soft tire makes. Better traction, and breaking. What are your thoughts. It is most noticeable on larger loaders like 966s 972s and 150 Volvos. No slippage at all.
I never new there were snow tires for otr machines, can you get them studded also? Are they more of a closed pattern, I must go search, what brand names?
I would have to look at the brands, I will be headed out to plow in about half an hour. I do know that some of the L90 Volvos are running Michelin tires, and some are recaps. The Michelin tires have the holes for studs, but none of ours are, They are a closed tread with those little saw cuts like the passenger tires have. They are also a soft rubber, and need to be removed in the warmer weather, but the traction is unreal
Always just chained up the tires if extra traction was needed. Much much cheaper than new tires! Heck you could buy chains for a small fleet of FELs for the cost of just ONE tire. We put A tire on the 988 where I used to work and it was about $10,000. A 966 sold at the last auction here for $100k. It was all burnt up but had almost brand new tires on it. The guy said it was worth it just for the tires and a few parts.
True, chains are cheaper, but they are not allowed here on the streets. The L70 Volvo I plow with runs down the road almost 50 kms, and I am not sure how chains would fair at that speed. Our engineer claims that the tires have paid for themselves in 3 winters. Extra traction, extra speed, one loader can handle more plowing. The Walmart here is a half a million dollar contract over 3 years, and can be plowed by one 950G with a 14 foot box blade in about 3 hours per average 6 inch storm. It used to take a grader with a wing, and a 966 with regular tires and a bucket about 4 hours for the same storm.
Those were nice tires! I tried to get a set of chains for my loader at some booth at the state fair, they wanted 4 grand for a set I found a slightly used pair for $300, much better :thumbsup
What region are you guys working in?
I am in New Brunswick Canada