Tractor Chains

Finally did it. First time in my life I installed a set of tractor chains.....getting ready for winter. Had been putting it off, following the logic of the old Ozarks hillbilly and fixing his leaky roof. If its raining, that is no time to get on a roof. And if its not raining, the roof isn't leaking so no need to fix it.

So this was put into motion about 3 years ago.......when we got about 20 inches of snow in one night. Tractor is a Ford 5610 2WD with bucket loader on the front. Figured it would be slow going, but would do the job. Major fail! Got about 15 feet out of the barn and came to a dead stop.......wouldn't go forward or back. Took me nearly 10 minutes of pushing myself backwards with the bucket to get it back into the barn. But even with most of the snow cleared by neighbor's little Kubota......was helpless on the hard packed snow. So ordered a set of chains for it. Double H pattern for 30 inch tires.

Chains this big weigh about 100 pounds a side....so putting them on by draping them over the top was going to be a big deal so kept putting it off. Cost me again last hear when we got about 7 inches with more coming that needed clearing. Even with that, tractor was borderline helpless. So this year, chains were going on no matter what. The question was how.

Lifting and draping like I've seen done with truck chains was a no go. Then considered the trick where you put a bottle jack under the axle and roll them on. Still a big deal. Then discovered the trick where you lay them out on the ground, tie the ends to tire through the hub with piece of baler twin.....and drive them on. Pulled them right up and over....tight....no slack......and held in perfect position to lock the ends together. Whole job took about an hour. So even if they are never needed, not a wasted effort.

Figured it was easier to do on a day when sun was shining and 70 degrees out vs. waiting until the snow was flying.

Second part was a modification to the blade itself, which tends to dig and scalp the driveway or any grass. New trick for that was to install a piece of 2" schedule 80 PVC pipe on it. Cut a slit down the edge, and slipped it (More like pounded it on with great difficulty). The pipe puts a large radius edge on the blade......which works perfect. Pinches the snow to pop it up.....yet skims over gravel....grass or concrete. Only problem is in cold weather, PVC gets brittle and shatters at first hint of trouble. Changed that out to schedule 40 steel pipe.....held in place by tangs welded to back and bolted in place, and it has become a snow moving marvel.

So locked, loaded and ready. With any luck, will never get to use it.

Been out here about 6 years now. First 3 years.....barely had to shovel the walks. Next year.........BAM! One event.....about 20 inches.....week later, another foot. Since then......one to two events a year that would warrant pushing it off. When it's deep enough spousal unit's car won't budge, I hear about it. And along the lines of "mind is willing....but the body is weak"......frustrating to be sitting on a tractor that is running......but can't get enough traction to push over a domino.

Snow removal effort has evolved into mine, driveway across the road and elderly neighbor's next door.

Good news is that while we may get dumped on......will seldom last more than a couple weeks. Goes to -15 F, but doesn't stay there forever.

No edge cover just drop down until touching then raise in bumps until tension on lift arms and blade acts to be dangling, All Good.

Yet another discovery........tractor has a factory installed electric block heater. Plugged that into a GFI outlet and it tripped out instantly.......first time......every time.

Plugged into a non GFI outlet, it worked without tripping breaker. Would be curious to see that heater circuit diagrammed out.

When we concreted part of the drive I bolted a 6" strip of thick rubber over the cutting edge, so the concrete wouldn't get all scratched up.