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.

dang, you get SNOW is Missouri ???

I didn't think 'his' machine got that far !!!

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.

BTW, since I'm new at this, and have access to people with experience........what is the bst way to go?

Get chains as tight as you can get them......or leave a little slack so they can work themselves into best position? These did not come with an outside tension adjuster, so have ordered a pair....spiderweb kind made of chain with springs on them. Goes on outside of the hub.

One thing I was concerned about was tire chains wapping the crap out of my fenders. About 2 years ago, moved tires out about 4 inches to gain some clearance, bus was still concerned about the tails flapping around. Seem to have that under control.

Made one trip up the driveway and back (about 100 yards).....I can see this is not a high speed operation. Ride was pretty bumpy.

Even in the snow and cold tire chains are a 15-20 minute job.  Jack up tractor toss then over wiggle them tight, secure the latch, bolt the tail and your good to go.  

  I do the same thing even with 18.4x38 on the 8030, turn valve stem up to the top and let some air out tighten chain re air tire

Epilogue:

So dodged the bullet for Dec and Jan......then comes Feb. Groundhog day......we get nearly a foot of snow spread out over 24 hours. Started as an ice storm.....then an inch of sleet that looked like something what fell out of a snow cone.......then started as wet snow......then dry powder blowing sideways at 30 mph. I've got 3' drifts in places I've never seen drift.

So patches of driveway to clear that were blown bare to 18" deep. Chains are the bomb! There were a couple places they stalled out.....(uphill on ice moving a heavy load)......but by and large, they got the job done in some rough conditions where in past without them,  tractor (2WD with loader making it front heavy) would come to a full stop and not be able to move forward or back. As easy as it was to put them on........gonna be an annual event come Late Nov.

Second part......I put a piece of 2" diameter schedule 40 steel pipe on the blade. Cut a slit down the edge.....slipped it over the blade edge.......it is then held in place by some two tabs welded on........to mate up with the blade bolts.

That is the only way to roll. Weight of the blade will pinch snow up from the ground, but round radius of the pipe will not dig. Does not move gravel, scratch cement or cut grass. Drop it to the ground and go.

Prototypes were PVC. They were supposed to be durable but weren't. They would shatter after about 10 minutes. Steel pipe is the way to go.

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.

Backed the tractor into a shed what runs the length of the barn the long way.......bucket about 3 feet inside shed opening........and I still had an inch of powder on the seat. Goofy powder that blew into all kinds of places. Looked like it had been parked outside, but wasn't.

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.

   I guess the more cold & snow is what they want to call Global Warming

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.