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When did you chain up?

MarkB_MI

MarkB_MI

Well-known Member
Location
Motown USA
Here it is, December 15th and I still haven't put the chains on my tractor. I usually wait until either the ground is frozen of there's a heavy snowfall. Neither one has happened yet. I can't remember waiting this late before.
 
I chain up when I put the blade on the Ford, usually late Nov. but still haven't put it on yet. I'm here in the snow belt but so far only three snow events and none more than 4 inches and it melted in a couple of days. Predicting near 60 tomrrow. Last year I only plowed maybe three or four times.
 
Used chains to spread manure this time of year.
Especially on ground drivers .
Bought a set of chains to go elk hunting in Colorado for the f150 never used them for that thankfully but it was insurance that I was coming out . 45 minutes from civilization. To emphasize remote area.
Side note this chain if joins ent end fit the Farmall c 11.2 36 so I kept them .
 
Not needed as of yet in Northeastern Pa. but they are on my snowplow tractor and debating whether to put chains on the rear of my 4WD. Better to stop on a hill with chains on the 4WD if icy. Hope I don't need them.
 
One tractor done and one ready to install today if my back will take it. Got to have a back up. joe
 
Three four wheel drive tractors I haven't needed them in years. I used them a few years back on my two wheel drive feed grinding tractor to drag the loaded grinder around on the ice and snow. Replaced that tractor with a four wheel drive one. The 30 hp. 4 wheel drive Kubota with a loader on the front and blower on the back handles anything without chains that I have ever encountered here in Mid Mi. Not to mention my main driveway is 350 feet of asphalt that I don't want to tear up.
 
I put mine on the spreader tractor on last weekend, didn't need them yet, but it was nice out and figured it was close to time any way. was going to post it last weekend. Is there a front or back to chains. Never no which way the latch should be, right now I have one on each way. That's the way they were in the pile. Too heavy to flip around and wasn't sure which way was right any way. Tractor doesn't go far any way.
 
The rye grass is up and green and we are picking strawberries. Im thinking we might not need chains anytime soon.
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Last time I used chains on a tractor, if I recall correctly, was on a WD Allis Chalmers with a snow pusher on the back in about 1998 or '99. Tractor also had a home made cab which worked OK but was it ever load inside. Once I went to MFWD, no more chains.
 
I usually wait untill I am stuck in the snow the first time. Once they are on, they usually stay on untill after the spring thaw. I use them to get around in the mud after the snow has melted.
 
I stopped using my chains a very long time ago. I use the loader bucket to move snow and it is actually faster and more efficient if you are familiar with it. Most of the time when I used chains it was due to heavier snow winters and after a while I was getting a lot of resistance from the frozen piles on the edge of the road and had to resort to the loader anyway. Light snow I just use the 4 wheeler with front blade.
 
67 degrees in Wichita KS right now and we haven't really had any freeze to speak of. A couple of mornings it hit about 29 but that's it. I am loving this lack of winter so far! But January and February are usually the coldest months although in the extended forecast I see no days where it doesn't get somewhere above freezing during the day. Not gonna really freeze until mid-January it looks like. Works for me!
 
Day after Thanksgiving I put the chains on the FEL and the plow on my old plow truck. I take them off on Good Friday. Been doing that for years.
 
Usually do it the day after Halloween but still haven't yet here in MN, today is forecasted to be 55 and rain so still wont need the chains. I had the virus and lost 2 weeks in November and early December , still have really low energy.
 
I havent. Started building a set two winters ago and lost interest. They are still in a pile waiting to be welded together.
 
I don't use my tractors in winter, although I do have chains for one of them. I have two John Deere 200-Series garden tractors and have a front-mounted snow thrower on each, plus weights on the rear wheels and on the hitch-ball plate. I put the chains on when I remove the mower decks in the fall, usually in late October after I've used the mowers to mulch leaves. I also have an 8hp walk-behind snow blower as I backup, and it has chains on its little tires. I had to use one of the Deeres a few ays ago when I got 9 inches of fluffy snow here in south-central Minnesota. Today it's supposed to get into the mid 50s. In Minnesota, you never know what December will bring.
 
Yesterday 12/14/2021 on the 4020 gas I use to haul round bales. It was a nice day and I was getting ready to haul bales in the mud. Better to install on clean dry tires and they do help in the mud. I lay them out, run a piece of twine through the rim and back them on. I can barely drag the 18.4 34 chains out of the chain box, I need to get them on the MF 65 with the loader and the 3020 I plow snow with.
 
Installed Chains, October 15....

Cleaned up burn piles..
International border then opened...headed South to Arizona on November 13.....:)

Bob
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Often I would have by now but we have not had enough snow to clear and the ground has not frozen yet, so I haven't needed them. The MF35 with a loader is helpless in any amount of snow even with loaded tires until I put the chains on, the Farmall 300 will do fine in up to a foot without, but up to 2 feet or more with chains.
 
I'll take part issue with that Bruce, I don't like chains at all but we live in a river valley with rolling hills. Ice storms followed by wet snow can leave all our mfwd's stuck at bottoms of hills. Wet snow leaves our mfwd with wide radials stuck. Logging in the woods with snow packed to ice need chains on the hills too or the mfwd's are stuck esp in spring with warm days and cold nights.
 
We've never owned a set of chains for a tractor. I only had a set on the truck because in OR they said if I was there during certain times of the year I need them or fined so bought a set. Still in the bag unused. With my oversized loads out there if it was that bad I didn't need to be out anyway. Over size had restrictions on travel in bad weather anyhow.
 
Dad never put the chains on the loader tractor this late regardless of conditions. I still haven't.

Still deciding how I'm going to deal with it. I have two loader tractors at my disposal. Both need some work. Neither have particularly good buckets.
 
I stand corrected. Under ordinary conditions, not mountains, river valleys or in the bush logging. 4wd tractors dont need chains to clear snow, feed silage, pull manure spreaders or operate snow blowers. Even 4wd log skidders need chains if conditions are tough enough. Most reading these columns are just clearing the yard/driveway.
 
Glanced at them in a pile. Its 64 here in south eastern Illinois. But I have them for the front and the back of a 50 hp. JD. With a cab. Chains make it feel like a 80 ho tractor. I just have truck type chains so I clatter down hard roads as fast as it will go.
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Usually get them on just before Thanksgiving but since it's been a warm and wet fall I waited until I didn't need to be using the plow tractor and tearing things up. Got mine on last weekend.
 
Jubilee is semi retired. Leave the chains year around.
Only drive it on dirt. Chains are handy when pulling a disk.
 
Thought this was a post about getting married. As for tire chains I have never seen a set on a tractor.
 
I bet I had my chains on my two snow movers about two months ago and today was 69 degrees in Northern Illinois. Thats ok though.
 
I put the tire chains on the 3000 about a year ago. Maybe two.
When we got a lot of ice and the weights, differential lock and
new tires weren't enough. (Mid-Michigan)

"Mini-me" has had Ice Chains on it since right after I bought it.

I don't take either of them off since they're not road tractors.

The 3000 has a blade on the front and a pull forward 3 pt hitch
snowblower on the rear. Between the two, I can do big and small
areas including walkways and don't have to be out in the wind.

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Just depends where you live. I seem to recall you are maybe in the Kincardine area? not sure if that is wet snow area or far enough north to be dry snow. I do remember it being really flat there last time I drove through.
 
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