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Skid steer in snow

Farmtruck

Active Member
Joined
May 30, 2016
Messages
38
Location
Ct
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.
 

ol'stonebreaker

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
Messages
333
Location
Idaho
Occupation
retired
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
 

KSSS

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
4,319
Location
Idaho
Occupation
excavation
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.
 

Twisted

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2007
Messages
389
Location
MN
Start with good chains on the rear wheels. The front tires have less weight on them and are off the ground while scraping snow.
 
Joined
Dec 12, 2017
Messages
5
Location
Alberta, Canada
prowler-predator-steel-ott-tracks.jpg


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.
 

Jonas302

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Messages
1,197
Location
mn
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
 

xgiovannix12

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2012
Messages
474
Location
New York
Occupation
Operator/Mechanic/Truck driver
I use grouser tracks in the summer for muddy work I would not recommend them in the snow. I suggest chains for snow.
 

check

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
800
Location
in the mail
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.
 

digger242j

Administrator
Joined
Oct 31, 2003
Messages
6,628
Location
Southwestern PA
Occupation
Self employed excavator
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.
 

KSSS

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
4,319
Location
Idaho
Occupation
excavation
If you go chains, just don't go cheap. They wont last.
 

Swannny

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2012
Messages
274
Location
USA
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.
 

Twisted

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2007
Messages
389
Location
MN
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.
 

seville009

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
220
Location
CNY
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
 

Steve Frazier

Founder
Staff member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
6,599
Location
LaGrangeville, N.Y.
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.



solideal tire.jpg
 

mcald62

Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2013
Messages
13
Location
CT
E2B21F82-BCB8-4FAE-9D2E-AE60F8C6DA2F.jpeg 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.
 
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Dichdgr

New Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2019
Messages
2
Location
californai
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.
 

ThreeCW

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2019
Messages
227
Location
near Calgary, Alberta
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.

IMG_1327.JPG
 

phil314

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2014
Messages
356
Location
Otsego, Mn
Occupation
Instigator of Choas
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.
20180914_114850.jpg 20180914_120244.jpg 20181224_160346.jpg
 
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