Driving a tractor in snow and ice

[SusanO]

OMG I don’t know how you people that live up north can function when it snows!!! We had 6 inches yesterday and today it was melting. The manure spreader was overflowing and I couldn’t clean stalls until I spread. So I headed up the hill to the dumping grounds in 4WD going VERY slowly. I barely made it and it took forever. I kept getting stuck, back it up and forward an inch or two and wheels spinning again. I tried to keep the wheels as slow as possible so they would not spin.

Obviously there is a secret to this besides spreading the day before the storm hits. By the time I clean stalls tomorrow I will need to spread again. The snow has turned to ice and there is mud underneath. It is going down to 20 so the mud may be ice. I don’t want to slide down the hill and kill myself or get the tractor stuck. Luckily in a few days we will not be freezing again. Can’t pile that much poop on the spreader though to last the weather out.

YUCK!!!

[Jim_in_PA]

The secret is…weight. Wheel weights, loaded tires, etc. Whatever works best for a given situation. Sometimes, chains are indicated, too, but that’s for serious winter weather.

[atr]

My tractor has honking big chains on it,

[goodhors]

You also can have too much torque to get going, so wheels spin. Try moving up a gear without changing the throttle speed if you are already not going very fast. I learned this with the truck. Too low a gear just spun the wheels, they could not bite into deeper snow or icy mix with all that low gear power pushing them. Shift to second, truck just walked away from the slippery spot. This was a truck with a good load over the rear tires, good snow tires, manual transmission.

Can you spread uphill on the lane, path, road, heading back to the usual dumping area? Manure might give you a little bit of grip on the uphill area to get where you are headed. You don’t want to spread much because it will make mud when things thaw later, as well as being all over things. .

Are your tires loaded with anything? Locally they now fill tractor tires with sugar beet juice, not chloride like used in the old days. Beet juice doesn’t corrode the rims or cause problems if it should leak out of a tire. Works well in my tractor.

[FitToBeTied]

Also depends on what kind of tires you have. If you are running turf tires then you are going nowhere.

[S1969]

@FitToBeTied

Also depends on what kind of tires you have. If you are running turf tires then you are going nowhere.

Definitely what has been said above. I didn’t realize anyone drove a tractor without loaded tires, but then again, I live in NY. And it helps to put it in low gear, although again without the right tires it might not be enough. And if the ground underneath is not frozen solid, you may still be fighting a losing battle.

My winter mantra is “do it while you can” or you will regret it later. My tractor isn’t really big enough to drive through feet of snow, so there are times when I can’t do what needs to be done. (E.g. when we got 24" of snow overnight). Even if my manure “bunker” isn’t full, I empty it often in the winter because 3’ of snow will make that job nearly impossible. Any time I have put off a job like emptying it when the ground is frozen and there is no snow - I have bitterly regretted it.

Good luck getting through it.

[danacat]

I leave my 6’ mower attached to the back of my FWD tractor all winter – provides a lot of weight (more than a weight box) and of course my FEL stays on too (counter balance + weight + plowing) – tires are not turf style – I can blast through some pretty deep snow thankfully – back blade out if I get stuck in a drift, etc.

[SusanO]

Yeah I was stupid to not empty it the night before. It was raining so I opted not to - thinking the snow would not materialize. I had it in low 4WD getting up the hill but the snow would pack into ice and the mud underneath made it even worse. I finally managed to get over to one side of the hill that had taller grass and that helped with traction.

I am not sure what kind of tires that are on it. I am sure they are not loaded with anything - this is central Alabama. Last snow of the century was 3 inches years ago. Before when I got stuck in the mud putting the tractor in 4WD always took care of the problem. Not this time! Hopefully it will melt enough today to dump again and then I can make it till about Wednesday and the temps will be in the 40’s. It is amazing how much mud there is when snow melts!!! Yuch.

[Bluey]

You can also have a way to keep manure in a pile for emergencies, like your spreader breaks.

That designated spot can hold several days/weeks of manure until you again can spread it.
That needs to be a place you can get to with a manure bucket in it’s little dolly, a wheelbarrow or the FEL in the tractor without needing to travel far, where you may have mud, ice or snow drifts.

Once all is dry again, then you have to make time to load the spreader and make several trips until that pile is gone.

A friend designated the middle of one big pen as that spot.
She found out it was such a great spot, she started using that, rather than spreading and once a month a commercial dump truck and loader business came to take that pile away for very little.

Also her horses loved that spot to use for bathroom, so cleaning their pens and that pen, when they were turned out there, was so much easier.

Horses like to have a designated bathroom spot and teach the others to use it too.

Just more to consider.

[hosspuller]

Brakes … Remember to keep tractor in 4wd. Most tractors do not have brakes on the front wheels. 4wd connects the front wheels to the rear brakes.

[gumtree]

A couple of things come into play depending on the tractor setup. Having in low range is a good idea. But the trick is not to try and speed up, increase ground speed one you are going up the hill. Slow and steady, “tractor” up. If you get impatient and try to increase your ground speed and the tires loose traction, start to slip your’re screwed. Even if you stop on the hill and try and start out slowly again. IME better off backing down and take another slow and steady run at it.

Going up a hill and having the hitch loaded can and does put more weight on the back tires but it also takes weight off the front ties. So even when in 4WD the front tires may not be fully loaded/weighted. So they’re not bringing a lot to the table. If the tractor has a bucket fill it with something to weigh down the front end.

Or buy a weight bracket that usually can be bolted on most tractors and get a couple hundred pounds of weights to hang on it. But this might be over kill for someone who lives in Alabama with only the odd snow storm. .

This is what tractor turf tires look like.

Verses Ag tires that come standard on most tractors.
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[sherian]

maybe your 4WD is not engaging - I have to bury my tractor belly deep in wet snow/mud before it gets stuck

[gumtree]

@sherian

maybe your 4WD is not engaging - I have to bury my tractor belly deep in wet snow/mud before it gets stuck

This is pretty simple to determine. When stuck and one or both of the front wheels aren’t “spinning” then there is something wrong. Some tractors, most “modern” tractors have a “peddle” or something of the like that will disengage the the axle differential on the rear tires/front tires and allow/transfer torque to both tires. So both tires have “power” to them instead of just one.

[SusanO]

OK they are not turf tires they are ag tires. When I get stuck it is the rear tires that spin - not the front ones usually. And once I put it in 4WD that solves the problem. Usually. So there is a difference between 4WD and 2WD.

Anyway by noon the hill had melted so I could drive up it to the side with no problems.I did have to switch to 4WD on the top where there was still some snow left but could switch back where there was no snow. I also followed the path where I had spread and that helped the traction.

As far as putting the stall cleanings to the side - my horses spent a lot of time in the stalls and I filled the spreader to the top and overflowing after cleaning Saturday and Sunday. I would have a mountain if I stockpiled it. And no - the messy horse is not trainable to be neat. I have tried. She just taught the neat one to be messy.

Glad to be back to normal weather. Cold enough to kill the gnats but no deep freeze. And now I know why people up north complain about mud. Yuck!!!

[SuckerForHorses]

Here in Vermont - we can’t spread manure on the fields after December 15th (state laws regarding water runoff in the spring), so we need a place to contain manure until spring.

[GoodTimes]

My guess is the mud is your enemy, not the snow. We’ve got snow blowers on all our tractors, I prefer the skid steer with a bucket for moving wet, heavy snow or frozen snow banks though.

Careful with your spreader in freezing temps though. I worked at one barn years ago that had a system like you describe. One of the kids threw a bucket of water on top of the manure which promptly froze. The spreader was out of commission for several weeks while they waited for parts. They found a spot to dump manure (which was not easy to get to with a wheel barrow in the snow), and cleaned it all up later.

[Mallard]

Here in Ontario, we also have ‘Honkin’ big chains’ on our rear tires

[goodhors]

Yeah, we will probably need to put the chains on if we get all the predicted snow. Snow is light and fluffy now, moves under your wheels. I am dumping the spreader daily, so NO CHANCE of frozen manure to deal with. Tires are loaded, land is fairly flat but slippery snow with a light 2WD tractor (Ford 8N) means I have no grip even with good AG tires. Chains make all the difference in getting where I want to go.

We will be digging out tomorrow! Husband put the bucket on the Bobcat today, so he is ready to go.

[China_Doll]

sometimes getting a run for it is best. Pulling a heavy load slowly and no chains would be difficult to get up an incline

[fordtraktor]

I empty when I can but unless I want to tear the ground up I don’t spread in very wet conditions.

My tractor is Ok to spread in a few inches of snow but I would set aside a small area for a winter manure pile when conditions are bad enough you are going to damage the ground. I do that every year and give it to my farm helper in the spring. He hauls it away for
his fields. The pile can either be very large or nonexistent dependent on what kind of winter we have. I also sometimes pile beside the spreader and then just load it when I have decent spreading conditions. My goal is to keep the pile minimal, but if the ground is soft enough to make marks on the turf I wait.

i do the same in summer when it is very wet. I hate rutted fields!