Hi Chris,I obtained a set of rubber chains for this winter, and was pleased with their performance. I had good luck with this last snow event (plowing once on Friday night and once Saturday seemed to work well; I think we may have had less sleet & ice than you this time...). The nice thing with rubber (vs. steel) is that when traction gets poor, or you're trying to push too much snow, slipping wheels don't scuff the driveway.
The chains were a bit difficult to install. I found it best to remove the wheels from the tractor and let the air out of the tires. I only have them for the rear tires. There are instances where steering is nonexistent - the rear wheels & the blade are controlling things & the fronts are just along for the ride. Needless to say, I'm still learning "plowing strategy".
Now my only problem is that the plow itself leaves some marks on the drive. Guess I need to review one of the earlier posts about a rubber strip for the wear blade.
Steve On Mar 18, 2007, at 9:41 AM, Chris Tromley wrote:
This last sleet/ice/freeze incident is giving my New Idea EGT 150 fits. This stuff is so dense and so stuck to the pavement that my blade tries to just ride up and do nothing, or if I set the blade at an angle and carve away at it in slices, it slides the whole tractor sideways. I have steel chains on the rear tires. They work fine, but every spring my driveway has a new collection of scratch marks where a tire has spun in place.Have the rubber tire chains proven to be as effective as the steel ones?Do they make the rubber ones small enough to fit the front tires, and will they help? I'm wondering if there's enough weight on the front end for them to be effective. Chris P.S. I know a blower would do better with this wet stuff. Just don't have any room to store one. _______________________________________________ Elec-trak mailing list Elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu https://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/mailman/listinfo/elec-trak