ICE CLEATS ?

[dbell]

I have Dad's 440IC that we used in Louisiana back in the 70's. The 440IC now resides in N.E. Washington with me. We get lots of snow ! My logger friends have told me to weld 3" pieces of 3/8" re-bar in a staggered position on the tracks, to keep from sliding on inclines. I plowed snow this winter and did slide side ways on several occasions while on small inclines.

Thanks,
Dan

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

There were Snow Pads. They had grousers which alternated being higher for the center third of the grouser, then higher on the outer thirds. The main thing is the oval holes in the center of each pad so the sprocket teeth could eject the snow out of the chain links.

If the snow packs in the chain links, they rails will ride up way high on the sprockets. If they do not slip off, they will overload the front idlers as the apparent length of the rails shortens up. The earlier spring-type idler tensioners were intended to pull back if this happened. The later hydraulic ones would eject grease. If they were not frozen up. Which, they usually were by the time the rails ran up high on the sprockets. Snow pads prevent these issues.

I would post a pic of my snow pads, but the 'high thirds' are almost all the way worn down to the base grouser height these days. Maybe someone else has a better pic to share.

As far as ice goes, there were Ice Caulks which replaced the hex head pad bolts. I have one row of these on each rail on mine. Dad had put them on in the 1970s, and he cut them to more of a point than they originally were. They are supposed to be used for both bolt positions on each pad, but Dad only had half a set. No doubt left over from a customer of the old JD dealership who only wanted one row on each side, thus giving Dad half a set for free.

I can say they did work. We had to plow a long, steep shale driveway back when I lived in upstate NY. The 420 never slipped on it. In the late 80s, Dad took the 420 North with him and I picked up a straight 350. It had snow pads, but no ice caulks. I managed to slip badly a couple times a year with that. The kind of slip that flips the machine 90 degrees sideways so the grousers become so many ice skates. Only by quickly applying full throttle and lifting the blade to get over the snow bank saves it.

Boy, that 350 surely could have used some ice caulks.....

Stan

[Tigerhaze]

Dan, if you do a search for "ice cleats" or "ice bolts" you should find a number of previous threads describing how to install bolts in the track pads to create ice cleats.

[mapaduke@yahoo.com]

I think Caulks is your best way for work on a side slope.