Location: South Boston, MA
Joined: Mar 10, 2005
Points: 341
Carlisle Sno Hog tires versus chains Original Message Mar 11, 2005 6:13 am
I have an older (1970) Ariens snowblower that has chains (and no differential).
The new ones seem to come with the Carlisle Snow Hog tires, and the dealers claim they have better traction in snow and ice than chains. True Story? The chains do a number on the pavement when turing around. I splurged and bought new tubes last season, but being kind of wild I can replace the tires every 35 years whether they need it or not....
Re: Carlisle Sno Hog tires versus chains Reply #3 Mar 11, 2005 8:23 am
I've found that most of the time I don't want "too much" traction. I break several wheel hub locking pins a year. This is probably caused by my running into a lip in someone's sidewalk, getting hung up on a lump in their driveway or going too fast into the frozen EOD. The point is that there are lots of times when you don't want the wheels to grip, you want them to slip so the rest of your traction system takes less of a beating.
I guess what it comes down to is looking at how you are using the machine. If you need more traction then the Sno Hogs will give more than the older style. Chains will give more traction still but tear up the road surface more.
Re: Carlisle Sno Hog tires versus chains Reply #4 Mar 11, 2005 9:03 am
Sno Hogs are great. I've yet to lost traction and my driveway is pretty smooth. If there's too much snow, the blower just rides up on it and I have to slow down a bit. Go with the tires.
Location: Rochester NY, USA
Joined: Dec 18, 2003
Points: 628
Re: Carlisle Sno Hog tires versus chains Reply #5 Mar 11, 2005 11:07 am
I too have the hawgs, and i don't have even a slight quibble about thier traction. I don't have any experience with chains, cause i spent my child hood shoveling :( My little differential-less ariens 824 has always had just the right amount of stick. Plus, i would suspect that it's eaiser to turn the thing around with the hawgs than with chains, esp with both wheels locked to the axle(which is how i always run), i have a decent short grade at the end of my drive too.
Appreciate what you have already been blessed with.
Joined: Sep 16, 2002
Points: 2793
Re: Carlisle Sno Hog tires versus chains Reply #7 Mar 11, 2005 8:24 pm
I have cleared snow off of my frozen pond with the snow hogs and never slipped. I have had my father's Ariens pull me up my drive. They are great tires and I would change to them in a second.
C
Honda 928TA, Ariens 924 STE, Toro single stage S-620, 95 Jeep Wrangler with a 6 foot Fisher Plow, many shovels, one 14 year old boy. Craftsman 01 1000 LTX pimp Gold LT 20hp Briggs OHV V-twin. Tough as it is ugly.
