December 2024
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Inside the December Issue |
Unique Skid Steer Tire:
Increase Snow Clearing Performance and Safety
BY DEL WILLIAMS
Industry innovators have developed skid steer-specific snow tires that significantly enhance traction and safety.
When snow needs to be quickly cleared from public areas, municipalities and landscape contractors often rely on skid steers with snow removal attachments to efficiently complete the job. However, poor tire traction can slow or halt work as well as threaten safety.
Conventional skid steer tires can be prone to slipping or sliding in icy environments or heavy snow. When a skid steer loses road traction in these conditions, the operator can lose control of the vehicle and a collision, accident, or injury can occur.
“Typical skid steer tires, not built for snow and ice, can be up to 14 inches across so tend to stay on the surface, leading to poor traction and safety,” says Jerry Holman, president of SnowWolf Plows, a Minnesota-based manufacturer that offers various snow removal accessories such as snow blowers, plows, and pushers, which are compatible with skid steers, compact loaders, wheel loaders, front-end loaders, tractors, and other machinery.
In response, industry innovators have helped to minimize wheel slippage and sliding with skid steer-specific snow tire designs that provide superior traction. The improved traction, in turn, translates into greater safety and productivity when clearing snow from public spaces. The enhanced safety provided by superior tire traction also reduces the risk of accidents and collisions as well as required repairs and maintenance, prolonging the usable life of the vehicle and snow removal attachment.
As an example, skid steer specific tires such as WolfPaws by SnowWolf are designed to be narrower to penetrate ice and snow. Depending on the model, Wolf- Paws are 6.6”-8.5” wide compared to most skid steer loader tires at 10”-14” so they can exert nearly double the ground pressure, dramatically improving traction, snow clearing, and safety.
WolfPaws range from 28” to 36” in height and fitments are offered for machines as small as the Bobcat Toolcat all the way up to the largest of skid steers.
Some customers prefer to go with a larger diameter tire than what comes standard on their machine which gives the added benefit of increasing the skid steers’ travel speed and hence, an even greater improvement in productivity.
According to Holman, the skid steer snow tires, which are made in the USA, are not a retread and not a truck tire but a completely new tire designed for this one purpose. Full story »
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