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Tires for a plow truck

I don't know about Alaska,we get some bad snowfalls here too..

I've had to plow quite a few bad Nor'easters that dumped over 2 feet ,and wasn't able to get out there and "plow with the storm" as the Fisher sticker says you should..when we get 60+ mph winds and 2-4" per hour snowfall rates,most of the time your better off waiting till the storm starts dying down before going out to battle it..if your at work while its snowing then you have to wait till 5 pm to go plow your driveway,by then its usually as deep as it'll get..

I have had 36" of wet cement snow fall here at least 3 times,in less than 24 hours...the Blizzard of '78 dumped that much too,but it had hurricane force winds too,which made drifts well over 10 feet high...luckily our driveway had "only" about 38" fall and it wasn't drifted much over 4 feet in a few spots..still took a front end loader to get a path made to the street..couldn't drive for a week,they "banned" us from driving unless we had special permits..

I can see where low range would take some strain off the transmission,but with the wheels so easy to spin,and the added torque to the driveshafts,u-joints and diffs,I'd say breakage is more likely in low range than high range..
 
60mph winds are the norm here , we don’t start to worry until they get up over 100mph , you guys call that hurricanes ........we just call it Wednesday .

I’m really not joking about the wind ,

And as for snow we Average around a 100” a year in town but in the mountains just a few miles away it’s in the 2-300” range

Valdez Alaska averages 550” a year , and has the record of over 10” per hour . Pretty serious snow fall if you ask me .
 
I'll stay here thank you..:eek:..Winters here suck enough...

We "average" only 40" of snow a season here,but the past 10 years or so,we've had nearly that much fall in ONE storm several times!..
We had two winters that topped 110",one in 2015 and a few years before that..
Winters seem to be getting much more severe lately,last longer,and record setting cold,snowfalls,high winds,and now summers seem to be getting much hotter and humidity has been brutal here this year..

MA is heavily populated and the roads are mostly narrow and leave little area to pile plowed snow along the sides,often you'll see giant snowblowers with a dump truck driving alongside so the chute will toss the snow in the dump body--then they have to go dump it at a "snow farm"--a huge vacant lot ,where it can melt without affecting local buildings or homes..years ago they just backed the truck up to a river bank and dumped it,or in the ocean,but they decided that was too polluting..

I have had my driveway "shrink" after a few 2+ foot storms,I run out of room to pile the snow in quickly when we get that much ,and if you fail to shove the first few storms way back,you'll find yourself in deep trouble,if you get many back to back storms later!-- in 2015 the driveway was barely wide enough to back my truck in off the street in a straight line,the snowbanks were much taller than the truck,could hardly open a door wide enough to get in & out too.
 
Anchorage uses graders to windrow the snow to the center , then uses the blowers to shoot it into side dump and end dumps for removal and then takes it to the snow dumps around town .


Last year the snow dump near work was still 20+ ft tall in mid July
 
One of the "snow farms" in Boston didn't completely melt until sometime in July too,in 2015..they had a contest ,whoever guessed the last day when every bit of snow had melted won a prize..

I remember seeing pictures on TV about the snow farms--some were over 100 feet high,they had excavators on "roads" that spiraled around the huge piles,that were busy stacking it 24/7..

I don't know if these style tires were actually good as I remember them being on the gas company trucks my dad drove back in the 60's,but I like the tread pattern..and skinny too!..bias ply though..bummer!..

$100.99 - Deestone D503 7/R-15 tires | Buy Deestone D503 tires at SimpleTire
 
Carcinogen said:
Is the 2.73 a typo? Do you plow in 4 lo?
My step-side has 35s and 3.08s, it sucks... I guess with 2.73s you could run in L(1st), but won't you top out at around 5 MPH still? Don't know if you even need to get a run at anything either.

I don't push snow around so I'm just speculating outloud.
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yellowK20 said:
2.73’s were available.

I had K10 with 305/TH400 and 2.73’s it was a horrible turd . Turning the A/C on was like hitting the jakebrake in a big truck lol.
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Carcinogen said:
I have heard of 2.73s before in 2wds and vans but I guess I was just hoping it was a typo for his sake... although its in his sig too so I doubt its a mistake.

OP: The 35s mud tires you already have are out of the question, no amount of siping or studs(if you can get them put in, most shops won't do used so you would have to do it yourself) will help those. My current tires are 35-14.50R15 siped, and are garbage on hard pack or ice, but they do float pretty well.

And as K30 said, weight in the bed helps me get around in the snow a ton. I usually just fill some sand bags and strap em down, the sand can be used for traction when I get stuck.
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Yup 2.73s alright. I don't really care that they aren't optimal but they actually make all 4 gears of the 465 usable on the street so I got that going for me. I plowed mostly in high and used 1st or Lo gear. I think I'll use 4Lo more this year as reverse it a little fast for tight driveway maneuvering. Actually if you think about it, the 2.73s with the terrible low range on the 205 make for like driving around with 5.46s! Lol

I actually forgot that I left it in 4Lo and took it out on the street (front hubs where unlocked) damn thing suddenly felt like a rocket ship!
 
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diesel4me said:
One of the "snow farms" in Boston didn't completely melt until sometime in July too,in 2015..they had a contest ,whoever guessed the last day when every bit of snow had melted won a prize..

I remember seeing pictures on TV about the snow farms--some were over 100 feet high,they had excavators on "roads" that spiraled around the huge piles,that were busy stacking it 24/7..

I don't know if these style tires were actually good as I remember them being on the gas company trucks my dad drove back in the 60's,but I like the tread pattern..and skinny too!..bias ply though..bummer!..

$100.99 - Deestone D503 7/R-15 tires | Buy Deestone D503 tires at SimpleTire
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I have the super traction tires on my dump truck. Which is an unstoppable beast in the snow.
I actually was going to suggest them. But front chains are still where it's at.
I put chains on the front last winter. I literally felt like I couldn't get stuck.

IMG_20161213_162018208_HDR.jpg
 
beags86 said:
I have the super traction tires on my dump truck. Which is an unstoppable beast in the snow.
I actually was going to suggest them. But front chains are still where it's at.
I put chains on the front last winter. I literally felt like I couldn't get stuck.

View attachment 278646
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Yep chains for the win , I chain up in the fall and leave them on until spring . .
 
beags86 said:
I have the super traction tires on my dump truck. Which is an unstoppable beast in the snow.
I actually was going to suggest them. But front chains are still where it's at.
I put chains on the front last winter. I literally felt like I couldn't get stuck.

View attachment 278646
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Really? Those old bias tires are that good? If so then why does no one run them anymore?
 
beags86 said:
Plus, where do they even stock them? Anyplace you can get them, they are an order item.
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Some smaller Tire shops will still have them , usually covered in dust in the back corner of the building , right next to 20” semi tires lol
 
Bias plys have stiffer sidewalls than radials,resist gashes better..they do ride rougher and tend to have imbalance issues more than radials though,and many had nylon cords,which are tough as nails,but flat spot badly if the vehicle sits very long..(even overnight is long enough,especially in cold weather,they'll feel octagonal the first ten miles till they warm up )..

I had a set of new Cooper 8:75/16.5 bias plys on my '72 K5 ,I bought new at a close out sale a tire shop had in my hometown back in the 80's,they were tall skinny tires with similar treads as the Deerstone ones I pictured--they were getting rid of all their old stock ,going to radials,and the 16.5's were starting to be phased out..got all 4,mounted and balanced,for $100...


I had scored 4, 6 lug,16.5" factory rims off a 6 lug '71 GMC that were at least 8" wide to mount them on,the stock hub caps fit them too..

They worked great in the snow,but on ice they were too hard a rubber composition ,they liked to slide and spin,so I bought 2 pairs of tire chains at swap meets to use if things got really bad--had to put them on all 4 tires a few times,when I lived halfway up a steep hill in town that was a 1/4 mile long and that was the only way to climb the hill,be able to park,and get out the next morning..

Those tires felt like they went square overnight and it took about 10 miles for them to get round and stop shaking the truck,but they lasted several years on my Blazer,then I gave them to my older brother to use on a K10 he had for quite awhile.
They never went bald,and I ran over some sharp curbs at speed with them and over gravel roads with rocks and they never got a cut..Impacts that would gash and flatten a radial were no problem for those 6 ply nylon corded tires..I later learned guys who ran demolition derby cars liked using nylon corded bias ply tires with 6 or 8 plys for that reason..

They were great for plowing or crawling around town during bad snowstorms,but they were not the best choice for my 65 mile commute each way to work and back when the roads were bare..
 
diesel4me said:
Bias plys have stiffer sidewalls than radials,
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20-25yrs ago , totally true statement. Not so much the case now .

I think rubber compounds have a lot to do with how stiff those old Bias Plys are , I have set at the house of my old plow burb that I use for rollers and those things are harder then a wedding dick. Seriously, you can’t hardly scratch them!

But like you said worthless on ice , without chains that thing would not even move on a packed snow or ice.
 
Chevy305 said:
Yup 2.73s alright. I don't really care that they aren't optimal but they actually make all 4 gears of the 465 usable on the street so I got that going for me. I plowed mostly in high and used 1st or Lo gear. I think I'll use 4Lo more this year as reverse it a little fast for tight driveway maneuvering. Actually if you think about it, the 2.73s with the terrible low range on the 205 make for like driving around with 5.46s! Lol

I actually forgot that I left it in 4Lo and took it out on the street (front hubs where unlocked) damn thing suddenly felt like a rocket ship!
Click to expand...


I found out the hard way why GM states in the owners manual to "never use low range without locking the front hubs"..

I put my '72 K5 in 4 Low once without locking the hubs,and like you said,the difference in acceleration was amazing,I felt like I had a rail dragster at red light take offs,but 45 mph was the redline,the engine was screaming at 4500 rpms in 4th gear..but I had a lot of fun doing burnouts and donuts in low range,and I even got the front tires off the ground a few times,dumping the clutch in second gear!..--until I heard a sickening "blaaaagggghhttt" stripping noise,then the truck refused to move,all it would do was make a grinding noise..:doah:

I actually let out the clutch and got out of the truck and looked under it,and saw the rear driveshaft spinning,so the splined coupling between the SM465 and NP-205 had not failed,as I feared,because I had just replaced it not long before,and noted the output shaft splines on the transmission were "hooked" and worn pretty badly,it was rattling pretty loud so I bought a new coupling and tried using green locktite "quick metal" epoxy to help take up the slop..it worked great for a month or so,then it started rattling some again..

What had happened,was I ripped the splines out of the rear diff pinion yoke--I was able to drive home by locking the hubs,I wasn't far away luckily.....had to search to find a replacement,no salvage yards wanted to let me "break up" a complete rear end..finally found one my older brother had,from a '69 Camaro 12 bolt,that happened to fit and work OK,luckily the pinion shaft splines were not stripped,just full of metal from the yoke's splines,I was able to clean them out with a wire feeler gauge ,and I was lucky it didn't ruin the bearings or the crush cone when I put it back together..

When you think about it,you get some incredible amount of twist in low range..multiply the torque output of your engine,by the first gear ratio,then add in the transfer case low range ratio,and the differential gearing,and your "wimpy" 300 ft/lb engine ends up putting over 10 times that much to the rear axles!..it's a minor miracle more dont snap with that much torque applied..especially if you get a tire spinning on slick surfaces,then hit a patch of dry tar..
 
Tnsejed said:
http://us.coopertire.com/tires/discoverer-m-s_suv.aspx
I run those and like them alot. Boss V and 1k in the bed. F*ck chains
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I wondered how those were. A set came on a K30 I bought but haven't got a motor back in it yet. Hope to find how good these are this winter if I get it finished up with the rest of the trucks. I just picked up a set of similar ones in mastercraft that I'm curious about too.
 
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