Wheel Weights or Weight Box?

[Dan693 510]

My Bro has a 60 Suburban 400 and is having traction trouble when plowing snow on asphalt with single stock ags.

I say its mostly a rear weight issue since the blade he has is pretty heavy on the front.

Any ideas on the best weight ballast for the rear?.....wheel weights.....weight box on the hitch?

 

Thanks for any thoughts!

[squonk 41,741]

Wheel weights 

[AMC RULES 37,143]

Just a tombstone added to the front of my RJ...

pushed this wet stuff like no tomorrow.   

 

[SPINJIM 1,981]

Wheel weights put the weight on the tires.    A 'weight box' puts the weight on the axles as well as the tires.   That puts more stress on the axle bushings and oil seals.   Like Squonk said,  better off with wheel weights.

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,612]

Wheel weights over a weight box is my vote. A weight box will put a lot of strain on the axles and axle bearings where wheel

weights won’t. Also ag’s are the worse choice for snow duty. Turf style tires with chains and wheel weights beat ag’s hands down.  

[Big_Red_Fred 1,547]

I'm Told recently that wheel weights is what you need, weight boxes for more of a FEL application, that comes from the Higher Up's, Horse Gurus 

[JoeM 7,874]

Always a good debate. I prefer the weight box over hung weight to wheel weights. You don't need as much weight and is fairly easy to remove.

The WH axles and bearings are pretty tough, keyways seem questionalble . I always had a concern with wheel weights adding momentum stress to the keyways. Kind of like a flywheel affect.

I know liquid in tires is great for traction too.

I guess to each their own. I would use what I have on hand.

[Adams94 1,068]

I run both to plow snow.  Plan to run both on the loader also

[953 nut 56,377]

1 hour ago, OILUJ52 said:

The WH axles and bearings are pretty tough

The question was about a Suburban which has bronze bushings, not bearings. Loaded tires and wheel weights with two link tire chains would do the trick.

[Achto 28,060]

Given the the machine in question ( '60 Suburban ) I would definitely say wheel weights only. You need to take into consideration that the axle tubes are only welded to the thin side plates on the transmission. Just running 23-10.50 x 12 tires alone, no added weight ( other than my butt ) on my Suburban caused the rear axle tubes to sag. The welds even started to crack around the tubes.

 

When I rebuilt my tranny the last time I added gussets to keep this from happening again.

 

If it were a '61 Suburban with a 2 piece trans, then a weight box might be an option.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Achto

[Chris G 3,296]

On my 400 I got weights on all 4 and plows great! 

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,498]

Wheel weights get my vote.  And I run chains to.

 

Glenn

Edited December 27, 2017 by JERSEYHAWG / Glenn