Front blades in snow....
OH YEAH!
12hp hydrostatic tractor, spring assist, 124lbs of wheel weights mounted on the inside of the wheels, and a 54" blade...being operated by a (at that time) 11 year old
RE: Extra weight off the back of the tractor....
I use a QA42A snowthrower on my 1450...and even with 208lbs of wheel weights, and my 240lbs..the rear seems to 'float' when I have the thrower lifted and try to back up.
So last winter I rounded up some scrap steel, and built this:
Since I'm kinda 'cheap', I bolted a bucket on the bracket...
and filled it with 180lbs of steel (that I got for free)
After that, the rear end stayed down, and I had no problems with spinning the tires trying to back up!
As you can see in the pics, I use AG treads with no chains. I have a gravel driveway, and the first winter I had the 1250, we used turfs w/chains, and wheel weights. The chains seemed to 'churn up' the stones, and there was quite a bit of my driveway out in the grass once the snow melted...LOL Since we now run the AGs, we don't have much of a problem with that...which my son appreciates greatly