Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Cutting / Groving / Siping R-4 for snow

[gladehound]

Sooner or later the nice sharp edge on your grooves will get worn down. My ag tires worked great the first winter but after 5 years with lots of miles they are not so good in the snow. I have lots of hills and a gravel driveway so chains are required so I really don't have anything to gain by experimenting. Do you find the snow sticking inside the grooves?

Yes, snow sticks in the grooves and that is the major reason the traction gets so much better. I thought the edges would wear down also, but in the 300 hours put on the first tractor after grooving the tires, the edges showed no signs of dulling... they looked like the day I cut them! I'm guessing this is because the gap is so small.

 

[gladehound]

Well after making a pattern of the lugs I felt that a double grove on the rear would lead to chunking so I came up with a different pattern that would give me a double grove where the lug was thicker and would also allow for the most traction. On the front tires I used a pattern that was shown earlier in this thread, if it doesn't offer enough traction to prevent sideways slide I can always add another grove.

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:drink:

Looks awesome! Love the creativity on this thread! :thumbsup:

 

[gladehound]

Gradehound.... I understand what your saying about the backhoe, but I don't have the backhoe on in the wintertime. When I'm plowing the most I have on the back is my log winch, have a few tight spots to get into so I keep as little on the back as possible.

The blade I use on the front is an old Myers that I've modified to make it as short as it can be.

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I'm not sure how the plowing will change this year because I now have the rear tires filled which I didn't have last year.

I guess we'll see, but I think I'm going to do two groves in the rear and three alternating groves in the front.. hopefully I'll have time to do it this weekend....

Try it with the grooves you made in the fronts. Can always add some sipes or more grooves if needed. Can also always add a few hundred pounds to the frame in front of the front axle. It's tough having a blade on loader arms. You can only make it so short and with the short wheel base of the tractor there is a lot of lateral leverage!

Filling rears will neither add or remove weight from the front so it should have no impact on steering except that you'll be able to push harder before the rears spin and that could cause the front to slide out first when it wouldn't have before.

 

[hawkeye08]

I was all set to do this and then life got in the way, paved the driveway, bought a walk behind snowblower (that wife can run) before I had back surgery. Our driveway and parking area are not big enough to need the tractor since we got the walk behind, but some are saying this year is going to be a big snow year.. might have to get the tires grooved after all...

 

[Glrret]

Gradehound I understand how loading the rear tires effects the tractor. I wasn't implying that loading the tires was going to prevent the front from sliding, it was just a general comment about all the things I've done this year that will have a cumulative impact on the overall performance when plowing.

The one thing I wish I had was a rear blade that I could offset, I think that would really help on the long driveway I have... but maybe next year...

 

[mara9999]

Thank you to Gladehound and the many other creative people here for so much beneficial information about traction. After the 30" blizzard here in January I vowed to improve traction on the L2501. My 1100' gravel drive took 2 days to clear. So with a new Titan ballast box. And an Ideal Tire Grover on order I expect easier plowing this winter.

Am thinking about copying the pattern Girret used. Looks very good to me. PS. I have read all 50 pages of this forum. Appreciate the effort so many people have put into this subject. Thanks again

 

[TSO]

Someone had asked for a pic of my "double grooved" rears ... Finally had a chance to snap a pic...

 

[dickfoster]

That was exactly my thinking when I started this thread. BTW - snow tires have both grooves and sipes (as well as soft porous rubber). I started with grooves, planned to do sipes also. Never did the sipes because the grooves provided so much additional traction that there was no point to doing anything more. Just with grooves I've driven on an inch of ice and had enough traction to push the loader though the ice and rip it up off the driveway - have never needed chains since.

If interested, go back and read the first several pages that talk about the modern snow tire tech and theory behind this thread.

I think sipe cuts are there mainly for wet pavement (wet and slushy) and they may provide a little (very little) benefit on ice. Nothing beats studs for traction on ice. Chains are simply a no go for me as I don't want to trash my asphalt. For ice I guess you'd spread some ice melt or maybe just put down some saw dust.

 

[dickfoster]

Well after making a pattern of the lugs I felt that a double grove on the rear would lead to chunking so I came up with a different pattern that would give me a double grove where the lug was thicker and would also allow for the most traction. On the front tires I used a pattern that was shown earlier in this thread, if it doesn't offer enough traction to prevent sideways slide I can always add another grove.

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:drink:

Nice cuts. Did you have any trouble lifting out at the end of the cut? I can see that plunging in is easy due to the shape of the cutting head but pulling up and out would seem to be a bit of a trick or twist of the wrist.

 

[Glrret]

Nice cuts. Did you have any trouble lifting out at the end of the cut? I can see that plunging in is easy due to the shape of the cutting head but pulling up and out would seem to be a bit of a trick or twist of the wrist.

Thanks for the compliment dickfoster.....It took a little practice to end the cut like you say, but a combination of tilting the iron forward on the tip along with a twist of the wrist seemed to deliver the best results.