Kubota M7040 with grooved R4's

[Rob41]

First off I have two disclaimers:

1. Only did the fronts so far.....will do the rears in a couple days.
2. My perspective is that of a first time tractor owner with zero experience.....ever on a tractor.

I found a lot of R4 tire grooving info but only on tractors up to about an L series Kubota so I thought I'd post up the grooving on my M7040 that weighs in about 9k lbs with the loaded rears and loader.

I won't have my 7' snow blower on the back till this week but I did get a chance to clear out 3-4 inches of snow from my paved driveway today.....before the grooving. There were a couple times the rear tires spun a little going up the slight slope with a bucket full of snow and I had to use 4 wheel drive going up a small berm on the side of the driveway to dump the snow. Maybe I could have just locked the rear differential. It has been about 30F today so a few more degrees and the snow may have turned wet. I'm just glad I Youtubed how to remove snow with a bucket. That's how I learned about the bucket float function! This was mu first time doing anything with the tractor other than looking like a newb.

So to get to the actual post about tire grooving a M7040. I didn't want to waste what kerosene I have for my bullet heater so I just did the grooving in 30F temps. In those temps it is a bit of work so I was able to take my jacket off. I think most people will get a feel for it rather quickly. On one of my first grooves I Had the handle of the groover just a bit to low and made a shallow groove. I then had to go back and go deeper. One word of caution if you have to do that, be extra careful not to go too deep as it will want to. From that point forward, it was super easy to have just the right dept with just a shallow groover barrel to tire angle. Doing a couple lugs and then pausing to let the iron heat up again made the job take about an hour to do the fronts.

As a poster on a green forum said (Kenny) "I'm just a lemming"......well you can add my name to the lemming list too However, I have researched enough to know it should make a pretty noticeable difference. Will it be as good as turf tires? Not likely. Will it be as good as chains? Not even close, but making an improvement on R4's is all I was going for anyway. How much difference is yet to be seen. As soon as We get another snowfall I'll be in a better position to update on how my experience has been. Good, bad or ugly I'll pass along how it's worked out for me.

 

[LouNY]

I wonder if sipping would be just as effective.
Turning the blade over and just slicing slits in the lugs.
I have had tires professional sipped at a large truck tire shop before and
they worked quite well, this was a few decades ago don't know if it's still done or not.

 

[Rob41]

I wonder if sipping would be just as effective.
Turning the blade over and just slicing slits in the lugs.

I don't know, I haven't read much about siping particularly on a heavier tractor. The only thing I read was speculation about also needing a fairly soft rubber compound for sipping to work and the R4's have pretty stout rubber.

 

[ovrszd]

Unless you've spent considerable hours on the tractor without the tires cut I'm not sure you are going to know the difference. I cut the rear R4s on an L4400 I had. I cut a wide swath. Thought it helped a little. But couldn't quantify the results. If running on hard surface with no dirt you might see a significant difference. Add dirt/mud and the difference will diminish quickly. I only cut the rears.

 

[Rob41]

Unless you've spent considerable hours on the tractor without the tires cut I'm not sure you are going to know the difference. I cut the rear R4s on an L4400 I had. I cut a wide swath. Thought it helped a little. But couldn't quantify the results. If running on hard surface with no dirt you might see a significant difference. Add dirt/mud and the difference will diminish quickly. I only cut the rears.

View attachment 722706

I wouldn't disagree with you on not being able to know the difference. But for all the reading I've done, I have yet to hear anyone say it didn't help for the intended purpose of better winter traction when removing snow. I feel confident based on their experiences that it will help weather I can detect it or not.

I have zero mud/mud puddles on my property or slippery clay. My land is not dry for sure......but not mucky anywhere. And I didn't groove the tires for anything but better traction when I'm using my snow blower in the winter anyway.

 

[Boss 302]

Interesting, I just learned something new. I would have to agree on the effectiveness but heck it does look good.

 

[Jchonline]

Good show, tell us how it goes this winter. Personally I have front tire chains and have been Good enough so far.

 

[Rob41]

but heck it does look good.

Well yeah yeah, there is that, lol.

 

[Rob41]

Good show, tell us how it goes this winter. Personally I have front tire chains and have been Good enough so far.

No doubt chains are far superior but I don't want to damage my asphalt driveway......and this was less than $100

 

[ovrszd]

I wouldn't disagree with you on not being able to know the difference. But for all the reading I've done, I have yet to hear anyone say it didn't help for the intended purpose of better winter traction when removing snow. I feel confident based on their experiences that it will help weather I can detect it or not.

I have zero mud/mud puddles on my property or slippery clay. My land is not dry for sure......but not mucky anywhere. And I didn't groove the tires for anything but better traction when I'm using my snow blower in the winter anyway.

If I take the time to cut my tires, the chance of me saying it made no difference is extremely small. So,,, cut your tires. If you require significant improvement on whatever conditions you are operating your tractor, change tire type.

 

[Rob41]

If I take the time to cut my tires, the chance of me saying it made no difference is extremely small. So,,, cut your tires. If you require significant improvement on whatever conditions you are operating your tractor, change tire type.

There aren't a lot of choices out there. R1 isn't even something I'm willing to consider. R14 I might be pleased with but there just isn't a lot of first hand knowledge out there about them. I figured since I have the R4's I might as well try to make them a bit better.

I think I will just keep them and get used to working with them before I try an expensive set of R14's or even chains. It would be nice if their was a truly competent "do all" tire out there but it looks like everything is a compromise. I guess over time I'll just have to find the compromise that fits my needs the best. In my case, it could very well end up being chains for the R4's.....time will tell.

 

[ovrszd]

There aren't a lot of choices out there. R1 isn't even something I'm willing to consider. R14 I might be pleased with but there just isn't a lot of first hand knowledge out there about them. I figured since I have the R4's I might as well try to make them a bit better.

I think I will just keep them and get used to working with them before I try an expensive set of R14's or even chains. It would be nice if their was a truly competent "do all" tire out there but it looks like everything is a compromise. I guess over time I'll just have to find the compromise that fits my needs the best. In my case, it could very well end up being chains for the R4's.....time will tell.

Then cut your tires.

 

[Rob41]

I did

 

[oosik]

I choose R-1's on my M6040. All my tractoring is in dirt or snow. There are those times when I do need the extra traction.

 

[Rob41]

Sounds like you made the right choice. I may even end up going that route if I find I need more traction. I'm just not in a hurry to do it. I don't have any vehicle trails going to and from any of my barns. If that changes, I might as well make the switch then.

 

[oosik]

Rob - if I had your tractor with R-4's - I'd not worry and go with those tires. Time will tell you if you need added traction. Those R-4's will, most likely, last years and years and years.

A good set of chains - Aquitaine, or the like - will provide superior traction to R-1's. And at a much more reasonable price.

 

[Boss 302]

The R-4s will serve you well, I used them for years on my Mahindra

 

[LouNY]

R1's are much better then R4's in mud or wet slick locations. In fresh unpacked snow they are better,
once snow gets packed or made into ice neither one is any good.
Even with good R1 radials in wet snow once that tire spins it makes ice or packed snow and it will not grip.

 

[Liquidsilver]

I could never use turf tires in my 'rock city' - - but a guy I'm working for this winter swears that turf tires work best for tractor snow plowing. I have no idea if he's right.

 

[TractorTYMe]

I grooved my R4's, made a SIGNIFICANT difference on packed wet snow and powder. Ice........well.......there only chains are effective. Before grooving the tires, I couldn't make it up my driveway on 32F snow. That is the border of liquid/freeze and is the worst conditions to deal with. Grooving helped A LOT for those conditions.