Traction $13.00 + 1 hour = EXCELLENT traction on ice!!!!!

Wal · Feb 9, 2004

GrayBeard,

That is certainly one of my fears /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif, but I am desperate for traction. I am going to be keeping a VERY close eye on the status of the screws. I am hoping that the slow speed at which the tires will be operating will NOT cause them to back out. If it looks like they have a tendency to do so, then OUT /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif they will come and I will just wait for the spring thaw /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif.

yooperdave · Feb 9, 2004

I learned the hard way to also do this to my boots while attending Michigan Tech after falling on my butt and providing much humor to all in the area /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif!

The tile floors were pretty noisy when people were walking around with their clicking boots.

Yooper Dave

AndyM · Feb 9, 2004

( The tile floors were pretty noisy when people were walking around with their clicking boots. )

But it makes for some great dance numbers... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

MadReferee · Feb 9, 2004

The sheet metal drive screws (we usually used 5/8") in the motorcycle tires rarely, if ever, came out and the tire was spinning much, much faster than a tractor's tire ever would. Also the screws were never screwed in fully, we always left them an 1/8" or so out which gave a better bite. If I were you I would not worry about them coming out.

Wal · Feb 9, 2004

Mad,

Now THATS what I wanted to hear /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

jmc · Feb 9, 2004

Wal,

Thanks to you and others for posting this solution. I'll try it on my driveway from hell rather than buying chains.

On a hard surface, is the tractor perched up on screw heads or do the heads mush into the rubber enough for the rubber to contact? I don't want to severely mark up my new barn floor sealer!

John

Wal · Feb 9, 2004

John,

Since my barn floor is plain, old concrete I really can't tell very well whats going on under the tires. Now if I had a glass floor with a crawlspace underneath . . . . . /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Seriously though, I am pretty sure the screw heads would mark up your floor over time /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif But man, could you ever laugh at the ice on your road and driveway /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

MadReferee · Feb 9, 2004

Depends on how many screws you use and the weight of your tires. Due to the hardness of the tire rubber, the screw heads will most likely NOT sink into the tire rubber when they are in contact with a solid surface like concrete. On an R4 you are going to use a ton of screws so you are probably going to sit on the hex heads. Scratching your floor is a distinct possibility, no, its probable that it will happen.

RalphVa · Feb 9, 2004

I've decided to buy a set of 4 Ag tires with tubes/rims for my Gravely and possibly put screws into the lugs for when I have to remove the outer set of wheels to use my snow blower.

This is all because I hung a chain on a brake retainer spring the first snow we had and chucked the chains. Worked okay but don't have enough traction to pull the sulky with my snow plow pushing.

I've decided to let Uncle Sam pay for my 4wd tractor. So, it'll be 9-10 months before I get one to spell the Gravely.

The chains would allow use of the sulky (me sitting on it) while snow plowing and allow use of the HEAVY snow blower on the front. However, it is rough on the tractor. On the sulky, you don't feel it. I remember once riding in a station wagon in the deep snow with chains on it once up near Buffalo when we and friends went out to eat one night.

Ralph

frank_f15 · Feb 9, 2004

( Also the screws were never screwed in fully, we always left them an 1/8" or so out which gave a better bite. )

just the question i was going to ask. but leaving them sticking, would that not make them more liable to expell from the tire?