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

[Dakota_male]

I was afraid that if you had a heavy load in front and tires with chains bitting and not able to spin that the rim might spin in the tire. I have heard of that happening, but sure what conditions or size tractor it happened with.

My front tires are 10-16.5, pressure is 20 psi, smaller tires, side loading for turning could push them off the rim if pressure is too low, my rear tires full tread haven't touched the ground even at 10 psi yet.

 

[k0ua]

Ok it is done, here is the proof

It took me 4 hours, and the last 2 hours the wife came to help.
Hot knife through butter? No, not in January. It was probably 50, but I don't think the tires got up to anywhere near that, as they are full of cold fluid, we have had a cold snap a couple of days ago in the teens. Anyway the tires cut with a lot of effort. The fronts were way easier but I was so tired by the time I got to the fronts I had the wife do about 75 percent of them. She also held her foot on the brake while I was doing the rears and that was a big help to be able to rotate them and have her hold them at the exact place I wanted them. ( I had the rear jacked up.) I figure this is cheap insurance against getting snow, now that they are done, we should not see any more snow this season:laughing: Time will tell.

James K0UA

 

[Dakota_male]

Nice Job K0UA

Looks fine Koua. It is pretty cool here as well, i'll have the same problem, but before i start i was wondering if anyone has tried preheating as you turned the tires using radiant electric heater ?

 

[Bob77064]

Ok it is done, here is the proof

It took me 4 hours, and the last 2 hours the wife came to help.
Hot knife through butter? No, not in January. It was probably 50, but I don't think the tires got up to anywhere near that, as they are full of cold fluid, we have had a cold snap a couple of days ago in the teens. Anyway the tires cut with a lot of effort. The fronts were way easier but I was so tired by the time I got to the fronts I had the wife do about 75 percent of them. She also held her foot on the brake while I was doing the rears and that was a big help to be able to rotate them and have her hold them at the exact place I wanted them. ( I had the rear jacked up.) I figure this is cheap insurance against getting snow, now that they are done, we should not see any more snow this season:laughing: Time will tell.

James K0UA

Looks good, that I was want to do to mine.

 

[k0ua]

Nice Job K0UA

Looks fine Koua. It is pretty cool here as well, i'll have the same problem, but before i start i was wondering if anyone has tried preheating as you turned the tires using radiant electric heater ?

Thanks for the kind words, I thought about an electric heater, but the rears are 3/4 full of fluid, and that is a lot of mass to really change temp very fast.. I don't know it might have helped, you give it a try and let us know. The fronts seemed like maybe a softer rubber compound as they were easier. Or could be since they sat in the sun for a bit and don't have any fluid in them perhaps they heated up some. Anyway I think this would have been a lot easier in the second week of July instead of the second week of January.

James K0UA

 

[nspec]

Been following this thread since last year. I finally ordered the Ideal knife and did mine today. I was in a 50 degree garage and it took about 2 hours total for all 4 tires. Fronts are definitely softer rubber, but I also didn't go as deep. I used the #4 head and went 3/8" deep on the rears and about 1/4" on the fronts. I chose the pattern on the front to give me both pulling traction and to help with sideways slippage. Now I have to wait for it to snow!

For anyone wanting to do this, but unsure of what skill level is needed, don't sweat it. It was very easy to make look good. You won't wreck your tires and you don't need to be an artist.

 

[slowzuki]

The titan fronts are very soft, they only last about 400 hours on my tractor. The rears are at 800 hours with no appreciable wear other than cuts. Just lost their bar codes last year.

I wonder how grooving the R4's affects tire wear during non snow conditions. Out in the woods, climbing over rocks, stumps, etc. Deadman, gladehound keep us apprized!

 

[Bigturk]

I joined the group and groved my Titan R4s today. Like nspec and many others, I used the #4 head, cutting my rears 3/8 deep and about 1/4 on the fronts. It took a good 2 hours and I'm glad my tractor doesn't have more tires. My arms and back were tired. My tires have 268 hours on them and lots of pavement use. If winter every arrives in Nova Scotia, I'll try them out in the snow. The job was not difficult to do.:thumbsup:

 

[Dakota_male]

Nice job on your tires, very warm today +10 C. You picked a good day for doing them.

 

[k0ua]

yeah the warmer the better, I think, My arms and shoulders hurt for about a day after I did mine, and I had to get the wife to help do the fronts, I guess I am a wimp. I haven't had a chance to try them yet, except fill them full of mud, we haven't had any snow since I did them.

James K0UA