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

[dragoneggs]

Well, back to topic... The other night I borrowed my neighbors tire groover (thanks KenB2920) ... And grooved the tires on my Massey. Soooo easy! I think I had the whole thing done in under 1.5hrs. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/snow-removal/400243-cutting-groving-siping-r-4-a-forumrunner_20141126_133227-png"/> <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/snow-removal/400244-cutting-groving-siping-r-4-a-forumrunner_20141126_133239-png"/> <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/snow-removal/400245-cutting-groving-siping-r-4-a-forumrunner_20141126_133250-png"/>

Looking good!

 

[Garandman]

Pretty sure they're these: Nokian Tri2

Tractor - Nokian Heavy Tyres

good luck finding those...

There are dozens of Nokian dealers throughout the snow belt and their U.S. Headquarters is in VT. Their line of Hakkapeliita snow tires are widely considered The Best. I've even switched our two cars from Michelin summer/AS to the Nokian eNtyre, as they cost a bit less and perform better.

 

[Garandman]

Good thread.



The siped tractor tires remind me of Yokohama's Geolander mud tires, which I had on a truck of mine. They were the best all around mud tire....Notice how the treads on the edges are sloped (somebody mentioned not seeing tires w/ sloped tread blocks - they're out there, just more for mud).

Nokian R snow tires. Probably to provide lateral traction for cornering, as well as to prevent hydroplaning.

Apparently it worked as the R2 introduced last year is:

How winter tire sipes work.

 

[PhysAssist]

My gang uses a tire cutter a LOT on 4x4 rigs.

I used it on my previous tractor's rear R4s. Noticed a marked improvement on snow and especially on hard packed dirt. Sorry I don't have better pics.

View attachment 399615View attachment 399616View attachment 399617View attachment 399618

Hi Ovrszd,

What size tip did you use to make those awesome grooves?

Great pictures- don't apologize!

Garandman,

I'm not sure if it's this thread or an earlier, but there was a lively discussion [? and some testing?] of grooving vs siping that as best I can recall said that siping was more useful to get water out from under the contact patch for cars and trucks driving on asphalt roads at speed in wet conditions, but didn't open the tread enough to get better gripping force on snow or ice.

YMMV, but I can't cite personal evidence because I'm still trying to find enough free [previously unallocated by my domestic boss-lady and emergent repair issues] time to groove my tires before we get the real deal snowfall that we here in the middle of the lake plain have been able to avoid getting so far [unlike a lot of my friends and family further west in the Buffalo area/Erie Co townships].

Thomas

 

[PhysAssist]

What did you do with all the "worms"?.. When I did my old Kubota, I looked at them and thought they should be good for something, but I couldn't think of a thing to use them for, so I threw them in the trash.

:fishing: ??Artificial bait for fishing?? :fishing:

 

[Garandman]

Well, grooved the tires today and to start with I was thinking you guys were really fast and really skilled. Note to self: next time you use an electrically heated tool, be sure the outlet works, first.

Once I was actually heating the iron it went pretty fast. I put a jack under each front wheel to turn it, the. Lowered back down. Jacked up each rear wheel just off the ground and rotated it with the engine in gear.

 

[ovrszd]

Well, grooved the tires today and to start with I was thinking you guys were really fast and really skilled. Note to self: next time you use an electrically heated tool, be sure the outlet works, first.

Once I was actually heating the iron it went pretty fast. I put a jack under each front wheel to turn it, the. Lowered back down. Jacked up each rear wheel just off the ground and rotated it with the engine in gear.

Now that's funny!!!! Kinda makes ya feel silly doesn't it?? That's how I felt with the "not let it warm up first" plan.

 

[tjcarguy]

I didn't read all the posts but last time I retreaded I used a sharp chainsaw ---Trevor

 

[Garandman]

A boy and his tractor, you can see how the grooves pick up snow.

 

[TSO]

KenB2920 stopped by last night and finished Siping the rest of his treads...



The live action vid below shows how easy.

http://youtu.be/ny0FIm0SCOs