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

[Deadman]

OMG, I drove my tractor today! :thumbsup:

I plowed snow, and I plowed in 2 wheel drive. Its like a Bulldozer now. I think it must honestly have MORE THAN TWICE the traction. It would even back out of the ditch in 2 wheel drive. Before, it would just spin on the icy snow. It pushed old frozen snowbanks back like crazy in 2wd, and it would push snow right over the top of the bucket without spinning a tire. When it DID spin, it actually spun down to the dirt and got traction and kept moving. before when it spun, you instantly stopped.

I when in 4x4 and drove thru the woods in snow 10-24 inches deep. It would drive ANYWHERE it would before and never even think of spinning. When i got in drifts and made it spin, it would spin down thru the icy snow, and dig into the dirt. When it dug into the dirt, it would let out a puff of Black smoke, and instantly climb right out! before, it would icy down the snow under the tires and sit there and spin. it would NEVER ever dig thru.

I think saying it has twice the traction is honestly an understatement. I personally think its closer to 2.5-3 times the traction. Its absolutely Amazing.

I would suggest this to anyone. Only thing I would change, would be to cut my fronts with one size larger knife. I can always do that, but I'm loving it so far.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[DAY]

Sounds like you got an after-market bid'nez idea, podnuh! post some video, and we'll sell stock in the company. Like that old song- Long Tall Sally- goes; "Slippin' and a slidin', sipin' and a groovin'". . .

 

[gladehound]

Never did this- hope the jpegs load.

The 850 was a golf course mower; blade is a Tractor Supply cheapo.
The Ford 4500 does a better job- and the backhoe gets me out of trouble!

Day - for some reason I can't see the pictures. Can you try to post them again?

 

[gladehound]

OMG, I drove my tractor today! :thumbsup:

I plowed snow, and I plowed in 2 wheel drive. Its like a Bulldozer now. I think it must honestly have MORE THAN TWICE the traction. It would even back out of the ditch in 2 wheel drive. Before, it would just spin on the icy snow. It pushed old frozen snowbanks back like crazy in 2wd, and it would push snow right over the top of the bucket without spinning a tire. When it DID spin, it actually spun down to the dirt and got traction and kept moving. before when it spun, you instantly stopped.

I when in 4x4 and drove thru the woods in snow 10-24 inches deep. It would drive ANYWHERE it would before and never even think of spinning. When i got in drifts and made it spin, it would spin down thru the icy snow, and dig into the dirt. When it dug into the dirt, it would let out a puff of Black smoke, and instantly climb right out! before, it would icy down the snow under the tires and sit there and spin. it would NEVER ever dig thru.

I think saying it has twice the traction is honestly an understatement. I personally think its closer to 2.5-3 times the traction. Its absolutely Amazing.

I would suggest this to anyone. Only thing I would change, would be to cut my fronts with one size larger knife. I can always do that, but I'm loving it so far.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Hard to believe isn't it! It really does work well!

 

[Deadman]

Its like being in 4wd, when you are only in 2wd! I can't wait to try it when I actually NEED 4wd! :licking:

 

[rankrank1]

Gladehound, Deadman, or others:

More R1 tires in circualtion on old tractors as compared to R4 tires - and definitely more old 2wd tractors than 4wd modern tractors. How much do you guys think the grooving/siping could help the R1 ag tires - and especially those owners with only 2wd?

Is grooving/siping a viable alternative to tire chains or screw-in tire studs for the 2wd owners?

 

[Deadman]

Grooves will help a ton in snow, and hard snow/ice, but in bare ice you will need chains or studs.

Grooving a R1 can help for sure, but the lug is narrower and you might not have enough "meat" to groove and leave enough strong rubber behind to hold up to abuse.

 

[gladehound]

Here is what I did to mine. Cuts are about 1/8 x 1/8

I would love to hear from 3Bladz on how the gooving worked on the Ags since he's the one who has tried this.

In addition to having less meat to hold up to abuse, they also have less surface area on the lug to hold snow which could limit the potential of this method.

Is it a viable alternative to chains??? I think that depends on what you are doing and how your tractor is set up. I have been impressed by my ice traction. But no, it is not like a set of v-bar chains in ice. The question is... is it enough. I would think that with a heavy 3pt weight and well gooved tires, a 2wd with ags would do fine in snow. As I mentioned before, I've plowed in 2wd (thinking I was in 4wd) and not realize it until I tried to back up an icy hill (a worse case senario for 2wd). And keep in mind my tractor is front heavy, which is OK because it is 4wd. But if you have 2wd, the key is getting as much of the weight as possible on the rears, and this means a very heavy 3pt weight.

 

[DAY]

Here is the jpeg- again. Hope it stays here!

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=200388&stc=1&d=1297691882

 

[Deadman]

Groove those bad boys! :thumbsup: