rcio7684
Bronze Member
I live on a property that is all hills, my driveway included and since this will be my first winter with my new GC1723, I was concerned with traction and how the R-4 tires that came on it would perform. I read what seemed like a million threads on this site about the R-4's traction (or lack thereof) in snow and in snow on hills, which gave me some concern. We get heavy wet snow every year and storms that dump a foot, or more a few times a year. I previously had a JD X500 with a snow blower and HDAP tires, which worked well, except in the heavy wet snow.
I considered grooving the R-4's, but if they didn't work, then I had tires that would possibly be hard to sell as I'm going to sell the R-4's. I also thought about getting chains and adding more suitcase weights, but didn't want to damage my paved driveway with the chains, which is fairly steep and runs uphill to the road. Since a tire sipe, or the chains and weights would cost me a decent sum, I started researching tire choices and came across the Carlisle Versa Turf tires at TYB forums. There were also some good videos from Tractor Time With Tim, Good Works Tractors and Messicks about the versa turfs and traction, both on grass and in the snow. Good Works (located in snowy Michigan) had some very positive reviews of the Versa Turf's snow traction and the owner runs them on his tractors.
After all the research, my decision was to go with the Versa Turfs and hope they will give me the traction I need. I figure between the new tires, 4WD and suitcase weights, I should have enough traction in winter to do the job and hopefully they will be fine while mowing too. Since I am all ready for the winter snows, mother nature will laugh at me and we probably won't get much...
Here is a couple of pics with the new Versa Turf's
I considered grooving the R-4's, but if they didn't work, then I had tires that would possibly be hard to sell as I'm going to sell the R-4's. I also thought about getting chains and adding more suitcase weights, but didn't want to damage my paved driveway with the chains, which is fairly steep and runs uphill to the road. Since a tire sipe, or the chains and weights would cost me a decent sum, I started researching tire choices and came across the Carlisle Versa Turf tires at TYB forums. There were also some good videos from Tractor Time With Tim, Good Works Tractors and Messicks about the versa turfs and traction, both on grass and in the snow. Good Works (located in snowy Michigan) had some very positive reviews of the Versa Turf's snow traction and the owner runs them on his tractors.
After all the research, my decision was to go with the Versa Turfs and hope they will give me the traction I need. I figure between the new tires, 4WD and suitcase weights, I should have enough traction in winter to do the job and hopefully they will be fine while mowing too. Since I am all ready for the winter snows, mother nature will laugh at me and we probably won't get much...
Here is a couple of pics with the new Versa Turf's
