Trying the tire grooving for next mod

High Compression · Feb 3, 2012

Hey all. Going down my list of mods. Grooving the tires for the winter traction was pretty important to me. All of my other tractors that I have owned in the past and used to push snow with had turf tires. They always gave me excellent traction even in icy conditions. Enough to push a full blade on ice. I learned that they would be difficult to get and a long wait for turf tires on the Grand L. So I decided to try grooving. I bought my groover on ebay with #4 (approx. 1/4") blades and gave it a shot. It was a lot easier than I expected. I did try something a little different than others that I had seen. Using the theory that more biting edges are beneficial in the snow and ice, then I decided to put 2 small grooves on the back lugs instead of one larger one. We'll see. Snow is missing us this year. Last year at this time we had over 40". This year .5" Anyway, here are some pix. Enjoy.:thumbsup:

V1Rotate · Feb 3, 2012

Nice looking tires, I like the double grooves.

Bilko · Feb 3, 2012

Very nice job, looks like it was done at the factory!

rsewill · Feb 3, 2012

Looks nice! I imagine that took more than a few hours.

High Compression · Feb 4, 2012

V1Rotate said:
Nice looking tires, I like the double grooves.

Thanks. I thought I'd give them a try.

Bilko said:
Very nice job, looks like it was done at the factory!

Thank you. That was my intention second to better traction.:laughing:

rsewill said:
Looks nice! I imagine that took more than a few hours.

Well I didn't really time myself. I know the fronts only took an hour. For the back, since I wanted to use the double grooves, and the the treads are asymmetrical I made a cardboard template. So if you include the making of the template and the grooving time, i would guess 1.5-2
hrs on the back. So not terrible. And I didn't do them at the same time. I did the fronts one evening and backs another day. In my opinion, well worth the time.

20 20 · Feb 4, 2012

High Compression: I posted on another thread about grooving, aren't you concerned with tearing up the tires? I own rubber tracked machines and have seen the damage that can happen with chunks ripping off. Seems like you'd be opening yourself up to a possible rubber chunker looser{

}, just a thought.
I also live where there is a lot of ice this time of year{especially this year} and will say I don't care how many grooves are in a rubber tire it aint going to make a lick of difference on traction. The only thing that will help would be chains cleats or studs.

4shorts · Feb 4, 2012

That looks pretty good. I haven't had a traction issue with mine but it gave me an idea for some other applications. Good job my friend :thumbsup:

Bilko · Feb 4, 2012

And I thought you did it free hand!!! Lol

Don87 · Feb 5, 2012

Great job. Looks good:thumbsup:

High Compression · Feb 6, 2012

20 20 said:
High Compression: I posted on another thread about grooving, aren't you concerned with tearing up the tires? I own rubber tracked machines and have seen the damage that can happen with chunks ripping off. Seems like you'd be opening yourself up to a possible rubber chunker looser{}, just a thought.
I also live where there is a lot of ice this time of year{especially this year} and will say I don't care how many grooves are in a rubber tire it aint going to make a lick of difference on traction. The only thing that will help would be chains cleats or studs.

I too have owned many pieces of equipment with rubber tracks. 4 mini excavators, 1 mid size excavator and 3 directional bore machines. I know what your saying. But tracks and tires are apples and oranges.
On the flip side, if a tire doesn't spin due to loss of traction, it can't rip it's self apart. There is another TBN'r that posted his tires after a year of use with the tires grooved and I would say that they were less worn after 400 hrs, than if they had not been grooved. I'm sure that if you groove too deep and also cut all the way through the ends of the lugs, that you would open yourself up to potential damage, but we'll see. I generally put about 250 hrs per machine per snow season, so I will post pix in a year or so. If it tears up my tires, I will be sure to let all the TBN'rs know that it is a potential risk. All I know is that I can not complain one bit about a loaded turf tire on snow and ice. All of those biting edges do make a difference, and they have been giving me enough traction on ice to push a plow full for years. They also wear well because I'm not spinning the whole time.