OP
Winter snow grooming and ATV riding
- Thread starter jimgerken
- Start date
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jimmyj
Elite Member
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2007
- Messages
- 3,719
- Location
- Ontario Canada
- Tractor
- Allis Chalmers 616 (Two) and a Kioti CK30 HST with loader and backhoe
Very cool. Thanks for resurrecting this thread.
OP
jimgerken
Veteran Member
I started this weekend to build an up-dated version of the roller groomer. The one I showed in earlier pics was only 31 inches wide, and would occasionally try to flip upside down in deep snow on sidehills. It needs to be wider. So the new one is based on three rollers, for a total of 47 inches wide. Also, the shaft eventually bent a little on the small roller so this larger one, having a longer span, needed to be a lot stronger. I built what I call a "3D bar truss" out of solid bar stock inside the roller assembly. It picked up a lot of weight doing this so I probably won't have to add weights once its done. Also, I am leaving space inside the front of the frame area, to later add some more grader sections like a sled drag groomer has. I am being careful to bolt (instead of weld) a lot of stuff as it is still experimental.
Part of the reason for wanting it wider is that I will be pulling it with a JD Gator with tracks. Width between the Gator tracks will be almost 4 feet, so a groomer 4 feet wide pulled behind the tracked Gator will really make a superhighway in one pass. Like about 6 feet wide overall!!! The Gator has more power than the ATV had due to gearing, and is built a lot heavier duty. I have to adapt the tracks to it by fabricating some plates and brackets to mount the anti-flip arms to connect from tracks to Gator lower A-arms. The tracks I kept from the CanAm, they are Apache model.
I can maybe get some pictures on here soon.
Part of the reason for wanting it wider is that I will be pulling it with a JD Gator with tracks. Width between the Gator tracks will be almost 4 feet, so a groomer 4 feet wide pulled behind the tracked Gator will really make a superhighway in one pass. Like about 6 feet wide overall!!! The Gator has more power than the ATV had due to gearing, and is built a lot heavier duty. I have to adapt the tracks to it by fabricating some plates and brackets to mount the anti-flip arms to connect from tracks to Gator lower A-arms. The tracks I kept from the CanAm, they are Apache model.
I can maybe get some pictures on here soon.
atgreene
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2007
- Messages
- 855
- Location
- Sebago, Maine
- Tractor
- 2005 TB135 Excavator with Thumb, Quick Attach System, Ripper tooth, 3' Hydrauic Tilt Clean-up Bucket, Skeleton Bucket, 1986 Kubota 4150 with Loader and Quick Attach with Woods Forks, JD B, 1963 IH 504
Here's a few pics of the groomer I've been using the last couple years as well as the groomer behind my Kubota. Early season grooming goes much better behind the tractor until we have enough snow to work with. Also a couple stuck pics.
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OP
jimgerken
Veteran Member
Wow! Wish we had as much snow as your pics show. This year is really slim so far. I assume you are grooming for snowmobile traffic, judging by the sled groomer you are using. Pulling it with the tractor in early season is a good idea. I bet the loader comes in handy for trees etc.
I finished the basic roller and chassis yesterday at 3 pm, and went out and pulled it over about 8 miles of trail by dark. Nothing broke, and I hit some big darn rocks in places too, that had the roller jumping off the ground. We have only about six inches of snow on the ground now. The Gator is still on wheels and tires, so I let the air pressure down to 8 from normal 15 psi in the Big Horn tires, and went for it. It pulled it very well in FWD. Occasionally I would lock up the rear axle for extreme uphill stretches. Once the tracks are on, the effective gearing is changed to make the rig slower so it gains power somewhat. The traks take some power too of course, but should make up for that with great traction and flotation. I traveled an average of about 7mph, which worked well for the roller action. Any faster and the snow just flies too much and the roller leaves less of a nice imprint pattern in the snow. Any slower is too boring.
I will add more weight to the chassis after I am able to get the tracks on the Gator. For now it is heavy enough, but could do more imprinting for a deeper freeze if it weighed more. And with the tracks, I can pull more weight. Also, I have room in the frame for some more tools to mount, and have some ideas and lots of scrap items to choose from, so that will evolve.
Pics soon hopefully.
I finished the basic roller and chassis yesterday at 3 pm, and went out and pulled it over about 8 miles of trail by dark. Nothing broke, and I hit some big darn rocks in places too, that had the roller jumping off the ground. We have only about six inches of snow on the ground now. The Gator is still on wheels and tires, so I let the air pressure down to 8 from normal 15 psi in the Big Horn tires, and went for it. It pulled it very well in FWD. Occasionally I would lock up the rear axle for extreme uphill stretches. Once the tracks are on, the effective gearing is changed to make the rig slower so it gains power somewhat. The traks take some power too of course, but should make up for that with great traction and flotation. I traveled an average of about 7mph, which worked well for the roller action. Any faster and the snow just flies too much and the roller leaves less of a nice imprint pattern in the snow. Any slower is too boring.
I will add more weight to the chassis after I am able to get the tracks on the Gator. For now it is heavy enough, but could do more imprinting for a deeper freeze if it weighed more. And with the tracks, I can pull more weight. Also, I have room in the frame for some more tools to mount, and have some ideas and lots of scrap items to choose from, so that will evolve.
Pics soon hopefully.
OP
jimgerken
Veteran Member
Heads up! After researching the tracks on the Gator idea, I learned that the ATV tracks were too small for the Gator, so have decided to sell them. Camoplast actually supplies two different sprocket sizes with their track kits for the Gator, an 18 and 17 tooth. This way, the Gator back-to-front differential is defeated and the front pulls just as hard as the rear. Simply putting tracks on that had the same sprocket sizes, like my CanAm Apache track kit has, would make the rear tracks do all the work and the front just drag along, on a Gator that is. The Apache tracks work fune on a ATV that has no back-to-front differential. So the tracks are for sale cheap ($2k). And the new wider roller is not as neatly finished with paint and a stainless steel fender like the original one, but it is working. so the original rolller groomer shown in the pics in this thread is also for sale ($350). I guess if my Gator goes on tracks, it will have to be new UTV tracks from Camoplast.
