Does tire grooving really work?

[dfixit1]

I have 4 tenths of a mile driveway to plow with hills and turns. Gave up on the plow truck because I always ran out of room due to piles and had to get the tractor out to move piles so I could continue to plow. Thought this is stupid and sold plow truck and tractor and purchased a low hour Kubota L4240HSTC-3 and a 72 inch HD pusher. I was having problems with the Industrial R4 tires when temps were twenties or higher. They acted like slicks and when I pushed off road downhill and tried backing out I would be stuck and had to use diff lock and FEL to get out or make a sharp turn to free the tractor.
So I was considering chains, straps but didnt want chains to mess up my concrete pad and barn floor. Then I ran across a post in another forum on tire grooving. Bought a #4 groover off Amazon for 86 bucks. Spent three hours doing the fronts and making a template for rears and another three hours later I was finished!
Long story short, temperature was 27 degrees and I pushed the snow today with the grooved tires. I tried to get stuck and couldnt!
Grooving works!
Special thanks to High Compression for your tire grooving post!
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/tires/233050-trying-tire-grooving-next-mod.html

 

[NHSleddog]

Very nice!

I am borrowing a friends tool this weekend to do my R4's.

 

[dfixit1]

Very nice!

I am borrowing a friends tool this weekend to do my R4's.

I did the fronts freehand but the rears I used a file folder and put it over the rear lugs, rubbed the edges to leave an imprint and cut out. Measured where I wanted the two grooves, marked with a sharpie. Cut out with a razor knife and laid templet over lug and marked lugs with a sharpie and used line on lug as a guide.
Good luck!

 

[NHSleddog]

I did the job last night. It took 2+ casual hours. I was surprised at the lack of smoke doing the job. I was ready for tornado level air evacuation and ended up just keeping the door open. That was a nice surprise.

I used the #4 blade and went about 5/16" deep.

This was totally freehand which is why it went so fast. I also left one partially done to satisfy my Wabi-Sabi nature.

No snow to test on right now but plenty of ice, so far it is a noticeable difference.

 

[L35]

Man, that must be a nice tool to have! Coming to CT anytime soon?

 

[dalola]

Nice work guys! Also considering doing this. Curious why not cut the groove through edge-to-edge, vs centering?

Automotive winter tires are always siped clear through the tread block.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

OK, I have to ask how or why does using a 'snow pusher' work better than a blade ?
To me a snow pusher is a blade with wings, aka a box blade.
Curious as I plowed a LOT of snow over the years with a CJ-5 and 6'6 blade

 

[NHSleddog]

OK, I have to ask how or why does using a 'snow pusher' work better than a blade ?
To me a snow pusher is a blade with wings, aka a box blade.
Curious as I plowed a LOT of snow over the years with a CJ-5 and 6'6 blade

Not better but different.

A pusher carries more snow for pushing/stacking.
Because of the depth, it rides along the ground nicely.
One is better at moving/collecting snow the other is better at pushing it aside quickly.

I have a 6.5' plow that I pin in the bucket and for my needs it is great.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re:..A pusher carries more snow for pushing/stacking.

hmm.. your 'snow pusher' has a bottom, so really a 'bucket' ?

 

[D2Cat]

The pusher is a blade with the ends blocked off so the crumbs can't roll off to the side.

 

[fruitcakesa]

Nice work guys! Also considering doing this. Curious why not cut the groove through edge-to-edge, vs centering?

Automotive winter tires are always siped clear through the tread block.

I have the same question, I just ordered the tire groover as my front R1's are useless in some snow conditions so I will give it a try.
I have chains for the fronts but prefer not to use them unless absolutely necessary, which is rare to never.

 

[NHSleddog]

I have the same question, I just ordered the tire groover as my front R1's are useless in some snow conditions so I will give it a try.
I have chains for the fronts but prefer not to use them unless absolutely necessary, which is rare to never.

No specific reason for not going to the edge or even around the shoulder. It could increase wear but I would not worry about that (depending on the tire size). I liked the look but it did take longer starting/stopping short. Going edge to edge would be faster.

 

[200mph]

Should it be grooves or sipes to help in snow and/or ice?

Most members look to be adding grooves, but wonder if Sipes would be a better choice.

Too bad tire manufactures don't try to improve snow performance on their R4 tires for sizes common to the compact market and provide grooves/sipes as part of the tread design.

Found these tire siping tools on amazon.

Heated: https://www.amazon.com/Allstar-Performance-ALL10266-Heated-Siper/dp/B003TPKJH2/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=tire+groover+tool&qid=1580141676&sr=8-9

Unheated: https://www.amazon.com/Super-Siper-...486DG9GRMAP&psc=1&refRID=7REJXC53E486DG9GRMAP

Blade only: https://www.amazon.com/Tire-Siper-T...ords=tire+groover+tool&qid=1580141676&sr=8-14

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: ...Too bad tire manufactures don't try to improve snow performance on their R4 tires for sizes common to the compact market and provide grooves/sipes as part of the tread design.

they all assume it never snows ??? I'll wager '99.44%' of all tractor time is NOT spent in the snow......

 

[200mph]

they all assume it never snows ??? I'll wager '99.44%' of all tractor time is NOT spent in the snow......

You'd lose if the folks I know that own Kubota BX, B and L tractors were part of the sample population.

 

[coachgeo]

sipes are just very tiny tire groves. Pretty sure a tire grover has blades available for siping.

 

[fruitcakesa]

re: ...Too bad tire manufactures don't try to improve snow performance on their R4 tires for sizes common to the compact market and provide grooves/sipes as part of the tread design.

they all assume it never snows ??? I'll wager '99.44%' of all tractor time is NOT spent in the snow......

I probably spend 3/4th of my operating time on snow.
I do no ag or lawn work and little construction with the M so I am probably an outlier compared to most other folks.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

yeesh, must get a LOT of snow in Vermont !
ever since i built my SSQA snowblower, it's been IN the barn, 35*F here today.

 

[fruitcakesa]

yeesh, must get a LOT of snow in Vermont !
ever since i built my SSQA snowblower, it's been IN the barn, 35*F here today.

Averaged over the years I have owned tractors, we have had regular snow/frozen conditions most years. It is not just snow removal that I do in winter also logging and wood hauling to a large degree.
This year is anomalous in that each time it has snowed 4" or more, [3x so far], it has been followed by warm rainy weather that melts the snow and thaws the ground. Gets pretty sloppy

 

[NHSleddog]

Should it be grooves or sipes to help in snow and/or ice?

Siping is great on small flexible lugs. I do not think they would work well on R4's due to how stiff the lugs are. You would have to cut awfully deep to get them to flex enough for the siping to work.