L1801 Custom Tires

[meanjean]

L1801

I wasn't getting the bite needed for blowing snow.
The rice tires were less than adequate at providing traction.

I found a set of dual ladder chains on Kijiji. $50
One set would cover 2 tires. They came off a semi truck.
I moved the "rungs" over to 1 set, gives me twice as many rungs per set now.

I put them on the rice tires and was greatly disappointed. The chains simply rode between the tire lugs rendering them useless.

New plan.
I bought a pair of milk truck tires from a scrap yard, $50.

Had a pair of plates fabricated with the proper bolt pattern and a 4.25 inch center hole. This is where the axel rides.
My Dad sourced the plates for me. He was quoted $125. Yeah well that was $125 PER plate....$258 later.

Welded the plates to the rims, drilled holes thru the rim, added tires chains.

AWESOME

All said and done it was $358 in material and a few hours of time.
Much better than the $800 as quoted for turf tires.

 

[dusty-t]

Hey Meanjean. Cool fix. It cost you some money but if it works then it is worth it. Dusty

 

[meanjean]

Thanks for the kind words.

I could have saved a few bone$ on the metal plates.
Tires and chains for $100, that's a deal.

This solution would work on MANY different models.
Very easy to do.
I would recommend looking at this as an option for anyone considering turf tires.

 

[Wildfire]

That was pretty smart thinking there. Sure nice when it works out and even nicer you took the time to post it because you just know there are others out there with the same issues. Good stuff and great thread.

 

[Michael]

That is creative as hell! I love it! They look aggresive too.

Great Idea but now they need to be painted orange

 

[meanjean]

I had some tire chain left over from my tire chain project.
I was able to add an additional 12 rungs to each tire, went from 18 to 30.
Awesome!
I'm going to have enough traction to pull the world of its axis.

Tire on the right has the extra rungs.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I'm considering doing the same thing with a set of 8ply studded snow tires that I have lying around. I already have a set of doubled up chains for it.
Does it give you all the traction that you wanted?

 

[meanjean]

Ive got all the traction I will ever neeed.
I also added about 70lbs of washer fluid to each tire for weight.