OT: Making old tires bite better

You might try "Hot Lap" traction compound... or a little bleach and a wire brush. Jeg's sells the Hot Lap compound, which makes the tires grip better by opening up the "pores" in the tire surface, supposedly... it doesn't make them too much softer though because they still pass the durometer test (sometimes):

We're not supposed to use it... but it works real well! >;-} There's more info here: David

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (ShakasCaregiver) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m28.aol.com:

You might try a racer's trick with some VHT.

Questions for you, Scott. Are you needing the traction with the hopes of plowing this driveway, or are you just trying to get up the driveway to put the tractor away? If you are trying to plow - I really don't think there is anything you can do to the tires to give you the traction you need - other than possibly adding some weight to a weight box mounted to the back end of the tractor. If you are just trying to get up the hill - and *don't* want to add weight to the tractor, you may try "shaping" the knobs on the tires, possibly with a 4" grinder - REMEMBERING it's the BOTTOM of the tires that are touching the concrete. If you have fairly large knobs on the tires you could bevel the top of the knob (when the knob is on the top of the tire, you could grind it so the forward edge is HIGHER than the trailing edge so when the knob rotates down around and comes in contact with the concrete you will have a "cutting edge" gripping the concrete rather than a "flat pad") This would also provide a little more lbs/sqft pressure at the leading edge of the knob. After all, you said the tires were old, cracked and hard anyway, so what can you lose? Hope this helps. Ken.

Have you tried filling the tires with water/antifreeze?

We used to use bleach on old, balding tires to get us through the infrequent snowfalls in Vancouver. It was a long time ago and I don't remember how hard it was on the tires. I do remember passing a cop going up Burnaby Mtn. in a '51 Austin with bleached tires, the cop was having a tough go of it and we just rolled on by. That's heaven for a teenager. Brian, in Cedar

You could get the tires siped, which would improve traction a little. google for the words tire sipe or see eg

(which also has links and that show sipe cutting head and machine in use)

A strip of indoor/outdoor carpet, or runners of gritty stair-tread tape, or painted strips of epoxy-sand mix on the driveway surface might work.

-jiw

Since you are *almost* able to make it now, any little improvement might be enough. 1.) Spray belt dressing on the treads. 2.) Wipe the treads with some solvent which attacks the rubber, making it slightly tacky. Printers use something called "deglazer" to make their rubber rollers carry ink better. That might work.

a little tip -- add weight to the wheels instead of the tractor, and only the wheels bear the weight

much kinder to axles and bearings

I was thinking bleach too, that's what drag racers use (used?). Ethylene glycol also effects rubber without shortening it's life and may increase traction.

Or perhaps the driveway (if concrete) could be cleaned with a strong solution of muriatic acid. That would take some of the slickness away.

Dick

You could try what the railroad locomotives use and carry a small bucket of sand.

Have you ever worn a pair of felt soled shoes? They're great for navigating slippery rocks. How about trying some lengths of old carpeting around the circumference of the wheels? It should have the same gripping effect that felt has. Note that most indoor carpet uses water soluble glue (from what I've heard), so indoor/outdoor carpet might be best if used in wet conditions.

Yeah, Jon, but the cement blocks keep flopping over and over and the rope I tied the blocks to the tires with keeps coming untied.... Ken.

Go to the local tractor dealer and get a fitting (female garden hose/female valve stem) a common item for a tractor owner. Fill the rear tires with water instead of air Problem solved!

T B>Since you are *almost* able to make it now, any little improvement might be

another tactic may be to make sure you don't have the tires too highly pressurized. The old hard rubber tires before the air filled ones were subject to slipping due to the small tire to ground footprint. The ability of a pressureized tire to deform where it touches the ground gives it a bigger footprint and therefore greater traction. Sandbuggies on the outer islands used to lower their tire pressure when leaving the road to venture onto the beaches, because it gave better traction in the slippery sand. Try a lower pressure than you are presently running. I know they say to keep you tires up to pressure on cars, but this is not a car, but a tractor. Old tires also lose their native oil over the years and become more hard and brittle and therefore have less traction than a new tire at the same pressure, maybe the belt dressing will work, but I would expect it will only work for a little while as it will not penetrate too deeply. New tires is really the answer, but I bet lowering the tire pressure will work in the short run too and put off spending any green for a little while.

not water if you live in a cold environment. Get some CalciumChloride from the tractor dealer.

Take this idea to its logical conclusion and you get:

I've been toying with the idea of making a set of these for my garden tractor for snow plowing/blowing in the winter.