winter traction solutions

[Bert]

Tires look Great 
Be interesting to see how the bolts wear and the longevity of the bolts riding on gravel.

[sargesyclone]

I was thinking about cleats that they sell for sleds. But right now to cold and over 12" of snow in the last week so I put it off for now

[poolboytoo]

I bought a stud sharpener on ebay for $35 shipped.(used) It should be here in a few days. By this weekend I should have all the bolts sharpened.

I thought about using those cleats, but deceided to try the bolts first. I plan on riding on the frozen, icey trails with these tires.

[funyun]

The reason the rears are slipping is because the bolts are too long imo. Arent the usual ice studs alot smaller and there is alot more of them?

[poolboytoo]

The reason they were slipping is because they were flat on the ends. I spent about 5-6 hours Saturday sharpening the 168 bolts in the rear tires to a 4 sided point. Building these tires are very labor intensive. I guess I have maybe 15-20 hours invested. So how did they work after sharpening, you ask?

There was so much traction I would pull a wheelie at any given time -they are fantastic. I road on the ice and snow packed gravel roads Sunday and had a blast. We road for 25 miles or so And when we were done the bolts had only worn off the very sharp point but they still hook-up great.  Even though the fronts were not sharp the still turn very well. I think I will sharpen the fronts to a 3 sided point. Over all I am glad I built the tires .  I will update on how long they last  Oh, they are very heavy. I will weigh them this week and let you guys know

[Krandall]

did you use just plain standard bolts? I wonder if you had used a hardened or grade 8 if they'd last any longer.

[Bert]

I wonder what the price difference is for a hardened bolt?


poolboy - how much $ you have into your tires?

[poolboytoo]

I used 5/16 X 2''     316 stainless steel for the back tires ( I got them for free) the fronts are 5/16 X 1.5'' grade 5 just because was the length fit the tire lugs. grade 8 bolts were a little more expensive   $62.50 for 200 grade 5 bolts and 200 nylon lock nuts I used zinc coated washers from Menard's they were only like $10.00 or so. Tires were like 65$ each (all 4 were bought new) I figured the solid lugs would hold the bolts in better. JMO I used a bigger washer on the inside and one that just fit the lug on the outside. I guess you could go in between the lugs and use shorter bolts.

I tried to sharpen a bolt ( after my tires were done) on the bench grinder and it worked pretty well. You would have to make sure the threads are clean so you can thread the nut on after you grind them.

I was going to build regular ice racing tires with the ice screws but I was planning on riding on the frozen trails and people told me they would get dull real fast.

The snowmobile stud sharpener did not work to sharpen the raw bolts. It would sharpen them after I ground them down but I think it would just wear down faster. only paid 35$ for a used sharpener (30 degree) maybe a 60 degree would have been better but to buy one new is 65-70$ 

I did buy a tungstun steel carbide burr rasp for a die grinder that really worked great, but I put it in my roto-zip and burned it up after about an hour of grinding.  ( You need a real die grinder for this) I hade to finish with my 4 1/2'' angle grinder with a wheel that was made for grinding stainless. ( The regular metal one I used first didn't grind it off as fast .

[Nick]

OH MY GERD THAT LOOKS BAD ASS 
I used my chains from my honda accord and just had to cut off a little slack, they worked good, but i'm kina scared to have one come flying off at me, lol., My friend just used regular studs and it was like driving on tar on glare ice, wheelies at will. I been thinking of studding mine, hey randy! dinner date  stud!?? lol if you want to river ride help me stud... !!!
and used  paddles before but if you hit glare ice on those lol, it sucks.