Studding your track question

[Birchwood]

I am a new Argo owner and new to the forum. Learning lots of good info on here. I have a 6x6 Frontier with Adair pro series tracks. Living in Northern Wisconsin I’ve had it in deep snow and it works great. I recently tried to climb some icy hills and gravel roadways and the machine is useless on any incline with ice. Was thinking of adding kold kutter studs to outside of track. Looking to find out what kind of pattern is best and if I should expect the performance to greatly improve on icy inclines. Not really interested in adding a full blown cleat system.

[John8x8hdi]

That's an interesting idea, they make cleat extensions on Argo adventure for tracks, which people seem to like. We have the Addair tracks as well, but we mainly run tires in the snow(living in the south). The factory Argo rubber tracks are excellent in snow they can grip anything if you're interested in those.

[John8x8hdi]

Here is the link: https://www.argoadventure.com/Ice-Cl...ts_c_3646.html

[puzle]

I have the ice cleats on my rubber tracks and while they work great most of the time if the ice is very hard and cold it causes an issue with going up a hill as they act like little skates and you will slide down if you loose momentum.
I'm talking about ice that is thick and rock hard so the cleat cannot get any traction. I have also thought about sleds ice spikes that are pointed as they might be able to get traction but have not tired this as it is not that common that I need this.

[Birchwood]

Thanks for the info. The studs are coming today, I’m gonna give it a go and see what happens. I will let you know if it works. We have about 3 inches of rock hard ice covering every road and driveway right now cause of the really warm weather we had a few weeks back. It will be like that for the rest of the winter now. I plan to do every other cross section, any thoughts on pattern or how many studs for each section. I was thinking 3 studs per section in a triangle pattern with two in the front parallel and one centered behind them. Any thoughts on that?

[mowbizz]

Thanks for the info. The studs are coming today, I’m gonna give it a go and see what happens. I will let you know if it works. We have about 3 inches of rock hard ice covering every road and driveway right now cause of the really warm weather we had a few weeks back. It will be like that for the rest of the winter now. I plan to do every other cross section, any thoughts on pattern or how many studs for each section. I was thinking 3 studs per section in a triangle pattern with two in the front parallel and one centered behind them. Any thoughts on that?

With tracks you have so much ground contact I don’t think it will matter what pattern you use. There are going to be lots of studs contacting the ice any way you look at it! Make it look good to yourself and have fun! Post pics after please!

[puzle]

I would think that the pattern would not matter. They do have a WINTER DEEP SNOW GROUSER KIT that would help ice and deep snow.

https://images.app.goo.gl/pNuYVE1fLx37n1G29

[Buzz]

here is a pic of kold kutter studs in a UHMW elevated belt track I built for my big boss. 1” length (including threaded shank). I drilled 1/8” pilot holes before I drove them in. Just a couple studs per grouser seems to bite well enough, even with a shorter track pushing skis w/carbides (6” shaper bars)

[Birchwood]

Thanks Buzz. That gives me some confidence these will work.

[Birchwood]

Put Kold Kutter studs on outside of Adair pro series tracks. Put 3 studs in a triangle shape on every grouser. They worked perfectly. I climbed large steep gravel roads that are plowed and have hard packed snow and ice on them that I couldn’t move on prior to putting on the studs. It was a $27 solution as opposed to a $550 cleat system. They sure make the Argo much more useful for me now since I live in a very hilly and snowy area. Give them a try if your machine won’t move on ice when there is an uphill grade. There was no icy incline that I couldn’t climb.

[puzle]

Thanks for this post. I have the Argo rubber tracks with the ice cleats. The cleats work well on everything but very hard ice as they become skates. I was thinking about putting some gold digger studs to replace the bolts for some of the cleats (read this on this forum somewhere).
That way I do not need to add any other holes to the tracks. But the Kold Kutter studs seem much cheaper so might have a look at them.

[Birchwood]

I think I used #10 5/8 inch Kold Kutter studs. They seem pretty aggressive and sharp. Good luck. I am surprised more folks don’t use studs as opposed to the cleats, they definitely exceeded my expectations. I drilled a 1/8 pilot hole about a quarter inch deep and screwed them in with a nut driver socket set with the drill set on low. The first couple I put in the drill was set to powerful and stripped out the holes and the studs just spinner in the track. If you just gently snug them to the track they hold tight.