RE: (ET) Sorrrreee

[Larry Elie <lelie ford com>]

Tires.....

Chris wrote, in answer to Dan;

----------
From:   Christopher Meier[SMTP:Christopher Meier cwix com]
Sent:   Saturday, January 30, 1999 11:23 PM
To:     daniel laser net; elec-trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu
Subject:        RE: (ET) Sorrrreee

;Chains no longer fit...; larger chains hit on wheel well?
;Clearance around the wheel well area -- don't forget flipping the
;rim for a different offset.

Good point.  However, my ORIGINAL tires were 'Firestone' (just a label; 
they 
don't make little tires like these) with STUDS!  When I replaced, I could 
not 
even find a tire that would take studs.  I would have used either ceramic 
studs 
(not serious wear to your driveway) or as I have seen ice-racers use; 
short 
machine screws in each hole.  The screws have the advantage that you 
can take them out for summer.  The problem was that I couldn't find tires 
with stud holes.  Any suggestions?

;How much additional diameter can be fit in the well, enough to give
;any significant increase in the tire contact patch size?

You could modify or remove part of the fenders.  Really, the different 
height 
is for clearance and for soft earth, not snow plowing.  Yes, you could 
also 
change the pully(s) and belt(s) to preserve the same ground speeds and 
torques.  The CG will move up significantly, and you will probably do sod 
damage when you use the machine in summer.  You also might need to 
put bigger tires on the front.  A lot of work.  BTW, there is about 1" of 
axle/hub 
adjustment in addition to the rim flip, at least on mine.

;If you're interested in better winter performance, would decreasing
;the width help by increasing lb/sq-inch on the contact patch?

For winter, yes.  But give me my studs any day.

Larry Elie