So when I attempted to run the gambler 500 over by portland the GPS lead me down a "road" that hasn't been a road for over 30 years, in my 2wd 96 dodge ram,in the fog...Needless to say I got stuck.That weekend I called a local towing company because they had a 4x4 tow truck.They brought the tow truck and the owner's squarebody chevy on 37-39" tires,with a 5.9 cummins,and a rear locker.The tow truck couldn't make it down to my truck but the chevy could.once they got down there they decided to go back up to the tow truck and get more chains,shovels,etc.Along the way there is a 17% grade that is roughly 1200 ft long that is all muddy.That built chevy had such a hard time with that hill climb that they said the truck was impossible to get out of there.So now I'm gonna try again this time with a couple of built 4x4 vehicles with lockers front and rear,big tires,and winches,etc. To help out I built a set of steel paddle or ag tires, whatever you want to call them.I found a couple of 15x8 5x5.5 wheels and I welded 4 pieces of angle iron to them so they stuck straight out giving the steel "tires" a diameter of roughly 31-32".The idea is that as the wheels rotate the pieces of angle iron will sink into the ground and provide a ton of traction.Hopefully.After spending the better part of 3 hours welding I have 1 wheel done and I need to get started on the second.Without having the truck here I have no way of testing them to see how effective they work because everything else I have is not that bolt pattern nor could it handle tires that big.So I'm wondering if 4 angle iron spikes sticking straight up would be enough or if I should add 4 more spikes?The angle iron is some chunks of 3x3 that I got at a friend's house and currently the "V" is pointing in the direction of travel like tractor tires.The angle iron is welded to the rim with 3 passes on each side with my lincoln 140C cranked up as high as it will go so I'm not worrying about them breaking loose,bending maybe but breaking no.
