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Screw-On Studs For Boots And Tires
“When weather conditions become icy and make walking treacherous, you can add screw-on Grip Studs to your boots - or your tires,” says Bryan Schwartz, national sales manager at Grip Studs.com, Merlin, Oregon.
“Grip Studs work great for any kind of work or play around the farm when the ground is slippery,” says Schwartz, whose company makes the screw-in studs for any kind of boot. They also make Grip Studs for tires that can be used on everything from tractors to skid loaders, forklifts, cars, trucks, and 4-wheelers.
The studs are made from tempered steel with a welded tungsten carbide rod as the contact point. “Carbide is one of the hardest metals on earth, which makes Grip Studs extremely durable and long wearing. You can get years of service out of one set of boot studs,” says Schwartz.
He says that unlike typical sheet metal-style studs, Grip Studs have a wide-auger, self-tapping thread design that makes them easy to install without the need for pre-drilling. “The wide-auger thread design gives the studs great holding power, unlike sheet metal-style threads that allow movement farther in or out of the rubber,” says Schwartz.
The studs are designed with a notch on each side, and to install them the company sells a specially designed tool that chucks into a cordless drill. The tool has 2 prongs that fit into the notches. Also available is a manual driver handle tool, which can be slid into an adjustable magnetic screwdriver equipped with a removable tip. The company recommends installing 14 Grip Studs per boot sole.
Grip Studs can be removed and re-installed the following season. “In fact, many of our customers use this method to stretch the lifespan of their studs in both footwear and equipment,” says Schwartz. “The drive tool notches are buried into the rubber when installed to target depth, and therefore protected from abrasion. To withdraw Grip Studs just reverse the stud back out with the bit. For best results we recommend you don’t install the studs into the exact same location as done the previous season, but instead move to the left or right of it.”
According to Schwartz, Grip Studs are a great alternative to tire chains on some kinds of equipment, such as the newer tractors on the market being used for snow removal. “Many of the modern models lack clearance around their tires to effectively use tire chains. Grip Studs protrude from the tire less than 1/4 in.
“Another benefit to using Grip Studs instead of tire chains is the efficiency they create. You can safely travel up to 65 mph with Grip Studs installed, compared to an average of 20 to 30 mph with tire chains.”
He says another ideal application for Grip Studs is on rubber track skid loaders. “These machines are inherently horrible on ice. They perform worse than rubber-tired skid loaders because of the way they distribute weight. They apply only about 1 lb. per sq in. of pressure to the ground, which causes them to slide easily.”
Grip Studs are available in various thread depths and tip lengths to fit a wide range of rubber tires and tracks.
A boot kit pack of Grip Studs that includes 28 studs along with a manual installation tool sells for $44.95 plus S&H.  
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Grip Studs, P.O. Box 539, Merlin, Oregon 97532 (ph 541 476-1928, ext. 14; gsinfo@gripstuds.com; www.gripstuds.com).


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2020 - Volume #44, Issue #6