Figure'd I'd post this up for you guys that have thought about doing this. Let me start out by saying that I bought a set of home cut 39.5x18 boggers that just had the small lugs ground off a few years back and have been slowly touching them up ever since. Here is what they looked like when I bought them:
My buddy and co-builder took some time with a 90* small air grinder and sanding disks to clean them up, smooth and back cut the lugs and used a grinder wheel to start the scooping process of the lugs. Pic in progress:
I ran them like that for the last 2 years and I finally decided they were not light enough so I bought a tire groover from Speedway motors. It's the cheap 250 watt unit that comes with a #4 head and blades. I bought the #8 head and flat bottom blades as well and have been slowly playing. So far I cut the sidewalls and working on the main tire carcass and have cut around 7/32 out of the center but around a 1/4" from the outter edge/corner radius of the tires! This process has been time consuming and I only get time to do a little at a shot, but I can already feel the weight different of before and after. I am down to the thin rubber membrane just above the cords and will leave it there. After I get the other tire cut down to the same, I will open the depth of the cutter and scoop the lugs more. Here's another pic of the start to where I'm cut to on the side for reference:
I'll keep updating with pics when I scoop out and back cut the lugs for finals. I'm just posting this for those that have a set of older tires and can't afford new cuts so you can do it yourself and get a little better traction in the process.
My buddy and co-builder took some time with a 90* small air grinder and sanding disks to clean them up, smooth and back cut the lugs and used a grinder wheel to start the scooping process of the lugs. Pic in progress:
I ran them like that for the last 2 years and I finally decided they were not light enough so I bought a tire groover from Speedway motors. It's the cheap 250 watt unit that comes with a #4 head and blades. I bought the #8 head and flat bottom blades as well and have been slowly playing. So far I cut the sidewalls and working on the main tire carcass and have cut around 7/32 out of the center but around a 1/4" from the outter edge/corner radius of the tires! This process has been time consuming and I only get time to do a little at a shot, but I can already feel the weight different of before and after. I am down to the thin rubber membrane just above the cords and will leave it there. After I get the other tire cut down to the same, I will open the depth of the cutter and scoop the lugs more. Here's another pic of the start to where I'm cut to on the side for reference:
I'll keep updating with pics when I scoop out and back cut the lugs for finals. I'm just posting this for those that have a set of older tires and can't afford new cuts so you can do it yourself and get a little better traction in the process.