Rillfit Groover - What am I doing wrong?

patooyee · Oct 26, 2013

I have a Rillfit 4. I've only used it once in the past to take half of each center lug out of a set of Iroks. Back then it was super easy. It took about 30 mins per tire and it cut through like a hot knife through butter on setting 1. I think I used 2 blades. That was about 4-5 years ago.

Now I am trying to cut up a set of boggers and it is fighting me every step of the way. Settings 1 & 2 aren't hot enough and settings 3 and 4 melt the blade in 1 second flat. I've tried pre-heating a lug with a heat gun with no discernible difference. Small blades, large blades, none seem to want to cut right, all require me to really push though when I know that the heat should be pulling itself through. Of course, pushing so hard often results in shooting out the back side of the lug and hitting the next lug with a hot blade, bending and ruining it. It took about 6 hours yesterday to do 1/8 of a tire, experimenting with different techniques and finding none that worked. Anyone got any advice?

muddinmetal · Oct 26, 2013

Pics of the head of the groover and the two retention blocks... the blade isn't backwards is it?

patooyee · Oct 26, 2013

Blade is not backwards. I can't easily get those pics right now. This is exactly what the groover looks like though and the blocks appear to be identical.

rillfit-iv-hand-held-tire-regroover-discontinued-300x219.jpg

muddinmetal · Oct 26, 2013

I have one myself. I've noticed that if I cut more than a half inch deep mine does the same thing. And just for a moment I have loaded a blade backwards and can tell your from experiance that just wont work :****:

patooyee · Oct 26, 2013

Definitely works better the shallower I cut.

s10me · Oct 26, 2013

I thought the preferred method was with a chainsaw

patooyee · Oct 26, 2013

s10me said:
I thought the preferred method was with a chainsaw

I've already had one trip to the ER while trying to accomplish this job, don't need another.

patooyee · Oct 26, 2013

Just realized I posted this in the wrong section. Can a mod please move it to tech?

Anyway, both these methods seem infinitely faster than my $400 groover.

how to cut a 38'bogger in 5 mins. PMR style

cutting boggers

John Galbreath Jr. · Oct 26, 2013

patooyee said:
Just realized I posted this in the wrong section. Can a mod please move it to tech?

Done

patooyee · Oct 26, 2013

Thank you.

David G 4x4 · Oct 26, 2013

A deeper blade would probably help you out in this situation. Then you could use a higher heat setting. Some tires are just a pain in the ass. I find it helpful to have other things going on, and hitting the groover real hard for 3 - 5 minutes or so. It helps with my patience anyway.

TBItoy · Oct 26, 2013

a $40 oscillating cutter from HF works good for whole tread removal. Just sharpen the teeth off of the blade it comes with.

patooyee · Oct 27, 2013

Re: Re: Re: Rillfit Groover - What am I doing wrong?

TBItoy said:
a $40 oscillating cutter from HF works good for whole tread removal. Just sharpen the teeth off of the blade it comes with.

So like a flush cutter blade sharpened to a knife point?

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

kmcminn · Oct 27, 2013

I had this same thing happen to me. Did three tires in about 2 hours apiece. Then the last tool about six hours and 20 blades. I think the head was worn out on the one I used.

Technician · Oct 27, 2013

My question is, How did he sipe those boggers on that vieo?

muddinmetal · Oct 27, 2013

Technician said:
My question is, How did he sipe those boggers on that vieo?

They came from the factory that way

TBItoy · Oct 27, 2013

Re: Re: Re: Rillfit Groover - What am I doing wrong?

patooyee said:
So like a flush cutter blade sharpened to a knife point?

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

yep, it'll lop the treads right off.

Pretty much sucks for trying to cut the tire any other way except whole tread removal, but works great for that.

I cut these SX with a wood chisel and a bottle torch. Trick that that is getting your heat right so it cuts but doesn't burn/smoke. I found that I could normally cut 2-3 1/2 tread before re-heating.
I split the blocks first, then lopped the block off.

On the boggers I used the osciallating tool to cut tread