To fill or not to fill

   / To fill or not to fill #1  

tman1020

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Messages
1,467
Location
north west indiana
Tractor
Bobcat ct225 and Bad Boy zero turn
Never did fill the back tires on the CT 225. Just broke 100 hours. At about 10 hours had decided the beat juice was the thing to use after tons of research. But I have a Cab on which weighs about 400 pounds and as long as I have something somewhat heavy on the rear have not had much problem with traction or rear lifting. Then was concerned might be pushing my limits with my current trailer weight capacity. Have decided that I will be getting a new trailer in the spring it will have a larger capacity so have that solved but was still concerned about possible ground compaction. I do think most of the compaction comes from front tires when there's a load in the bucket not the back so here's my question. Have any of you used your tractor with and without the rear tires filled? And if so what do you recommend. I understand that it would probably feel more firmly planted. But other than that did you notice any substantial improvement in performance.
 
   / To fill or not to fill #2  
Ho man you just opened up an endless can of worms here. It will be interesting what people with experience have to say. I have my own views but I'll stay out of the discussion for now as I have never run a tractor with both filled and not filled tires.
 
   / To fill or not to fill
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Let me just rephrase the question if I fill the tires I know it will be beat juice. I've already spent plenty of time trying to decide what's going to be the best for me and this is it. Did not mean to start a debate on that. Just trying to decide whether to even fill them at all or not. Thanks.
 
   / To fill or not to fill #4  
I think the prevailing wisdom is that any tractor with a FEL is safer, more efficient, has superior traction and is less susceptible to premature front end (steering parts, etc.) wear and tear if carefully selected counter weight is used.
 
   / To fill or not to fill #5  
While my Mahindra 3215 is not your Bobcat, it is about the same size. I bought my 3215 to use as a clean up tractor and to be easily transported to be able to help out friends and family. The first week that I had it I was doing some clean up work at my brothers. I was really having to work the tractor to get a full bucket. Needless to say after going through the same sort of thing with my Mahindra 7520, it was easy to make the decision that the tires simply need to be filled to have the right amount of traction to be able to get the most out of the machine. Filled the tires 2 weeks after a picked up the tractor, instantly new that I had made the right decision to fill the tires. Just like the 7520, it was like operating a different machine with much better capabilities.

I highly recommend filling tires with about any tractor that is going to be doing dirt work of any kind.

Just my :2cents:
 
   / To fill or not to fill #6  
I argree with the above statement , if you are going to use a front end loader you need rear weight of some kind , whether it be permanent like filled tires or put on your 3 pt. hitch which you can take off when not needed . I like filled tires as the weight is in the tires not on your tractor .
 
   / To fill or not to fill
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Arnoldzillel, what counterweight do you use and are your tires filled on your CT? And if you filled them did you notice a sizable difference in performance before or after.


And thanks for that Mt view
 
   / To fill or not to fill #8  
Something else about filled tires, you have that weight working for you while you are using , say a box blade vs simply having weight on the 3pt for loader use.

Each to there own, and there are positives and negatives to just about everything. A person should consider these things when making their decision. ;)
 
   / To fill or not to fill #9  
I had my cab Kioti DK35 for a month before I had the tires filled. It worked well maintaining the drive and would pull a box blade fine to overflowing. With the beet juice it would overflow more before losing traction. Either way it had enough traction to do the job if I was paying attention.

For the first month I had the tractor I didn't lift anything on the FEL without something on the 3-pt, usually a rotary cutter. It worked fine. After the tires were loaded I never really tried to see what I could lift before the rear came up.

The one area there was noticeable improvement was in traction. Great in the harder pack areas but just dug deeper, faster in the wet ones. (I did plow one winter with the filled R4 tires and ithey worked very well, no chains needed.)

On my newer, slightly larger tractor I went with R1's and they aren't filled. I do a lot of chisel plowing and discing and have all the traction I need. My problem is I have so much wet ground I probably should have duals.

I think in normal conditions you would see an improvement in traction and the FEL safety margin by loading the tires, especially as the tractor gets smaller. Or you could use wheel weights and a good attention to ballast weight and do OK also.

I guess the real question should be how has it worked for you the first 100 hours?
 
   / To fill or not to fill #10  
tman1020,

I have a Bobcat brand ballast box on my 3 point. I believe I have about 880 pounds in the box which I recall is Bobcat's recommendation for my CT.

The ballast box also came with suitcase weights should I need more weight. So far I haven't felt the need to use them.

My tires are not filled.
 
 
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