R4s or Turf Tires

[gusg]

I am not sure what tires to get with a Kubota B2710 or a B7500 (still undecided about which to buy). I will be mowing about three acres and doing a lot of FEL work in the near future. I will also use it to clear about 200 feet of driveway in the winter. I have heard that the turfs will puncture more easily but will give me better dry traction and about 85% of the wet traction of the R4s. The concern with the R4s is that they will tear up the lawn more. The dealer has recommended that I get the turf tires but I am concerned about getting a lot of flats.

Any experience with these two types of tires?

 

[Spencer]

I don't mow and I don't go on the lawn that frequently but when I do I take the tractor out of 4WD and make sure that I am moving when I make turns. My dealer likes the R4's so much that he said he would take back the R4's and put turfs on for me if I wasn't happy. I'm thrilled of course but I do not mow with the tractor. See if your dealer (or another) is willing to let you trade if you are unhappy.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Gusg, if your dealer or a local tire dealer won't give you the option of trading tires (which my entail trading wheels as well) and you have to make a decision right now, consider this. It sounds like you're leaning toward the turf tires because a lot of your mowing is 'lawn' mowing as opposed to field cutting. If your only concern with turf tires is the potential for flats, put some 'Slime' (honest, that's the name of it) in them. It's a puncture sealer that works quite well according to reports here. You're tire dealer won't be thrilled when it comes time to replace your tires, but that's years from now. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Check out this thread on <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=genoperating&Number=160379&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=slime&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Old=allposts&Main=160379>Tire Sealer</A>

 

[2thdoc]

I'd go with R4's. I've got them on my 33D and mow with no problems. Besides that, they look manly!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I've had the Kubota B2710 for just about 2 years now. I don't reget my choice of the turf tires. I northwest Iowa we get plenty of snow. It's not a problem. Also, I've done plenty of digging in the dirt, with my FEL, again no problem. Never had a flat tire in that time either.
Good luck on your choice.

 

[hazmat]

<font color=blue>I'd go with R4's. I've got them on my 33D and mow with no problems. Besides that, they look manly</font color=blue>

They do look manly!

As far as damage to your lawn, it depends on the soil & how wet it is. I have R4's on my TC18 (similar in size to a B7500). My main reason was I didn't want to deal with tire chains.

I have sandy loam soil. We haven't had three days in a row w/o rain in over a month. Under these conditions, they do mark the ground. Of course, in some spots just me walking leaves foot prints. I've found that the damage occurs in areas that the grass is "thin". Such as in the shade of trees. Unfortunatley around the trees is where you want to turn the sharpest. On well established turf, no problems.

Something to keep in mind. Adding the FEL, a full load of dirt & the RFM on the back as a counterweight doubles the weight of my machine (from 1,500# to about 3,000#). I have to turn gently to avoid doing damage. I use MFWD when using the FEL.

There are different styles of turf tires. The ones offered on the TC18 were extra wimpy. That is they had very small lugs & voids. I feared loading them up with dirt & snow & making "slicks". I've seen bigger lugs on different brands of turf tires & may have chosen them over the r4's.

Your dealer should let you try the R4's and swap if not happy or bring a demo tractor to your house to try out.

 

[hazmat]

I forgot to add my $.02 regarding flats.

In my opinion, fear of a flat tire should not dictate what kind of tire you choose, traction should. As previously mentioned "slime" is an option if you even have problems.

 

[RBrown]

gusg,

Two year ago I went through what you are going through right now. I purchased the 2710 with the R4s mainly due to the amount of loader work I would be doing. However, I also mow my entire 5 acre property with it and up to this year have been pretty happy with them. In the dirt and winter they are amazing, no tire chains needed. Since I live in Northern IL we get our fair share of snow and I really didn't want to have to deal with chains. Like I stated earlier, this year is a different story. After two years of high amounts of loader work, I am now more focused on mowing. We have been getting hit with huge amounts of rain and it is next to impossible to mow without the ground being a little wet. The R4's don't continuously tear up the ground, no 4 wheel drive here, but turns can be interesting. Sometimes okay and others I get an outside tire turn mark from the front tire. The wheels on the 72" deck also dig in on turns and stops, at least more that they used to without all this rain. Since my wife is becoming more and more critical of how the lawn looks, I may have to price a set of turfs on rims and just swap tires from summer to winter. I do agree that the R4's are definitely the "manliest" of the choices and I would still have chosen them, however I would have also included a set of turfs in the deal.

 

[tdenny]

gusg,

When I was purchasing a new tractor I wanted the R4's tires also. Yes, they do look cool and I didn't have that much lawn to work with. I figured that eventually I would switch to the turf tires when I got all of the desired grass planted.

Well I ended up with a used tractor that had the turfs on them. I immediately started looking into getting a set of R4's for it, because they do look cool /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif and I don't mow with my tractor. I decided to use that money instead for some more useful items such as RFM's and box blades, and other implements. Now that I have put a considerable amount of time on the machine I have found that my turf tires don't have any traction problems whatsoever. Keeping in mind that it rarely snows here. I don't know what region of the country you are in (you might want to update your profile as you'd get good response from people in your area) but I am in the Seattle area. I'm sure you know it rains alot around here. No traction problems with the loader or anything else.

When I do drive it on my lawn it is always evident that I did so but nothing other than flattening our some of the grass. After the next mow you'd never know it.

 

[robertm]

Hey RBrown, don't get too excited just yet! My new B7500 has turfs, and my inspector, too, says that she does not like the perfect 15 foot diameter circle the outer front tire leaves on my turns around her flowerbeds! I have about a dozen trees that I mow around, at least three have 10 foot diameter flower bed circles around them, and when I go around them the outer front tire leaves a brown circle... which appears to be pulling out the live grass, and leaving the dead. I have tried mowing sloooooooooooowly around them and about half of them look better. I tried 4wd as recommended by my dad who has ag tires, and it just made it worse... thought it might help the front outer tire crab less with a little traction... no luck. Speed appears to be the culprit. I have used the turfs in slick mud in a sparsly-grassed area after a rain, and have no complaints... even in 2wd, but I am sure R4's would be better in that situation, though.
I would not have gone with R4's, as I mow about 2 acres, and I guess so far 50% of the time has cut grass, and 50% of the time has been with loader work. No complaints except for the circle jerk! But then again, I'm sure R4's would do the same or worse. We will see this winter if I still have the same opinion. My $0.02.