Filled Front Tires?

   / Filled Front Tires? #1  

GlueGuy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2001
Messages
1,659
Location
San Francisco Bay Area California (CA)
Tractor
Kubota B7500
Had a friend over last night after doing some mowing with the rear mower. When I do this, I remove the FEL to make it easier to see what I'm about to destroy. However, this makes the front end a tad light, and I notice (especially on slopes) that the front tires are not "grabbing" very well.

The problem being that the subframe for the FEL makes it impossible to attach the standard front weights, which would (probably) help this situation out a lot. My friend suggested that I fill the fronts. However, I've read several people here that have advised that this is a "bad idea".

So I have (at least /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif) a couple of choices: 1. Fill the front tires (they are R4 BTW), 2. Build a special bracket to hold front weights, 3. Do both 1 & 2 (see, said there were at least 2 /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif), 4. Your suggestion?

The GlueGuy
 
   / Filled Front Tires? #2  
Bill,
Had the same problem... on my old Satoh{Mitsubishi} w/ loader, any 3-pt worked well... used as a trade for my JD... My Dad missed the "little tractor", so I bought another Satoh w/o loader... Now most 3-Pt attachments make the front end "too light". I filled the fronts with CalClor and 3/4th's of the attachments are fine...

I'll now add a "barbell type bracket" to the front to take care of the 4' brush hog and rear blade. On the Satoh's front tires, maybe 60 lbs. were added to each tire... so all-in-all a little weight up front did make a big difference...

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   / Filled Front Tires? #3  
GlueGuy
Both my tractors have loaded front tires, no problems/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.
regards
Mutt
 
   / Filled Front Tires?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
The kinds of comments that I've heard are:

1. Front tires are not strong enough to handle the extra pressure from filling
2. Filled front tires can cause "bucking" or "surging" when in 4WD.

What pressure do you run in yours?

The GlueGuy
 
   / Filled Front Tires? #5  
My fronts tires are filled with Soft-fil (gel) No problems at all...no more flats and the extra weight is great for my Box blade and Tiller...
 
   / Filled Front Tires? #6  
GlueGuy
Per the dealer on Galaxy O.S. turf tires,24 psi rear,20 psi front,they are loaded with RimGuard.I would like to let the rears down just a bit to flatten out the profile.I've had the FEL FULL of gravel, stones that were too large and needed to be tied to the bucket for lifting and transport, and extreme digging including plunging in and curling out a load for large tree planting. (note) The only rear counterweight I'm using are the big ole doughnuts with the rimguard.Majority of this was done in 4wd. Also, drove her(highway speeds/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif about 30 miles round trip after a big snowstorm to clear out my folks large driveway. Only "bucking" or "surging"I experienced was hitting a bump, had to ease off then back to pedal mashed to the floor.Majority of this trip was 2wd. The smaller tractor is loaded with some "home-brew" my dad uses with water, anti-freeze,#8 lead shot, and who knows what else/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif,it's been in there about 10 years! I could not guess what the pressure is, she's always ready to jump on and go.
IF I am ever able to convince the wife of the "need" for a 3rd tractor/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif She'll have all 4 loaded.
regards
Mutt
p.s. the filled fronts on the little one(it's a guy now since the wife took it away from me/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif(bubba) ) will hold up the big woods mower on the 3ph for maintenance with no additional front weight.
 
   / Filled Front Tires? #7  
Bill,

How did you fix the light front end problem of your tractor?

Did you end up filling the front tires?

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   / Filled Front Tires?
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Never did fill them. I just figured out how to do it with the FEL attached, which seems to add "enough" weight. The only hassle is several spots that I mow where there is barely enough room to turn around w/o the FEL, let alone with it. Now, I just "back in", instead, and don't worry about how to turn around.

There are a few places where I mow, that I've found that "turning" wastes time. Just going forward a ways, then backing up for the next "row" does the trick, and takes less time.

The GlueGuy
 
   / Filled Front Tires? #9  
Folks,
I was told by my local JD dealer that the front tires of a 4WD tractor should not be filled or weighted. The reason is that the front 4WD hubs, while very strong in withstanding weight in compression, the hub bearings are not designed to hang weight from. In other words, weight hung from the frame or front loader creates weight on the hubs pushing downward, however, weight in the tires will tend to pull the hubs apart when the front of the tractor is lifted. This frequently occurs when dragging an implement or when the front of the tractor is otherwise lightened by pulling a load.
I hope this makes sense.
Cameron
 
   / Filled Front Tires? #10  
On the older 2wd tractors and especially with swept back axles {like my Massey} the manufacturers recommended not turning the front wheels outward when spacing the front end... this would cause undue front bearing loading...

However, front wheel weights, front end weights and loaded front tires are/and have been normal operating procedure for properly ballasting one's tractor...whether 2wd or MWFD or 4wd...

I am currently trying to decide a combination of the above three {actually, five including rear wheel weights and rears filled} to use my new 7' rotary cutter that weighs about 1400 lbs....

Everything a dealer states... doesn't necessarily fly...

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