Im purchasing a TC33D. Another turf question

[Anonymous Poster]

Well ive read most of the turf posts so far and everyone has a different opinion on the R4 or turf. My question is this. According to the specs on the boomer tc33d the turf tires are not as wide as the R4 unless you get the Galaxy turfs which are much wider and more expensive. Does anyone that mentions they have turf tires have the galaxies instead of the turf? And as far not leaving ruts I would think the wider the better. I am gonna be only mostly grass/field not dirt and dont want to leave ruts. I dont want to slip either when slightly wet and pulling something like a drag(chain harrow). Im still trying to decide on tires and was wondering if some people were talking regular turf or the galaxy turf. I am not happy that the regular turf is more narrow than the R4. Im so confused!! Help! Also havent yet decided on loaded tires or not. My goal was NOT to have them loaded to have less compaction but i need the traction. Does anyone have non-loaded rear tires that are happy with their traction?


Thanks!
Roto

 

[hazmat]

Roto,

Welcome to TBN. I have R4's on my TC18 (you may have read some of my posts regarding turfs & R4s). I'm demoing Turfs right now. In my case, the turfs are wider. But there is more to it than just width, the Turfs have less voids in the tread, thus more rubber in contact with the ground resulting in less ground pressure. Also, they are much more compliant than the R4's. Stop by your dealer and Literally kick the tires, you'll see what I mean.

What kind of soil do you have? I have sandy loam and switching to turfs has made a huge difference. My parent's have clay soil, I can drive my pickup accross the lawn w/o leaving a dent. It all depends on your local conditions.

As far as loaded tires, if you are willing to use a ballast box or heavy three point attachment when doing loader work, you don't need loaded tires.

If the tire choice is your only issue. Talk to your dealer. He should let you try one out & swap for the other if you're not happy.

Bottom line, you need to decide which is more important, no ruts or better traction.

 

[thcri]

roto,

Hazmat has some good suggestions there. And you are right in the class ll Boomers the turfs are narrower than the R4's. But as Hazmat said the surface area is still greater. I have a TC29D with R4's and have had to watch it in the past especially on new sod. If wet I did leave marks. Last night I wanted to get my fertilizer down but felt the yard was still to damp to run my tractor over. I saw in a previous post that if I run my tire pressure down to the minimum it would make a difference. So I ran them down close to the minimum and went out and spread my fertilizer. I couldn't believe it, even with it still being wet out I didn't leave any marks at all. As Hazmat said get your dealer to allow you to demo. You will answer all of your questions after demo-ing. As far as loading your tires, I wouldn't do it. Get your self some ballast for your 3 ph and that way you can take it on and off. Any weight is bad for mowing even with turf tires.

My tires are not loaded and I do fine. I do have a 3ph ballast that I can use if needed.
murph

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Well my soil is a silty clay loam. It is not sandy by any means. usually sandy soils in this area you can drive on no problem because they dry out fast but my soil tends to stay wet longer in spring and earlier in fall thus need for floatation.

I have plenty of attachments for weight when using loader and will probabbly not get them loaded even though my dealer said 95% of the people get them loaded and I agree to load them for any type of construction and loader work applications but in my case mostly field(grass) work.

I guess the big question is regular turfs or the R4. the Galaxies are expensive and i think will set to low and make tractor slower because of the circumference being smaller even though they are much wider. I do like speed when pulling chain harrow around. I wish their turf tires were a little wider then the R4 like on yours but there not. It dont make since really. My dealer said on my type of soil the turf will fill up with soil and make it spin all the time but i think he may be exagerating a bit..

Anyone else with the TC33d with turf can step in here and say how they like them or not?

Thanks Hazmat for the response. I know Tom(Equipment) likes the turfs a lot better then the R4. Im still trying to get a little more input before the $20,000 plunge.

Thanks!
roto

whoops didnt see the other response when i typed this. Thanks Thcri!!

roto

 

[DUMBDOG]

I have a 1630, which is close to the TC29D, it has the 7308 loader and standard turf tires, that are not ballasted.

Do not need any ballast as the lift capacity of the loader gives out before the rear will lift. the TC33D will have a couple of hundred more pounds of lift capacity than the 1630.

The turf tires are nice, but there are times when the others would be better, such as digging with the loader, you can really spin the turfs, but those times are rare and probably more than what I should be doing with that size tractor.

Have only been stuck once and then it was real soft ground, in a low spot after a heavy rain and the unit just sunk in. do not think that the other tires would have made much difference.

The ground is mostly clay with some topsoil. Do not leave any tire marks with the turf tires, except on sharp turns with the supersteer and a full load on the loader.

Do not think that you will have a problem spinning with regular unloaded turf tires on wet grass, unless you are pulling something heavier than the tractor was intended for.

 

[thcri]

I am going to through another thing in here since I noticed another thing about my tires. I have dropped the air pressure in my tires down to almost the minimum as per the book. My tires sitting on concrete even at the minimum air pressure there is only about 4" of tire in the center on the actual ground. That also explains that even after 90 hours that the outside of my tires still have the rubber dubs on it and the center doesn't. Maybe this is why I have had to be careful and maybe now I don't so much. Time will tell.

murph

 

[MikeBurr]

I have a 33D 4x4 with turfs, the tires are not loaded. I use a weight bar on the rear when using the FEL. In Wet grass, they do leave tracks and when using the FEL, it is real easy to spin them which will tear up the grass. When the grass is dry, they work real well when mowing and digging. If I was buying right now, I would get R4s because I do a lot of dirt moving and I'm not too worried how the grass in the fields looks after I mow with the tractor. For around the house mowing we have a smaller riding mower.
I guess my suggestion, if all you are going to do is mow, then turfs are alright. Loader or other work, look into R4 or better.
Also when using my back blade or potato plow, the turfs will also spin when the dirt builds up, R4s would do a little more when pulling.
Now you could get R4s and I'll trade you my turfs.... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

My brother in-law has R4s and I have Turf, we both have SS. I can tell the difference in grass scuffing from his yard and mine. Also, if we both get together at the mother in-laws house to do her yard .. she has said many times that mine doesn't leave tracks like the other tractor.

Now on the flip side... if it comes to doing FEL work I see a difference in traction as his does better... but I still get it done just takes a little more time.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks Guys for all the input. I am probabbly gonna go with the R4. most of my grass work is field and pasture and not so much lawn and Im afraid I will end up doing more loader work and pulling then i think i will and therefor would want the R4. I am curios to know are the R4 6ply and the Turf only 2 ply? If so, I would think the turfs would squat a bit with a load in bucket?

Another question not related but do any of you guys have a 68" bucket or all have 60". just wondering if 68" too heavy with it full of dirt.

roto

 

[John_Mc]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I am curious to know are the R4 6ply and the Turf only 2 ply? If so, I would think the turfs would squat a bit with a load in bucket?)</font>

My R4's are 6 ply, front and rear. I once saw some 4 Ply that had R4 tread, but that does not seem common around here. The standard Turfs at my NH dealer's are 4 ply. I know that 6 ply turfs do exist, but couldn't tell you where to look for them.

John Mc