Tires Tires

   / Tires #1  

klm

Silver Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2003
Messages
224
Location
Northwest MO
Tractor
Allis D17 CIH D40, JD5310, Massimo MS50010
Just bought a 870 JD with turf tires, want to convert to ag tires. Any advice, any web sites to compare and shop on?
 
   / Tires #2  
I had turfs on a 2WD and now have R1 (ag) on one 4WD tractor and R4 (industrial) on the other. In my experience, the turfs were very good for relatively flat grass or any dry areas. The R1's grab a little better than the R4's in real muddy conditions.

Went with R4's on the last tractor because of the FEL and the fact it gets run a couple miles on blacktop each week. I just didn't think the R1's would stand up to the FEL-imposed loads. The R1's seemed to wear fairly quickly on blacktop, so I thought the extra rubber on the road may work better. Both are fine for mowing.

This past Winter was more real than we've had for a while, and I was really pleased with the R4's. There were opportunities to do a comparison of our two tractors with different tires.

The Ford 1210 has R1's and a 5' rear scraper blade. The B7500 has R4's and a 6' rear blade. The Kubota also has a FEL, so weight distribution is different. Neither tractor has chains. The B7500 handled the 6' wide blade better than the Ford handled the 5 footer in most cases. The only place the R1's had the edge was when we got off into the softer grass areas. Where it wasn't solid underneath, the R4's felt like they wanted to "float" more, where the R1's chewed down through the snow/grass............................chim
 
   / Tires #3  
A thought for your while you are considering tire types:

Turfs and R1 (Ag) tires will almost certainly use different rims. If you go to R4's, you might be able to keep your existing rims (not sure what the scoop is with the JD 870).

Either way has it's advantages. If you can use the same rims with the R4s, you save some $$ by not purchasing new rims. You give up some of the traction of the Ag tires, but not as bad as staying with turfs. You get a tire with decent traction, great for loader work, and not as tough on grass or other sensitive surfaces as the Ag tires.

If you go with the new rims and the Ag tires, and keep your old set of turf tires/rims, you spend a bit more. However, you get the great traction of the Ag tires, and can always swap the turfs back on if you have a job where they may be called for.

John Mc
 
   / Tires
  • Thread Starter
#4  
I didn't realize that the turf rims were smaller (20 inch) the ags will be 24inch, looks like I need rims also. Now it's getting expensive.
 
   / Tires #5  
Ah... the fun of owning a tractor; buying more stuff! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif It's like owning a boat. Just be sure the other half knows that all of the "stuff" is needed and work-related! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Tractors by themselves don't do anything... it's the "stuff" that does the work.
 
 
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