Tires Loaded tires, problem.

[daTeacha]

That sounds interesting. I do have a couple of old rusty rims sitting out in a corner of the property that's pretty hard to get to. Don't have tires, though. The bricks could also break the bead if the tractor is heavy enough. With those rims, I don't even think they'd hold air.

What about just lowering the tractor onto the 4x6? The footprint would be pretty easy to determine, and thence the square inches needed to support that end at that pressure. The ratio of front to rear footprint area at the same pressure might be an indication, too.

There has to be a table of such things somewhere. It just seems that you should be able to figure the weight on the tire if you know the deflection, pressure, size, and construction. With the DX, the front tires will be 6 ply and the rears are 4, which would impact the amount of deflection. I don't know if they're radials or bias ply or even what brand. The dealer could only specify the tire type -- ag, industrial or turf.

 

[Reg]

To the original poster.
A tire that is "filled" when standing vertically with the valve stem at the 12 o'clock position will be approx 75% full of liquid.
The space above the valve will be trapped air, which leaves SOME cushion. This is the normal loading for an ag or ind tire, the best compromise between weight, cushion and ease of filling. I think there is a table of weights for various solutions and tire sizes somewhere on this forum, but as I recall it assumes 100% of the tires' theoretical volume will be filled.
If your dealer got them much fuller than 75% they probably laid them flat and/or might have snorkeled some sort of an air escape tube up in there. I s'pose you could manhandle filled tires yourself, though I would want at least a small forklift on hand.

Another way to get them FULL would be to arrange a small puncture at the very top, plug it as the solution comes out - I'm not serious about actually doing that.
(-:

 

[john_bud]

Rich,

It takes A LOT to break a tire off the rim. Cornering loads are extreme. But , if you don't have spare tires laying around, it's a mute point.

What about buying a 10 to 16' long 4x4 post. Make a ramp with a slot for the 4x4. Mark out your pivot point, use a 300# spring scale like for weighing deer, and see what it takes to lift a corner.

Here is the link for hydroinflation.
http://www.firestoneag.com/tiredata/info/info_hydro_2.asp

 

[Jibber]

I'd be guessing how much they were overfilled.. but definitely a couple of inches over the valve. It seemed to squirt fluid for a minute or two and that's with the valve unscrewed, not just the core. I also had quite a stream in the driveway. My understanding from Kubota is that you fill tires just until it's at the valve stem at 12 o'clock.

Either way I think I have them leveled off now.. and the weight distribution should be pretty even.

 

[tawilson]

I plan on filling my tires. How do you know when the level of the fluid gets to the valve stem? Can you tell by the sound? Or just overfill and let it flow back out?

 

[MarkV]

Tom if you are filling the tires yourself you will want a valve that is designed to do that. The valve lets you bleed off air as it is displaced by the liquid you are adding. When you start bleeding liquid instead of air you have reach the valve stem.

The valves are about a $10 item and can be had a Napa or TSC, to name a few.

MarkV

 

[daTeacha]

Yeah, the guy down the hall suggested something similar and a simpler system. He's a real serious out west rock climbing 4x4 driver with a built up Bronco.

The simpler system is something we can pretty much all do with little trouble. You need a bathroom scale, a plank, a block of wood and a tape measure. Set the block on the scale to hold the end of the plank up enough that it doesn't contact the edge of the scale. Record the weight. Drive the tractor wheel onto the other end of the plank resting on the floor. Continue up the ramp until you get some arbitrary reading on the scale, say 150 lb over the tare. Measure and compare the amount of plank on either side of the tire. Use the ratio as a multiplier of the 150 lb and you get the weight on the tire. For example, if the tire-ground distance is 1/10 the tire to block distance, you have 150 x 10 or 1500 lb on that wheel.

I think that's something everyone here can do if they care to.