Got the R1's today. They only had 1 L4600 and it had R4's on it. I could tell when I pulled out from the dealer with them in the bed of my truck that they are WAY lighter than the R4's. I'd guess a several hundred pounds lighter by the way my truck rode.
Anyway, got them mounted up with the 3" wheel spacers still on. They set out wide - or just look really wide because they aren't as wide as the R4's were. They are about 4" wider from the edges of the tread than the R4's, but mostly because the R4 tread rolls off a couple inches before the sidewall.
I didn't think I'd like the way it looks, but I DO. I took some pics before I took it in the woods and got it all muddy. I drove it around my yard to see if it'd do any damage and it didn't leave any that I seen. It seems pretty planted on the slopes even without the extra weight the R4's have over them. I'll see how it does a while and may think about wheel weights, I think it could use a couple more hundred pound on the ground.
I noticed right away that it rides a lot smoother. And....it chugs through places in 2wd (without Diff Lock) that I had to put the R4's in 4wd to get through. LOTs more traction. When I noticed this, I headed straight for the hill that I got stuck on with the R4's last week. I had the BH and FEL on just like that day and the ground conditions were pretty much the same as that day. Only exception was the hill wasn't covered in "woods covering" but now was just slick where the R4's polished the ground spinning like crazy that day. I tried in 2wd first and it got about 1/3 the way up, Diff Lock took me about 15' further then it started to spin. I put it in 4wd and it pulled right up the hill, did spin a few times, but never lost forward momentum.
After that I stopped to BH a near by field and I noticed that it turns tight to double back and BH the next strip a lot easier than the R4's too.
When the BH'ing was done I headed on back to work on a clogged stream that's been diverting TONS of water down my trail road. It stays muddy down there and the more I worked the tractor the worse it got, but it never showed signs of even thinking about getting stuck. It pulled thorugh this slop with no problems, over and over. The R4's could have NEVER even thought about working in this slop with any real control of where you were going - IF they wouldn't have just got stuck. You can see where the bottom of the tractor was planing the top of the mud off. And those R1's just kept right on working.
I am 1000% SOLD on R1's over R4's. It was an expensive lesson to learn, $600 option to get the R4's in the first place, then $500 more to trade them, but a lesson that won't be repeated for sure.
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