r4's vs r1's

[john_bud]

m7040 speaks my kind of language! Traction is all about weight and balance.

R4's are excellent for some things. Heavy use on solid surfaces is one of them. The are sort of good on lawns, but still mark. Sort of good on tillage, but lack traction. They fill with mud quick. But they do look neat!

If you do go for R1's, you will probably have to get different wheels too. Trade value is about 1/3 - 1/2 of new. You may as well keep with them or else bit the bullit at get a second set of wheel's & tires and try and sell the R4's on ebay or craigs list.

If you do get R1's, over buy on capacity. Higher capacity is also more durable in most cases. I think kubota sells them with 4 ply, but you can get 6 or 8 ply from the tire stores.



jb

 

[m7040]

John Bud, yes R1s is the way to go if one wants to really used the FEL efficiently for hard packed dirt and on top of that a ballast box to give balance as well as fluid in the tires plus CI centers with additional center weights all help the performance. None of this is necessary for mowing grass or light chores but for taking full bucket loads of dirt with the FEL in one pass you will find that this is the way to go.

 

[Rebel]

Traction is all about weight and balance.

Ditto!

 

[davitk]

Hey Allen, I have loaded rear R4's on my 3240. I've been back-dragging the kids' sledding hill, it's all ice now but crawls uphill just fine with auto-throttle on (my lack of finnesse make this a most effective mode). Only trouble I've had is digging clay (wet), had to dump the bucket and use the loader to get out of the hole.

I like the wide R-4's, makes me feel macho.

 

[fishpick]

I went through an evolution to get there. First ordered the tractor with R4's and then realized that I did not have enough traction to fill the FEL bucket when digging so changed to R1's. Then I discovered that I still had not enough traction so changed to cast iron hubs to add addditional weight. It helped some and then I added pallet forks to the rear and mounted a 2000 lbs ballast box and that helped greatly. Now I have added cast iron weights to center of wheels as well so now I can can move forward and fill bucket in one pass which is what I wanted in the first place. Finally got there.

Looking at your picture I drooled on my keyboard... sorry - that's not polite...

 

[TalonDancer]

All this talk about R1s for "traction" begs the question... Traction on/in WHAT? It really matters what surface/material the tires are contacting and what you are doing with your tractor.

R1s do not provide better traction than R4's on hard surfaces (e.g. concrete, hard packed road base, terrain where the tires are in contact with rocks/ledges larger than the tread bar spacing etc.). And R1's only provide better traction on loose/saturated surfaces by digging in deeper and self cleaning better due to the thinner/deeper tread bars.

If you do (or plan to do) a lot of work in saturated or loose soils R1s are the ticket. But don't for a second think that R1s are required to fill your bucket, etc. I don't have any trouble filling my bucket with unloaded R4s and no additional weight except my BH90.

FWIW the only traction problem I've had in 200hrs was when pushing into a pile of quarry spoil (think coarse road base) and spinning all four tires on a limestone ledge covered with 1/4" of quarry dust. Somehow I don't think R1s would have provided better traction in this case

Talon Dancer

 

[m7040]

We have mostly clay type soil and it takes some doing to push a 73 inch FEL Bucket 6 inches below surface and fill in one pass. It is more efficiently done with weight and ballast. Sure i can do it without this but will have dig down a little several times and then scoop up the loose dirt. Takes time

 

[TalonDancer]

We have mostly clay type soil and it takes some doing to push a 73 inch FEL Bucket 6 inches below surface and fill in one pass. It is more efficiently done with weight and ballast. Sure i can do it without this but will have dig down a little several times and then scoop up the loose dirt. Takes time

Exactly!

We have very different uses / soil-conditions. The work you are doing with your tractor in your soil conditions is a great example of when R1s (w/ additional weight/ballast) are at their very best. While my work & soil conditions is when R4s are at their very best.

IOW we are each describing the end members of a continuum between the best R1<->R4 use/conditions. Most people will have a range of uses/soil-conditions somewhere between ours. So their choice will be a bit harder

Talon Dancer

 

[m7040]

Talon, yes each have their uses. For most people R4s are just fine and will not leave as many tracks in the grass. I work as a project manager in an office during the week and I enjoy digging and changing the grounds here on our old farm on weekends wearing my old coveralls and getting dirty. Thats relaxing to me. That and driving my Unimog is a lot of fun.

 

[allen in texas]

Well guys, for what it's worth, my tractor is at the dealer as I type getting the R4's loaded..
It's kinda funny but the majority of what I will be doing is ag related. the soil is Sandy loam and the R1's would probably be the better choice for that soil type..
Still, the R4s are going to be the better all around choice I think because some of the stuff I've done so far wouldn't have been too kind on the R1s. Rocks boards, nails...you know, junk!
Like I said, I just need two tractors.

Now, I just need some front weights for when I have the loader off.

When does it stop?