I've been swapping out my loaded R4s for turfs, a non trivial job because a) the rear ones are loaded 17.5L x 24 s and b) I'm old and frail (-:
Anyway, the front ones were no big deal, just used the FEL to jack up the front end, I still had pallet forks on from unloading the set of turfs from the trailer.
Here's the thing.
In moving the rear turfs around on their pallet and getting an engine crane lined up to hande the R4s I moved the tractor around quite a bit on loaded R4s at the back and turf tires on the front. So what ?
So what I noticed was that it hasn't been the rear R4s that have been chewing up the front yard, it was the UNloaded front tires that basically get pushed sideways in turns. This got me thinking; would loaded R4s and turf fronts be an even better all around compromise than the R4s all round that "conventional wisdom" has been espousing for quite a few years now ?
I should mention that the rears are 44x18.00-20 and are noticeably smaller in diameter than the rear R4s, but the turf fronts are proportionally smaller still. I know, lead/lag ratio in 4WD won't be the same - but I don't use 4WD on good traction surfaces anyway and I probably wouldn't do any sort of heavy field work with this tire mix.
Anyway, the front ones were no big deal, just used the FEL to jack up the front end, I still had pallet forks on from unloading the set of turfs from the trailer.
Here's the thing.
In moving the rear turfs around on their pallet and getting an engine crane lined up to hande the R4s I moved the tractor around quite a bit on loaded R4s at the back and turf tires on the front. So what ?
So what I noticed was that it hasn't been the rear R4s that have been chewing up the front yard, it was the UNloaded front tires that basically get pushed sideways in turns. This got me thinking; would loaded R4s and turf fronts be an even better all around compromise than the R4s all round that "conventional wisdom" has been espousing for quite a few years now ?
I should mention that the rears are 44x18.00-20 and are noticeably smaller in diameter than the rear R4s, but the turf fronts are proportionally smaller still. I know, lead/lag ratio in 4WD won't be the same - but I don't use 4WD on good traction surfaces anyway and I probably wouldn't do any sort of heavy field work with this tire mix.
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