Ag - Industrial - Turf - Which ones?

[Tom_H]

....myBX26....

WHAT? When did you buy a B26? Did you trade, or do you now OWN FOUR KUBOTAS??????

 

[taborekle]

Just a note here. I just last week got my B2920. I got it with the turf tires and they were 3/4ths filled with water/antifreeze. Last saturday I took it over to my Father-in-Laws guarden (actually a field) and pulled my rtr0550 tiller through it with no problem. I do think that the R3 or R4 tires would have been better, but the turf tires did well enough. Had the field been even a little bit muddy I probably would not have tried it.

I'm going to stick with the turf tires though. The in-laws house is about a 3/4ths mile drive on the sholder of a highway, and do want to keep my lawn (and theirs) looking nice if I have to transit it.

Right now I'm considering where to put up my tractor shed, and it looks like it's going to be where I have to traverse my lawn to get in and out.

Larry

 

[Evil the Weasel]

There are also the bar/turf tires for some models (new B series, B7610, etc). The fronts are modified turfs and the rears have a narrower W shaped bar tread. They are not very popular as my dealer reminds me, but for me they were the best compromise for mowing and loader tasks.

 

[LBrown59]

WHAT? *When did you buy a B26? Did you trade, or do you now OWN FOUR KUBOTAS??????

I didn't It was a typo / should have been BX23 .
I was not aware of my error until reading your post.

2*Neither do the AGs on myB26 even with both the FEL & BH on it at the same and a 60''MMM. and don't mark my lawn is a bonus and better traction is another benefit.
All this hype about AGs destorying the lawn is just that hype.

2* correction BX23.

 

[Volfandt]

I went w/Bars when I purchased the BX23 and ran it that way for 3 yrs.
Later I found a set of low hr turfs and purchased them for a pretty good price. This is my 2nd season on them.
On my property, which varies from a nice finished lawn for approx 1.5 acres to former pasture covering approx 2.75 acres, I MUCH prefer the turfs for finish mowing.
They do less marking of the lawn in corners and they give a softer ride.
When I 1st purchased the BX23 I was doing nearly as much TLB work as I was mowing so the Bars proved to be benefitial, especially since I was operating in mud and soft dirt.
Now adays the BX23 does more finish mowing than TLB work and the Bars would leave noticable markings in even lightly damp turf, especially when mowing around trees and in turns, the turfs don't.......

My conclusion,
If primarily finish mowing, go with turfs. btw, thats why they were designed........

In mud the turfs are atleast twice as likely to get you stuck and they'll spin in loose soil. The Bars are great in these types of environments as those big turf marking cleats can take hold much easier. I don't get much snow and when working in the little I do get both seem to perform the same (i.e. a wash).
TLB work especially in soft soil and mud = Bars. btw, thats why they were designed....

R4's seems to be a great compromise. Their cleats aren't as aggressive as the Bars and they have more flat area which distributes the wieght of the tractor over a larger turf area. They should be less likely to mark and give alittle better traction in mud and loose soil.
R4's weren't an option for the BX23's (Bx-XX30's series) because of the odd wheel size but with the introduction of the BX-XX50 and 60 series and the the change to the more common larger wheel diameter size, R4's are now an option for our older BX's. The 50 & 60 series front wheels will fit on the older 00 & 30 series..
If I were buying today my choices would be between the R4 and Turf and I'd probably go with the R4.
YUMV.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I went w/Bars when I purchased the BX23 and ran it that way for 3 yrs.
Later I found a set of low hr turfs and purchased them for a pretty good price. This is my 2nd season on them.
On my property, which varies from a nice finished lawn for approx 1.5 acres to former pasture covering approx 2.75 acres, I MUCH prefer the turfs for finish mowing.
They do less marking of the lawn in corners and they give a softer ride.

Thats strange. I had a set of Turfs and R1s for the BX. As soon as I switched from the turfs to the R1s I noticed that the R1s had a softer ride at any like tire pressure. That makes sense since you actually ride on the bars and dont deflect the whole area of the tire carcass like automatically happens with the dense tread of turfs. This phenom gives an initial cushioning effect to the R1.
larry

 

[Volfandt]

Must be a phenom (I would have spelled it out but I cut and pasted ) associated with a particular soil/turf makeup. I too run them at the same PSI so I can't think of what makes such different results between our experiences.

When my turf is even just slightly damp, as in when the morning dew is still present and I mow early, the Bars would leave their mark as I described above.
Conversely, when the underlying clay was good and hard, it was as if I could actually feel each rib/bar making contact to the ground, not unlike when driving them on concrete.

Perhaps it is the condition and makeup of the soil/turf. After working both, I'll take the turfs hands down over the Bars.

There was one other thing that concerned me about the Bars that I didn't point out in the previous post and that was all that "bald" realestate that lies exposed in between the Bars. When I was doing some pretty serious fencerow clearing I was always concerned about a wayward stick finding it's way into that bald area and ruining my day. It never happened thankfully but it was a concern. It was almost as big a concern as the HST cooling fan was before I added a skidplate....
There's less open area even on a turf as opposed to a Bar and IMHO an R4 would give even more protection with it's taller and closer spaced cleats.

Funny, the guy I bought the turfs from thought they rode softer than the 50 series R4 tires and wheels he put on his 2200, but he still liked his new R4's better

 

[SPYDERLK]

I too run them at the same PSI so I can't think of what makes such different results between our experiences.

When my turf is even just slightly damp, as in when the morning dew is still present and I mow early, the Bars would leave their mark as I described above.
Conversely, when the underlying clay was good and hard, it was as if I could actually feel each rib/bar making contact to the ground, not unlike when driving them on concrete.

Perhaps it is the condition and makeup of the soil/turf. After working both, I'll take the turfs hands down over the Bars.

Sounds as if you run your tires hard. I run the BX tires quite soft [3-5psi]. The tractor only has a MMM and is too light to warrant higher pressures. Even when pulling the haybine, which has huge tongue weight, the rears hardly flatten while the fronts skim the ground.
larry

 

[Tom_H]

I think these last few posts make an important point. Your specific local conditions (soil type, grass species, precipitation patterns, climate, etc.) and your intended uses of the tractor, both have a lot to do with what will work for you. My own strong preference is for AGs, regardless of the work I am doing. I have enjoyed reading VolfanDT's posts on here for many years. This doesn't even amount to a difference of opinion; it is simply a matter of preference. I love veggies and dislike fruit. My wife is the other way around, but neither of us cares in the least-gives us something to tease each other about-like when I put one garden pea or corn nibblet on her plate! Tee hee hee. Think about your uses and your conditions, and take everything said here with a grain of salt. Decide what rings true for you. You haven't filled out your profile, but if you live close to me, I'll be glad to sell you my turfs for a really good price.

I think DT and I agree pretty strongly on this: player #18's got the right stuff!

 

[Volfandt]

Sounds as if you run your tires hard. I run the BX tires quite soft [3-5psi]. The tractor only has a MMM and is too light to warrant higher pressures. Even when pulling the haybine, which has huge tongue weight, the rears hardly flatten while the fronts skim the ground.
larry

I believe we've found at least one major factor. The addition of an FEL and BH add's approx 1000lbs more of static weight to a BX and of course all that weight gets transfered directly to the tires. I run the fronts at 22-25 psi and the rears at 20 psi. A full FEL will compress the fronts to nearly flat when run under 20 psi and the BH will squat the rears even at 20 psi. Add my low weight challanged self and those tires start screaming no-mas, no-mas
I used to manipulate the pressure quite frequently to match the job I was doing. While I'd normally leave the fronts alone but I'd drop the rears down to 15 to get alittle more cushion when finish mowing then raise them when I mounted the BH. I got tired of it after a while and just settled on what worked best which surprisingly is very close to Kubota's specs.

Bottom line, when these types of questions are asked, it's always good for everyone to post their own experiences. Theres usually a good reason for differing opinions which doesn't make either extreme wrong, as we see theres good and differing reasons for them.
btw, it's no mistake that I've still got those low hr Bars, it hasn't escaped me that most folks like the aggressive look of them on their machines, come trade up to a B3030HSDC day (whenever that comes) they'll find their way back on my BX23 in a NY minute

Tom, #18 be the man, and on that we definitely agree
Read an article where he and Tiger where partnering on the links the other day, supposedly #18 has got some golf game too.