R1 versus R4

[MtnViewRanch]

Well, it's been an interesting and enlightning discussion, despite some of the individual comments.

I have a Kubota M5040 (50 hp) with Kubota loader and R1 tires. When I get a full bucket of dirt or gravel, the front tires really squat bad, to the point of worrying me. I've wondered if the dealer should have put stiffer tires on the front with the loader. They way the fronts squat down, I certainly do not feel that the tires are matched to the loader capability.

I have not noticed any "rough ride" with the tires on concrete.

I have an old B21 TLB that has R-4s on it. Those lugs certainly get filled up with mud when working in wet clay.

Ken

Just one of the reasons to have R4s. That is one of the reasons the standard R1 tires that the manufacturers offer are not all that good for loader work. There might be some R1s that do have a heaver rating for your tire size, but they aren't offered as a std tire from the manufacturer.

You could fill the fronts and that should help with the tire squatting, but I think that Kubota doesn't recommend having the front tires filled. I know that on my Mahindra 7520, the std AG tires for the front have about half the weight capacity of the std R4 front tires.

My guess is that the tractor manufacturers offer the R1s for farming and the R4s for the people that are using their tractor as a general utility tractor.

Just my opinion

 

[Builder]

Just one of the reasons to have R4s. That is one of the reasons the standard R1 tires that the manufacturers offer are not all that good for loader work. There might be some R1s that do have a heaver rating for your tire size, but they aren't offered as a std tire from the manufacturer.

You could fill the fronts and that should help with the tire squatting, but I think that Kubota doesn't recommend having the front tires filled. I know that on my Mahindra 7520, the std AG tires for the front have about half the weight capacity of the std R4 front tires.

My guess is that the tractor manufacturers offer the R1s for farming and the R4s for the people that are using their tractor as a general utility tractor.

Just my opinion

And a very well informed opinion it is.

 

[8404]

That's a pretty Bad A** looking tractor! Put some monster truck tires on it, a lift kit and mow EVERYTHING down. I didn't know CC made something that big...

My Cub Cadet is a 40hp and when i bought it they offered a 45hp too. Im supprised you cant tell that its accually a Kioti DK40 with yellow and white paint. sold by Cub Cadet.

I guess if a have to buy new rims to get R1s then ill just stay with the R4s. Due to all the rain that has fallen, I was kinda wanting to try R1s that might help with the side ways slidding that happens on hillside mowing.

 

[Builder]

My Cub Cadet is a 40hp and when i bought it they offered a 45hp too. Im supprised you cant tell that its accually a Kioti DK40 with yellow and white paint. sold by Cub Cadet.

I guess if a have to buy new rims to get R1s then ill just stay with the R4s. Due to all the rain that has fallen, I was kinda wanting to try R1s that might help with the side ways slidding that happens on hillside mowing.

You could always throw chains on it if it's that bad. Then you could take them off when not needed.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Well, it's been an interesting and enlightning discussion, despite some of the individual comments.

I have a Kubota M5040 (50 hp) with Kubota loader and R1 tires. When I get a full bucket of dirt or gravel, the front tires really squat bad, to the point of worrying me. I've wondered if the dealer should have put stiffer tires on the front with the loader. They way the fronts squat down, I certainly do not feel that the tires are matched to the loader capability.

I have not noticed any "rough ride" with the tires on concrete.

I have an old B21 TLB that has R-4s on it. Those lugs certainly get filled up with mud when working in wet clay.

Ken

Just air up the R1s a bit. The ones on my 7520 are rated at 26psi, but say you can use 36 to seat the bead. The way I see it, if they think its safe enuf to stand beside a cockeyed tire at 36 psi then it safe to ride on a well seated one at that pressure. At 26psi there is definitely a problem moving with a full capacity load. At 32psi its fine. I have never needed to run it with 36. One time tho I got it up to 80psi by accident while filling with water. I was a little leery of approach - glad there wasnt much air in there! - Altho I would never have run it it does show theyll take a lot without failure.
I also do not experience a ruf riide on pavement w R1 - havent in 47yrs of tractor use...
larry

 

[Builder]

I had bad tire squat on my 245DT with R-1's if the loader was full with mud or real heavy material.

They don't have the sidewall toughness of an R-4.

 

[tractorsanmore]

I have a Kubota M5040 (50 hp) with Kubota loader and R1 tires. When I get a full bucket of dirt or gravel, the front tires really squat bad, to the point of worrying me. I've wondered if the dealer should have put stiffer tires on the front with the loader. They way the fronts squat down, I certainly do not feel that the tires are matched to the loader capability.


My front R1 did this also , just aired them up to 45 or 50 lbs and all is well ( this was back in 1995 )

 

[ovrszd]

I've read this entire thread. A lot of info from a large variety of users.

One thing that has me wondering. Mossroad's objection to R4s was his 2wd loader tractor that had them. A 2wd loader tractor is severely handicapped regardless of tire type. But certainly R4s were the wrong choice.

So rather than pick on tire type, I'd have to say the setup of that tractor was wrong for R4s. It needed R1s and a pair of chains laying around for worst case scenarios, along with a huge ballast tool.

I'll sacrifice the traction loss I suffer with R4s to gain the durability and load carrying stability to accomplish what I expect my tractor to do. FEL, no AG tilling, no lawn mowing, 4wd.

 

[MossRoad]

I've read this entire thread. A lot of info from a large variety of users.

One thing that has me wondering. Mossroad's objection to R4s was his 2wd loader tractor that had them. A 2wd loader tractor is severely handicapped regardless of tire type. But certainly R4s were the wrong choice.

So rather than pick on tire type, I'd have to say the setup of that tractor was wrong for R4s. It needed R1s and a pair of chains laying around for worst case scenarios, along with a huge ballast tool.

I'll sacrifice the traction loss I suffer with R4s to gain the durability and load carrying stability to accomplish what I expect my tractor to do. FEL, no AG tilling, no lawn mowing, 4wd.

That tractor was kind of an odd ball. IH2500b. Late '70s, HST, 4 cylinder gas engine, factory built loader with a 3PT hitch. Most of them came without the 3pt hitch and had backhoes. That is most likely why they came with R4 type tires. They were industrial units, not farm units. That's why it was yellow, not red. The loader could not be removed. It was part of the tractor. That is why we bought it. We needed to do some heavy loader work cutting in our road. Several of my farmer friends suggested I get a purpose built loader instead of a farm tractor with a loader as they thought the purpose built loaders had heavier front ends and heavier loaders. They all said farm tractors with add on loaders are weaker than the purpose built units and since we had a lot of excavating to do and very little farming, this is what I should get. I took their advice. The cab added weight. The tires were loaded. I originally had a 5' brush hog on the back. But I quickly found it was hanging back too far when I needed to do loader work. So I took a 55 gallon drum, welded up some 3pt attachment points to a rebar frame inside it and then filled it with concrete. That was my ballast until I got the box blade. It had plenty of weight. But the R4 tires would still spin in the sandy soil if we tried to take any bites of any size or pushed on a stump, tree, etc.... They didn't have enough bite for the soil type. But, that is what the tractor came with, so that is what I used. We managed to mow between our tree rows for 5 years and dig out the side of the hill at the highway and put in a road with it, clear an area for a barn foundation and clear an area for our future home site with it. We just had to take smaller bites and work with what we had. We did not want to put any $$ into it, as our plan was to get rid of it once the large tasks were done and downsize to a smaller tractor to be used for maintaining the property, which we did. I could have switched to R1 tires, but that would have been a big expense and I'm not all that certain that we could have gotten them in the same width that we had with the R4s. They most likely would have been skinnier and that would have required different rims. Then they might not have taken the weight, so I may have had to go to duals. We all thought it would have done better than it did in those conditions, but it didn't. That was 20 years ago. Knowing then what we know now, we probably should have gotten a wide tracked loader, extended our plan from 5 to 10 years and got more of the heavy clearing done as well as a pond put in. But then I would have also known that I was having two children! Live and learn.

 

[Ken45101]

If your rears were slipping, more ballast weight would probably have helped a lot. I'm not sure, in sandy soil, if R-1 tires would have solved anything except helped you dig ruts faster and easier

Ken