Switching wheels from one side to the other?

[mars1952]

I agree that you should switch the tires side to side to get a wider stance. Everyone should do this unless they have to have the stance narrow for some reason. It does not help stability much to switch the front tires and it makes the steering a little weird. I switched the front and rears on my JD4300 and it made a lot of difference on the hill sides. I put the front tires back the way they were because of the bad effect it had on the steering.
Mars

 

[williamemack]

You can also use wheel spacers. I punched out the rear wheels on my Deere 3520 two inches on each side. Very happy with the results.

 

[looknlearn]

I change the tire widths on my tractor quite often to make it wider and more stable in the summer and then narrow cause I have a 4ft gate to get through to get into the yard next to the house and in the winter I plow sidewalks so it depends on what I am going to be doing. It is a job cause my tires are loaded so I normally roll it into place and use the jack to get the hub lined up. I have also done the front wheels but without PS it gets pretty hard to steer.

 

[mars1952]

You can also use wheel spacers. I punched out the rear wheels on my Deere 3520 two inches on each side. Very happy with the results.

Hi: Where did you get your spacers? I would like to space my tires out to make room for chains.
Mars

 

[RoyJackson]

Hi: Where did you get your spacers? I would like to space my tires out to make room for chains.
Mars

You could just swap side to side and get enough clearance.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I swapped tires side to side on both front and back of my Yanmar 4220. This kept the front tires in line with the back so it is easier to judge how close your are to something at the rear. It does monkey with the steering with the tires spread out on the front though even with Power steering it will kick the steering wheel when you hit a rut or rock or whatever and it didnt do that with them turned in. Maybe one day when I get some excess energy, I will swap the front back in to narrower stance. Since getting my LS P7010, the old Yanmar doesnt get much use especially in cold weather as it doesnt have glow plugs and it doesnt start well below 50 F.
As for traction, there is no difference between wide or narrow.

 

[dwost]

I too just did this on my JD 1070, very happy with the results.

 

[Lightnsound]

I narrowed up the rears on my Kubota B7610 so they fit in the path of the new 3pt snowblower. The adjustment is very easy on this model, just a pin and a bolt, and the wheels slide to several positions on the axle.

I want to widen the front tread width to eliminate some rubbing between the left front tire and the steering linkage every time I make a hard left turn. It really annoys me that the tractor leaves the factory with this issue. My other option is to get the SawzAll and trim a bit of the tread bars from the corner of the tire where it rubs.

Widening the front wheels would also give me enough clearance to put chains on the front tires without fear of the chains damaging anything on the tractor.

The owner's manual says not to flip the front rims to widen the tread width. Why would they say not to do this? Is it a safety thing, or stress on the bearings, or some other issue that I can't think of?

I don't care about voiding a warranty, that's long expired. I don't think that the change would significantly stress the bearings, this machine doesn't get worked all that hard. It's used primarily for mowing and some light digging with the backhoe during the summer, and for clearing snow from a 600' drive during the winter, and in eastern PA we really don't get that much snow.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

It really puts a load on the gear box. We did it all of the time as a kid but man it was hard to steer but it was fast and dirty. :thumbsup:

 

[Lightnsound]

I think I'll try turning them around. If I don't like it I can just flip them back.

I'm embarrassed that I didn't think about load on the steering box.