Smaller rear tires to lower tractor ROPS so I can fit into my trailer when hauling

[pretendfarmer]

I have a JD 790 I recently purchased. The ROPS is 3-4 inches too tall to clear the header on my enclosed trailer. In order to even fit, I took the ROPS crossbar off and had to try to flatten the tires to get it into the trailer. That worked, but getting it out turned out to be a nightmare. For some reason it "grew" once inside and it was again too tall. I did everything I could short of removing the rear wheels to lower it to just barely clear the door header, but the tractor still caught and did some minor damage to the trailer. I cursed myself for shoehorning the tractor in there and will never do that again. I was thinking that maybe I could purchase some smaller rear tires and wheels to put on when I need to haul the tractor somewhere, which is only a few times a year. Does this sound like a good plan so that I can utilize my enclosed trailer?

 

[Have tractor did travel]

If you change rear tire size, do not operate in 4 wheel drive on dry pavement. It's a real Rube Goldberg solution, but maybe you could cut out the floor boards where the tires rest while traveling. Support the tires with planks screwed to the underside of the floor. That would pickup some extra room -minimum of thickness of the floor boards, and maximum as "Rube" as you dare. That would only do some good if the ROPS clears the top of the trailer before the tires have to cross over the metal threshold of the trailer.
Regarding your solution of letting air out of the tires. Any chance heat in the trailer increased the tire pressure, causing the "growing" you experienced ? If addressing that solves the problem, I'd stick with letting air out and re-inflating on arrival at destination.

 

[newbury]

First of all-what do you have for tires? Turfs?
If you've not got Turfs would switching to turfs work?
Second - what about bare wheels? If you swap the rears to a set of bare wheels when you've got to transport you could drive in on the rim if you don't drag.
Have you seen this?

 

[CH4Ohio]

I'd rent or buy an appropriate flat bed trailer rather than modify my tractor to fit. You only need to tow it a few times per year -- your tractor will be modified with sub-par tires 24x7.

Does your trailer have a rear ramp door? Isn't the tractor pretty heavy to drive up that ramp door?

How are you properly strapping or chaining it down once inside the trailer? It's not secure just because it's loaded and the door's closed.

 

[CobyRupert]

Are you the only owner and operator?
Safety Police may issue a warrant for this advice, but I’d take off the ROPS crossbar, cut the posts down a couple inches and tap some new holes to reinstall the crossbar.

 

[pretendfarmer]

If you change rear tire size, do not operate in 4 wheel drive on dry pavement. It's a real Rube Goldberg solution, but maybe you could cut out the floor boards where the tires rest while traveling. Support the tires with planks screwed to the underside of the floor. That would pickup some extra room -minimum of thickness of the floor boards, and maximum as "Rube" as you dare. That would only do some good if the ROPS clears the top of the trailer before the tires have to cross over the metal threshold of the trailer.
Regarding your solution of letting air out of the tires. Any chance heat in the trailer increased the tire pressure, causing the "growing" you experienced ? If addressing that solves the problem, I'd stick with letting air out and re-inflating on arrival at destination.

Hahaha. No, I'm not cutting the floor out of my expensive enclosed trailer. And yeah, I know all about the 4 wheel drive thing.

 

[pretendfarmer]

First of all-what do you have for tires? Turfs?
If you've not got Turfs would switching to turfs work?
Second - what about bare wheels? If you swap the rears to a set of bare wheels when you've got to transport you could drive in on the rim if you don't drag.
Have you seen this?

Yes, I've been looking for a folding ROPS to swap out but didn't see one for the JD790.

 

[pretendfarmer]

I'd rent or buy an appropriate flat bed trailer rather than modify my tractor to fit. You only need to tow it a few times per year -- your tractor will be modified with sub-par tires 24x7.

Does your trailer have a rear ramp door? Isn't the tractor pretty heavy to drive up that ramp door?

How are you properly strapping or chaining it down once inside the trailer? It's not secure just because it's loaded and the door's closed.

Gee, ya' think? C'mon, this isn't about "how do I strap a tractor down?" for crying out loud. I've been hauling trailers and equipment for almost 35 years. I'm trying to figure a way to not alter the ROPS at all, but haul and store my tractor INSIDE my enclosed trailer. I need to leave it in there at times. Sitting outside on a flatbed screams "HEY, STEAL ME!"

 

[pretendfarmer]

Are you the only owner and operator?
Safety Police may issue a warrant for this advice, but I’d take off the ROPS crossbar, cut the posts down a couple inches and tap some new holes to reinstall the crossbar.

This is the last resort.

 

[jyoutz]

Gee, ya' think? C'mon, this isn't about "how do I strap a tractor down?" for crying out loud. I've been hauling trailers and equipment for almost 35 years. I'm trying to figure a way to not alter the ROPS at all, but haul and store my tractor INSIDE my enclosed trailer. I need to leave it in there at times. Sitting outside on a flatbed screams "HEY, STEAL ME!"

I would guess that 90%+ of us haul our tractors on open flatbeds.