Are tractors evolving to more equally sized tires?

[roadhunter]

What?

He's correct IMO. Older tractors were designed with large rear tires for pulling work. The fronts were just to steer, thus they were much smaller. Heck some of the real old ones were really narrow in front as well. These old designs are likely why we still see CUT's with small tires even though they have a FEL and 4 wheel drive. Many people probably put more weight on the front axle than the rear when doing loader work. So between using the 4 wheel drive and loader work putting more weight on the front axle it's surprising that the front tires are not similar in size to the rears. That is likely also why you see more similar sized front and rear tires on larger tractors.

 

[roadhunter]

One of the problems with bigger tires up front is you can't see the loader. It also means you have to widen the front axle so the tires can turn and not hit the frame. You get more traction with a bigger tire, but for little tractors with small HP, there is no advantage or need to put bigger tires up front

Better load carrying capacity, less rolling resistance, better traction, and less sinking in soft soil are all advantages to a larger front tires. between FEL work and 4 wheel drive these modern CUT's are putting just as much stress on the front axle as the rear so it's reasonable to think that the front axle would be similar in size to the rear.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I accidentally ran over a couple of flowers last year...I thought I was going to have to move or something. Dang, I didn't know such a sweet sunday school teacher could yell like that! :ashamed: I was in the Navy and I didn't even know some of those words...lol... Been putting up with her 37 years...guess I'll keep her around awhile longer. Oh yeah, the other worse thing is if I let my chickens out to forage and they get into her precious flowers. Good Lord, nothing like a little red headed woman flying out the front door screaming at chickens...they haul butt to another spot real quick. :laughing: 71 acres and they go straight for her blooming flowers...fried chicken very quickly :licking:

The fried chicken you are talking about?? Is that the chicken or you????? Ed:laughing::laughing:

 

[roadhunter]

Here is a perfect example. My old tractor moving a round bale. Tractor weighs about 4,500. Attachments are probably another 1,0000 along with the bale with is around 1,500. Total weight is likely over 7,000 pounds. My guess is in that pic around 6,500 pounds is sitting on the front axle and little tires while only about 500 pounds is on the rear axle. This is why the fronts should be larger to match the weight they carry when using the loader.

 

[MESSMAKER]

I wouldn't necessarily care if the tire was a lot taller, just needs to be a lot wider on my B26. Those little 6" wide tires sink up too much in soft soil with a loader full of dirt.

I agree that a little wider would be good.

 

[Slackdaddy]

The major problem is a 4wd CUT uses a front axle with "dropped" spindles from the gears they use to allow the front tires to turn without using U-joints, they need to come up with a strong "straight" front axle, so larger tires can be used.
The small front tires have to do with how tractors evolved,, the design and concept (no frame, large front tires) is for pulling this through the dirt.
The front end loader (and backhoe) is an after thought. The CUT (and SCUT) are a scaled down large tractor by design, BUT they have a very different use (or are used differently) then large tractors.

I would love to see a CUT designed from the ground up to tackle the jobs they are typically used for. A Frame that takes the load of the FEL and backhoe, larger front tires to handle the FEL loads, a true shuttle shift like a full sized backhoe has,,

Slack

 

[bcp]

Shouldn't be too hard for Kubota to make an AG version of this, and a smaller one, too.

Compact Wheel Loaders | R420S | Kubota Tractor Corporation



Bruce

 

[MORRISONSTEEL]

I would love to see a CUT designed from the ground up to tackle the jobs they are typically used for. A Frame that takes the load of the FEL and backhoe, larger front tires to handle the FEL loads, a true shuttle shift like a full sized backhoe has,,

Slack

It's probably about price more than anything. Any mfg could build a super duty cut with all of those features but how much more money is the consumer willing to shell out for those features.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Just look up Italian made tractors, Most of the small tractors have the same size tires front and back and the weight equil in both axles. That is small tractors and many used for steep hills. Ed

 

[TSO]

Hmmmm... It's really strange... Most TLB machines out there, from a little B26 up to a 100+ HP CAT industrial machine, run comparatively small front tires in proportion to the rears. Should they not be lifting anything heavy either?