Tires Better tires from China?

[F100Panel]

One of my main hobbies is keeping gravel on the driveway. I tailgate spread as much as I can off the truck but for getting that center higher to get the water to run off to the sides ( theres a term for that center hi point but at the moment I'm brain dead & can't recall it..) I'll bring down some full buckets from the stockpile & drop it out of the bucket to rake off with the wheels adjusted on the yorke rake to give me that center swell...... CROWN!!!! Thats what I was trying to say.... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif When doing that I have the tractor in lowest possible gear & drive into the pile & while the turf tires spin I raise the bucket.... Bucket comes out mounded spilling out over the top. GUILTY!!! Too full to be safe & I know it but when going 600 feet from the stockpile to point of use every trip saved helps. As stated I really ought to cut back on how much I put in the bucket.... On the + side, The Koyker loader handles it easily... Wider front tires would make a tremendous difference. There is a post on here somewhere showing a yellow Jinma custom from a dealer with wide front tires likely wheels & tires supplied by Titan tire as customs. When things slow down over the winter I'll contact Titan Tire & inquire. Right now I just have too many irons in the fire... I have a Jinma 284 crate comming in a few weeks & likely won't get to assemble that till late spring.... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Forgot to mention, with the AG tires one MUST ride the clutch when really working to fill the bucket... If you power into the pile with the Ag tires & lift up on the bucket as the weight hits the Ags the tractor front wheels STOP spinning & the tractor either lunges forward or stalls the tractor hopefully not spitting out the front differential in the process....

 

[ToolManRick]

Hi JohnS.

The AG's on there right now are 8.3 x 24 on the rears and 6.0 x 12 on the fronts. Danged if I can recall what the rolling radius was from "crush". I think your right about the front tires leading the way IIRC. I don't really have a lawn either, it's green with a wide variety of grass and weeds. I guess my thinking about the R4's is due to the weather. When it rains I have to wait 2-3 days or I make permanent tracks is this lovely red clay. I like the AG's for sure working in the woods and garden and that's mostly what I do. Turfs would never get it on my property, but it's nice to have the right shoes for the job.

 

[bluechip]

A casual (therefore probably not reliable) measurement of the diameter by tape measure of the front and rear tires of JM200 series with 6x12 and 8.4x24 and 6x16 and 9.5x24 shows a remarkable similarity in rolling ratio. I suspect the gearbox innards use the same ratio.
If anyone has a 254/284 with turfs, I would suspect them to be teh same size used on the 204s. I have ordered some and they are due in a few weeks, but I am really expecting the same turf tires we ahve installed on 184s and 204s.

 

[SPIKER]

to measure the rolling circumfrence take a white chaulk and mark the side wall of tire, and make a MARK on the garage floor both using a straight edge, then drive forward untill the marks are dead center on the floor again and mark the floor then measure the distance from mark A to mark B for both front and rears. this is the rolling circumpress of the tires as ther is sidewall compression that will actually make a bit of difference but only in the fraction of an inch thing but it sure is easier than attempting to get a tape around the tire! lol.

Mark M

 

[bluechip]

I just measured the diameter of the tire, from the ground to the top of the tire to compare, all three tractors I measured, the small tire 200 series, the JM254 and a 204 with turfs.

 

[ToolManRick]

I have one of those handy-dandy laser levels and shot a level line from the floor to the center of axle (rolling radius). This time I got 18.5" on the rear and 12.00" on the front. That ratio is 1.54 or a little short of the 1.575 I got actually rotating the free spinning tires. Ideally... if the front measured 12 the back should be 18.90 to keep that 1.575 ratio. I know for sure from the bumpy tread I could roll the tractor a little and come up with completely different numbers.

The O.D. of the rear tire is 39.00 and 25.5 on the front for a ratio of 1.53, but front tire actually crushed .75 inch and the rear a full 1.00 inch. My guess is different tires will crush differently and that makes for some guess work on what diameter tires you'd actually need.

Spikers method of rolling circumference is more accurate because it averages out the tread bump, basically turning the tire into a smooth disc.

All way to complicated for me. Guess I'll stick with my AG's until one of you dealers comes up with a recommended tire set.

 

[F100Panel]

Coincidental with the debate on Ag tire vs. Turf Tire vs. R4's scroll up to the Owner Operator post section & check out the "Interesting but stupid" post... Post had nothing to do with tires, just operating on pretty steep grades but in the pictures supplied the guy has a pretty spiffy Kubota, backhoe on the back making real nice extra weight over the rear tires.... The rear tires are R4's with...........tire chains......in the summer.... R4's, middle ground? Maybe.. Cost efective? I dunno...... I can tell you I've had 10 ton 4x4 front end loaders here at the house with near new R4 type tread tires that I've had hung up in the mud trying to climb not much of an incline & in the snow they were near helpless without tire chains trying to push snow... I'm sure R4's have their place. I'm POSITIVE I'm NO expert on the subject but I just threw out my take on my experiences & observations on the subject... The most cost effective way out in my mind is Turf tires for the finished lawn & tire chains when ya need'em or in my case, switch back to the Ag's that originally came on the tractor if I plan on working in the wet. www.tirechains.com would be my first choice. They have a X pattern criss cross chain called Duo-Grip that even gives lateral traction preventing you from sliding down an incline sideways in the snow, something that happens with regular chains /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif