custom made wheels ?

[deepNdirt]

DeepNdirt,
I think you are going to so much work for a problem that doesn't exist. Turning the wheels around doesn't put any more wear or fatigue on the bearings than keeping them in the narrow position. Here's why. When you bolt the wheel to the hub the leverage is still in the same place as before right next to the hub. The attachment place does not change, it stays right next to the hub in either narrow or wide stance. Now if you put 3 inch spacers in between the wheel and the hub then it would put added stress on the bearings because the mounting of the wheel would be out another 3 inches from the hub.

I moved my wheels to the wider position the day I bought my JD 4310 and have over a 1000 hrs and have had no problems with the wheel bearings.

Hello,
Yes I can can sort of understand what your saying, I had already made inquiry with concern of the extra weight put on the front axle when installing the FEL, this person who rebuilds Yanmar's and many other CUT tractors advised that reversing the wheels on the front would be OK but not to over exceed the weight load capacity of the FEL,
but then after reading many threads here on TBN about the damage being done to the bearing/axel's by reversing the wheels I decided to come up with a simi-solution, the wider wheels with a center/equal point of mount
Actually there is a few reason for wanting to go with larger rims,
1- being to have a wider front stance to help with balancing the FEL
2- to be able to use a wider tire so's not to trench the yard using the AG tires
3- can buy standard size car tires from any tire store without speacial order
4- and the theory I had in saving the bearings by the use of a wheel that would carry the weight load thruout the center of the wheel .......

as much as I try to think in the theory of it not having any effects on the bearings after reversing the wheel the less I can see this theroy
example, if while holding a pencil in between you finger and thumb at the eraser end of the pencilo try pulling up on the other end with enough lift pressure the pencil will start to break close to where you are holding it, How ever if you hold the pencil in the middle and try again to lift the end you'll find that the pencil will not be so susceptible to break or will require much more force in order to break it, this may not be a very good example but does give an idea of why I have this theroy,

 

[massey driver]

My two cents worth.The way rims are designed on tractors is to keep them
as close as possible to the pivot point on the front axle,to reduce stress on the hubs,rims,and axle pivots.If you look at bigger tractors they compensate for widening and narrowing of the front axle by moving each end of the axle in or out of the main axle frame.Not by putting rims on that are dished in more or less then the original rims.In my opinion any time you move the center of your tire further away from where the hub pivots you automatically add more stress to these parts.Larry

 

[deepNdirt]

My two cents worth.The way rims are designed on tractors is to keep them
as close as possible to the pivot point on the front axle,to reduce stress on the hubs,rims,and axle pivots.If you look at bigger tractors they compensate for widening and narrowing of the front axle by moving each end of the axle in or out of the main axle frame.Not by putting rims on that are dished in more or less then the original rims.In my opinion any time you move the center of your tire further away from where the hub pivots you automatically add more stress to these parts.Larry

Yes another good point made, and I have seen the larger tractors as you say having the adjustments in the front axle, although with the cut tractors given no provision to adjust other then the reversing the front wheels, and I'm sure their not intended to be reversed.... Because My previous tractor ( Kubota) Had wheels weights mounted to the inside and no way you could reverse them without eliminating the weights,
again in my theory for what ever its worth I am only adding 2 inches to the total width of the rim and tire and then I would be dividing this 2 " up equally on the spindle,........... currently with the wheels being 4" wide and it having roughly only 1" back-set that is putting 3" to the rear of the spindle and off center, Now if I go ahead with the 6" wheel and have the mounting area center of the wheel it will still be the same 3" to the inside but now will be 3" to the outside as well theoretically speaking
So? will this be putting excessive wear or will it in fact be equalizing the weight out over the axle?

 

[Just Bill]

Hello
I would give it a try.
The most that will happen is it will damage the wheel bearings.
Tractors are available with either R1 or R4 tires and use the same bearings.
You are not talking high speed, you need stability and less ruts.
Keep an eye on them, wheel bearings fail more often due to lack of service than anything I have seen.
Bill

 

[Hardacrefarm]

If my tractor didn't have the spreadable type axle, then I'd opt to put spacers on instead of altering rims-Even if I had to make them.

Skinny tires are better with a loader on a tractor without power steering, and spinback happens FAST-I'D NEVER PUT A SUICIDE KNOB ON THESE!

 

[neucam]

Not to shoot a hole in your theory, but the front axle pivots in the middle , not like a car. and a little wider stance won't help stability with a loader much at all. What does work is wider rear end stance and loaded rear tires and a big counter weight low down on the rear. This helped my 4wd tractor a lot, because I cannot always be on perfectly level ground. If you have a 2wd tractor they are not built as strong as a 4wd in the front end and they are capable of handling more weight. If I did not have 4wd my compact tractor would be next to useless at times because of traction issues. With all the added weight on the rear not so much of an issue. By the way my tractor has 6 X 14" front tires and they do have good load carrying capacity. If that is what you are after then try to find a car rim from a Datsun, Toyota, older ones and see if you might find a good rim fit. My trailer has 4 bolt 12" rims and an industrial tire and can support a lot of weight, but are only 4" wide. Still they might work for you.

 

[deepNdirt]

well I guess My theory has a big Hole in it, I know the tractor pivots on the center, which I think causes some of the instability problems, if I was real brave I would hack off the front axle and build a wider one for it,
who knows what I'd be getting in to?
but really! I don't think its necessary to do that, when simply adding another 2 inch of wheel & tire to each front would help with the balancing issue, maybe the term theory is too strongly taken, perhaps I should use another term, how bout ( for instance ) on my '66 mustang I used to run the skinny 6x14" wheels all the way around and the car drove terrible,
it was loose in curves and just did not feel stable at high speeds, I first rebuilt the front end. new Control arms ball joints, shocks etc,etc, this helped a little but still not as I would have hopped for, so rather then to spend mega bucks to rebuild with tubular control arms and rack-n-P steering etc, I tried something, I swap over wheels/tires from my '68 GTS ( 8" x 15" the rear are 295 50's the front 225 60's)
after driving the mustang just a short distance I could feel the handling improvement,
the car simply held to the ground , was better in the curves and not quite as much body roll as before with having the skinny tires, the tires alone helped more then anything, ................... although we are not talking about Cars, speed and handling, just trying to achieve a little more stability on the front of a tractor, and I guess the wheel and tire idea is the less expensive attempt to do so..

 

[neucam]

What I was trying to say, yes width on a car that has a suspension that pivots near the tire can respond with wider width, a tractor on the other hand tips from the center , the old farm tractors with a tricycle front end close together had no less stability than a similar tractor with wide front. Your tractor has no suspension springs hence it is almost the same as a tractor with a single front wheel. An old Farmall M with a tricycle front end was almost impossible to tip, but the rear tread was about 7 feet wide. The only reason why wide fronts were put on farm tractors were to space them for row crops or for a loader as the tricycle front end would ball up in mud.

 

[dcyrilc]

What I was trying to say, yes width on a car that has a suspension that pivots near the tire can respond with wider width, a tractor on the other hand tips from the center , the old farm tractors with a tricycle front end close together had no less stability than a similar tractor with wide front. Your tractor has no suspension springs hence it is almost the same as a tractor with a single front wheel. An old Farmall M with a tricycle front end was almost impossible to tip, but the rear tread was about 7 feet wide. The only reason why wide fronts were put on farm tractors were to space them for row crops or for a loader as the tricycle front end would ball up in mud.

This is true. Try putting your heaviest implement on the back and check the difference in front stability. That is going to be your greatest gain in stability and it also helps ofset some of the weight in the FEL. It is the same reason so many people suggest a weight box when using a FEL.

 

[pat32rf]

Can't agree with the theory that a tricycle set-up is just as stable as a wide front axle, when both have the same width rear. If one rear wheel goes up over a bump, the opposite front wheel will stabilize the tractor, but if the fronts are in the center they can't. This is why the ATV companys quit making three wheelers.
While the wider rims might give a bit more stability, the bearing load change will be nothing compared to the change in steering effort that you will get with wheels set farther out than stock widths. My BIL runs his 2wd 60hp Massey with the front axle WIDE, plus rims reversed. He can't keep ball joints in the rig and it is nerve wracking to drive at road speeds, even with power steering...but with a loaded bucket it is stable as a rock.