Discontinued Tire Height? Help!

keepergoin · Apr 23, 2011

Hello All,

Just recently bought a late 80's ford 1320 4wd w/ hydro, about 2100 hours on it. I am looking to replace one of the rear tires (size 13.6 x 16 - R3) due to some major dry rot and recent flat and cacl leakage. Well, I took it to a local tire place that sells tractor tires and they tell me that they have a new one, but its a different height. After talking to the previous owner, he reveals to me that firestone did indeed discontinue making the exact tire that is needed for the rear of the tractor and all of the new ones are taller, so good luck finding one without replacing the other (which is in good shape).

Does anyone have any recommendations here / know what the heck im talking about with the change of tire heights and could offer any advice aside from replacing both rear tires and quite possibly the fronts (which i just replaced before knowing about this problem)?

Thanks in advance, great site here!

Wolfy · Apr 23, 2011

Nice buy! You would be far ahead if you replace both rear tires, then you
have 4 new tires, no worries. I doubt a slight tire height variation would have any effect on the driveline, no more so than if you kept one rear tire
and mounted one new rear tire.

LD1 · Apr 23, 2011

I guess you could shop around used.

But depending on how close you can get, you may indeed need to replace the fronts. I'd say any more than 1" difference in diameter and you need to get a set of fronts that will keep the same front-to-reat ratio.

It may be a non issue with turfs 99% of the time, but if you ever cross or drive on pavement or concrete in 4wd, it could cause you some serious issues.

wny770 · Apr 23, 2011

Look on the Titan tire web site. They will list heights.... etc... See if they are a match?

Scooby074 · Apr 23, 2011

Gotta be the same. If you dont get lucky and find one you need to replace both rears at the minimum, and likely the front. F:R ratio is extremely important and requires a surprisingly close tolerance. If your off and you get any binding AT ALL... bad and very expensive noises will be made.

keepergoin · Apr 24, 2011

Alright... yeah i am aware of the front - rear ratio issue, guess I need to look into that a little more. I have seen some calculations that can be done so I will search a bit more for that. As for finding the same tire height, I guess I should see if i can find a used one but apparently the previous owner had someone look for him but couldn't find one (but i doubt he used the internet).

Can the height of the tire be measured while on the tractor or does it need to be off the rim and all?

thanks for all the responses.