Duals or ballast

[Kodiak45]

I used my Athens 14' plow the other day behind my 4230 and I had to adjust the gangs as straight as possible to pull it. I knew it would be a hard pull but I didn't think it would be that bad. My tires don't have liquid ballast and I have a set of clamp on duals I can put on. My question is what do you think would be the better option. From what I have read, I shouldn't add liquid ballast to the inside tires and not the outside and I would rather not worry about moving weighted duals around unless I must. I heard that ballast with duals should be 40% for all 4 tires if any at all. I can't find much info on the do 's and donts of running with duals and I'd rather not learn the hard way. The harrow is a pull behind 22" 36 disc and has 9" spacing and is not offset but tandem. The discs are about 22" smooth, although they could have started at 24" notched.

 

[oldnslo]

Why aren't you supposed to run fluid in the mains and not the duals. That is the way most farmers I know operate equipment that size with fluid in the mains and duals empty. Also typically run the duals real low on pressure so the mains are carrying most of the weight to reduce stress on the axle.

I would try the duals since you have them. We used to the run 18.4 x 38 mains filled with fluid at around 12 - 14 PSI and the MT duals at 5 - 7 PSI. Never spun a dual on the rim and never had any axle or bearing problems either.

The duals will also provide a smoother ride.

Higher HP tractors may run fluid in both trying to get the power to the ground.

 

[Kodiak45]

Why aren't you supposed to run fluid in the mains and not the duals. That is the way most farmers I know operate equipment that size with fluid in the mains and duals empty. Also typically run the duals real low on pressure so the mains are carrying most of the weight to reduce stress on the axle.

I would try the duals since you have them. We used to the run 18.4 x 38 mains filled with fluid at around 12 - 14 PSI and the MT duals at 5 - 7 PSI. Never spun a dual on the rim and never had any axle or bearing problems either.

The duals will also provide a smoother ride.

Higher HP tractors may run fluid in both trying to get the power to the ground.

I don't know why it was recommended not to run empty duals if inside tires are weighted. I'll give the duals a shot and see how they do

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Your post was not clear what your problem was. I'm assuming that the tractor would just dig holes and not run out of power so that's what I'm basing my advice on. I have always seen thr inside tires loading, even with cast iron, while thr outside was run with lower pressure and no ballast.

 

[Kodiak45]

I was looking for some thoughts on if it would be better to try the duals or add some water to my tires and I wasn't sure if I could run duals if the inside tires were weighted. Sounds like I should weight my tires and put the duals on and lower the pressure on the duals.

 

[MHarryE]

We used to run duals with insides fluid filled when we had 2wd tractors. Duals removed in the summer for haying. Now that we have all 4wd tractors we don't mess with duals. Radials also made quite an improvement in traction.

 

[bdog]

I have duals on my 4440. I have cast wheel weights and the inside tires are fluid filled. The outers are empty. Everyone I know of runs them this way. The outers are hard enough to move around empty I wouldn't want to deal with them loaded when taking them on and off. I would add the fluid first and see if that does the trick and if not put on the duals.

My tires are set as narrow as possible and it is 10' wide which is a pain getting in some places. My tractor has the long axles so even if I remove the duals it is still 10' wide to the axles. Duals add a lot of stability but they can be a pain. I wouldn't add them if you don't need them. If my axles were not so long I probably wouldn't have mine on.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would run singe filled tires on a 4230 in most cases. I might put the duals (no fluid) on for floatation if I had to get in a wet field. The 4230 being a 2wd tractor I would drop the fel when plowing too.

 

[oldnslo]

What size tires are on your 4230? Everyone & I mean everyone in this area runs duals even with FWA since it in theory reduces compaction, improves the ride and adds extra weight. We even ran duals on our 5,000 Ford since it improved what you could pull and where you could go. Yes we had to remove them in the summer for haying but any serious tillage work the duals were on.

Neighbor had a 4240 with 15ft field cultivator. With out duals he could hardly pull this, with duals he walked right along.

 

[farmer2009]

That's a new one for me. We've always run loaded insides and empty outers. Don't see why it would matter. Plus when buying tires we would put the new tires on the inside and move older more worn tires to outside. Duals really help with traction and stability.