East Texas Piney Woods Tire advice

[Torvy]

Howdy y'all. We finally closed on a property in North East Texas. It is mostly trees sitting on sandy loam soil. The plan is to build a small place and 'retire' to manage the property. No lawn planned or desired. We are looking to buy a compact tractor in the 25-45 HP range. Leaning toward Kubota in part because there is a dealer less than 10 miles from our place. We do have many options under an hour and I am open to any and all suggestions. Tractor will be used for keeping open areas cut (rotary cutter, methinks), some forestry work (planting, pruning, thinning) and landscape maintenance (dirt/rock driveway, fencing, tilling). I am sure there will be other things as we learn what we don't know.

My question for today is for those with experience in the soils of the Piney Woods. I have seen a lot of debate on tires, but not much from those who will be in similar conditions. We have some slopes, but is is mostly gently rolling land. I am a bit concerned that R1's may tear up the soft soil. R4's or R14's are also options, but not sure if those will have good enough traction when it is wet. Snow is not a concern as we will not have critters and the rare snow around here is gone before I will need to get out in it!

So the question....If you do your tractor work in East Texas which tires do you use and how do you feel about the decision?

 

[Bearsixty7]

R1 or R14's is all I would consider. R4's are designed for near dedicated loader work on concrete or hard surfaces to wear longer. They have minimal traction on wet grass and 0 in mud.

R1's actually can be less damaging on soft terrain as they don't spin as easily. Just drive it easily and use 4wd when it's soft.

 

[WM75Guy]

Been here since 2008, my place is mostly sandy loam or sand. I have R4s on both of my tractors. I have never had an issue getting around and have never had a flat. Lately with all the rain I have had a lot of standing water so I just stay out of the fields. The only time I got stuck and had to be pulled out was when I drove over an area with an underground spring and was sunk up to the hubs before I could stop. It would not have mattered what tire I had that time.

 

[K5lwq]

I am in East Texas, R1 for me and never an issue.

 

[Torvy]

Thanks, guys. Given that the R1's are a bit cheaper anyway, I will probably start with those. If I go Kubota, I may try the R14's but only if I am buying off the lot and that is what they have installed. I am destined to make mistakes, just trying to control for what I can and manage the rest.

 

[jaxs]

Kubota would be my choice in tractor size you are buying. R4 will surfic unless pulling ground ingaging equipment of any kind. R1 for me all the way. Don't worry about tearing ground up with R1s on tractor. In the Piney Woods shoats tear the ground up,tractor need's R1s and box blade fix it.

 

[3Ts]

I have one tractor with R1s and another with R3s. Around here most of the soil is sandy with some outcroppings of red clay they call iron ore (because some of the gravel sticks to a magnet). If the field is wet, I stay out of it. Both tractors will make ruts when wet and when dry it's almost like concrete. The tire type doesn't seem to affect the ground when it's not muddy. When it's muddy, you'll need R1s.

 

[oosik]

I don't live in NE Texas and I don't have pigs. However - I do have 80 acres covered with Ponderosa pines. My Kubota M6040 weighs in at 10,100 pounds. It has R-1 tires and the only time they do any damage - if I'm foolish enough to go out in the spring when the ground is super soft and wet. Otherwise - all you see is the track thru the fields where the field grass was driven on.

 

[jaxs]

I don't live in NE Texas and I don't have pigs. However - I do have 80 acres covered with Ponderosa pines. My Kubota M6040 weighs in at 10,100 pounds. It has R-1 tires and the only time they do any damage - if I'm foolish enough to go out in the spring when the ground is super soft and wet. Otherwise - all you see is the track thru the fields where the field grass was driven on.

No pigs!
Well we need to do something about that. I figure if we drop off 2 bred sows and a young boar this summer,by spring 2022 you should have enough to make life interesting. They normally have 8 in a litter and 9 survive.

 

[ch1ch2]

R1 or R14's is all I would consider. R4's are designed for near dedicated loader work on concrete or hard surfaces to wear longer. They have minimal traction on wet grass and 0 in mud.

R1's actually can be less damaging on soft terrain as they don't spin as easily. Just drive it easily and use 4wd when it's soft.

Ditto