Filled my rears. WOW

   / Filled my rears. WOW #21  
Brian, out of curiosity, I'll run the pressure test on my fronts which are not filled. Curious to see the percentage of pressure increase.

I say do what makes you feel good. Adding weight obviously adds traction in every situation. The point is whether it's necessary or not. I see no or minimal gain in FEL work to fill the fronts. With the FEL removed, I see a gain. I too remove my FEL often. I add suitcase weights for front ballast then if needed. Within a couple minutes I can get the gain of added traction when the FEL is removed, and not carry that unnecessary weight when the FEL is installed.
 
   / Filled my rears. WOW #22  
Brian, out of curiosity, I'll run the pressure test on my fronts which are not filled. Curious to see the percentage of pressure increase.

I say do what makes you feel good. Adding weight obviously adds traction in every situation. The point is whether it's necessary or not. I see no or minimal gain in FEL work to fill the fronts. With the FEL removed, I see a gain. I too remove my FEL often. I add suitcase weights for front ballast then if needed. Within a couple minutes I can get the gain of added traction when the FEL is removed, and not carry that unnecessary weight when the FEL is installed.

So how much weight to you add up front? :confused3: I had to double what the recommended amount was and it still was not enough. Same with the rears, I have 3 times the recommended wheel weights. I had to get my tractor as heavy as it is (10.000lbs without the 2,000lb loader) to be able to get the full capability out of it. Part of my problem is that I had to go with R-4s due to our property being about 90% burned off back in 2003 and the remains would have destroyed R1s. :eek:
 
   / Filled my rears. WOW #23  
I've got 1500lbs of fluid plus 300lb of cast weights on the rears. That's with cast iron centers which adds another 700lb over stamped steel. I add 1000lb of suitcase weights to the front when needed. I've not weighed my tractor without FEL. It weighs 10,300 with FEL.
 
   / Filled my rears. WOW #24  
I did a DIY job of filling my 33" turf tires.... Like said, made a BIG difference in how it handled in snow, loader work, and with field work type implements that I use... The extra weight doesn't seem to harm grass, gravel, etc....

However... I don't think filling smaller front tires, those that would not hold 5 gallon each, would be worth the effort and cost...

If your fronts are the size of the ones on the tractor in the picture on post #20, then it most likely would be a good choice...
My 2 cents worth on the subject....

Good luck...
 
   / Filled my rears. WOW #25  
Did the pressure test on the front tires of my smaller tractor, larger tractor is not here. Tires are filled to just over the rim and currently have 37psi in them and the tires are rated for 50psi. Put the bucket under an object that could not be lifted, so equivalent to maximum load. There was a zero increase in tire pressure, stayed at 37psi.

So does that mean that the tire PSI stays at what it is set at and does not change under a load? :confused3: Sort of looks that way.

At first I would have and did think that the psi would have gone up, but then on the other hand as long as the tire is allowed to flex and the inside volume stays the same, the psi should in fact stay the same. The tire would have to roll over a rock or something that actually pushes the face of the tire inward and actually change the shape of the exterior of the tire so that the interior of the tire has actually become smaller and then increases the psi.

So for me for the most part, the sole benefit is the added weight for the added traction, which for me and my conditions for what I use my tractors for is enough of a reason to have the fronts loaded.

This may or may not hold true for others with other equipment and different types of conditions, just what it is for me. ;)
 
   / Filled my rears. WOW #26  
Did the pressure test on the front tires of my smaller tractor, larger tractor is not here. Tires are filled to just over the rim and currently have 37psi in them and the tires are rated for 50psi. Put the bucket under an object that could not be lifted, so equivalent to maximum load. There was a zero increase in tire pressure, stayed at 37psi.

So does that mean that the tire PSI stays at what it is set at and does not change under a load? :confused3: Sort of looks that way.

At first I would have and did think that the psi would have gone up, but then on the other hand as long as the tire is allowed to flex and the inside volume stays the same, the psi should in fact stay the same. The tire would have to roll over a rock or something that actually pushes the face of the tire inward and actually change the shape of the exterior of the tire so that the interior of the tire has actually become smaller and then increases the psi.

So for me for the most part, the sole benefit is the added weight for the added traction, which for me and my conditions for what I use my tractors for is enough of a reason to have the fronts loaded.

This may or may not hold true for others with other equipment and different types of conditions, just what it is for me. ;)

I am going to try and put in my little bit of knowledge on this which is not much. So PSI stands for pounds per square inch. That means at 37psi the tire will support 37 lbs for every square inch that touches the ground or hard surface. The air pressure in the tire will only increase if air is added to the tire. That is why an under inflated tire will blow the sidewall off the rim. Too much of the tires surface area tries to make contact with a stable surface like the ground and the sidewall will not allow enough flex. So a tire with 10psi carrying a corner load of 1000 lbs will need 100 square inches of surface area or a 10 inch wide by 10 inch deep patch of ground to contact. If that same tire was inflated to 100 psi it would only need 10 square inches of contact surface or 10 inches wide by 1 inch deep. So deflating your tires to a lower pressure allows more contact surface between the tire and the ground resulting in more grip. As long as you do not overload the tire resulting in the sidewall giving out. If you can measure a tires contact surface area and the PSI inside the tire you can weigh a tractor or vehicle without a scale.

I know we are way off topic but I hope that helps.
 
   / Filled my rears. WOW #27  
Brian, I'm surprised too. Your theory about the tire squishing can't quite be accurate though. I'll just use my tractor for this example. When I pick up a load with the FEL the tire squats at the ground contact patch. To do that one of two things must happen. The air pressure must rise. Or all the rest of the tire must expand to offset the loss of volume at the ground. Haven't had a chance to test yet. I'll report back when I do

LazyH, very interesting concept. And to that I'll add this. Air pressure is not what carries the load. Air volume does. That's why smaller front tires require higher pressures than larger rear tires. An example of this is Brian running 37psi in his fronts. Mine are considerably larger than his and I run considerably less pressure, 20psi.

The most extreme example of my pressure versus volume theory is a "floater" truck or Big A or whatever they are called in your area. They run huge balloon AG tires. They run single digit air pressure and carrying the machine and as much as 10K lbs of materials. In the Big A's case it does it on 3 tires. Huge volume in those huge tires requires very low pressure.

Let me finally add, if I air up my fronts to 37psi like Brian's, they won't squat with a load either.
 
   / Filled my rears. WOW #28  
Brian, I'm surprised too. Your theory about the tire squishing can't quite be accurate though. I'll just use my tractor for this example. When I pick up a load with the FEL the tire squats at the ground contact patch. To do that one of two things must happen. The air pressure must rise. Or all the rest of the tire must expand to offset the loss of volume at the ground. Haven't had a chance to test yet. I'll report back when I do

LazyH, very interesting concept. And to that I'll add this. Air pressure is not what carries the load. Air volume does. That's why smaller front tires require higher pressures than larger rear tires. An example of this is Brian running 37psi in his fronts. Mine are considerably larger than his and I run considerably less pressure, 20psi.

The most extreme example of my pressure versus volume theory is a "floater" truck or Big A or whatever they are called in your area. They run huge balloon AG tires. They run single digit air pressure and carrying the machine and as much as 10K lbs of materials. In the Big A's case it does it on 3 tires. Huge volume in those huge tires requires very low pressure.

Let me finally add, if I air up my fronts to 37psi like Brian's, they won't squat with a load either.

The tire squats, (sidewall bulges) but the interior volume does not change. You need to have the interior volume change (face of the tire gets pushed inwards more than the sidewall bulges)before the pressure is going to change. (I think :confused3: ;) )

37psi in an R1 tire. :eek: That would be one of the huge differences between the std R1s and R4s and why R4s are typically considered to be able to carry a load better safely, more plys, stiffer sidewalls. :thumbsup:
 
   / Filled my rears. WOW #29  
If I remember correctly my Bobcat owners manual stated not to fill the front tires
 
   / Filled my rears. WOW #30  
Brian, I'm surprised too. Your theory about the tire squishing can't quite be accurate though. I'll just use my tractor for this example. When I pick up a load with the FEL the tire squats at the ground contact patch. To do that one of two things must happen. The air pressure must rise. Or all the rest of the tire must expand to offset the loss of volume at the ground. Haven't had a chance to test yet. I'll report back when I do

LazyH, very interesting concept. And to that I'll add this. Air pressure is not what carries the load. Air volume does. That's why smaller front tires require higher pressures than larger rear tires. An example of this is Brian running 37psi in his fronts. Mine are considerably larger than his and I run considerably less pressure, 20psi.

The most extreme example of my pressure versus volume theory is a "floater" truck or Big A or whatever they are called in your area. They run huge balloon AG tires. They run single digit air pressure and carrying the machine and as much as 10K lbs of materials. In the Big A's case it does it on 3 tires. Huge volume in those huge tires requires very low pressure.

Let me finally add, if I air up my fronts to 37psi like Brian's, they won't squat with a load either.

I agree and hopefully I can explain more about what I am trying to say below.

The volume and pressure of the air inside the tire do not increase or decrease as weight is added or taken off the tire. You can not create matter out in nothing. The high pressure in a tire will hold more weight and you will not see the tire squat because it does not need as much surface area for the additional weight. The tire also does not stretch in other places when more weight is added. The additional weight compresses the bottom of the tire.

I really feel like I have helped high jack this post.

The reason I was reading was I am consider loading my rears because i read that will help when driving on/at an angel. By lowering the center of gravity of the tractor. I also have concerns around compaction due to my tractor mainly being used for mowing. One thing that I liked about the tractor I purchased was that it was a lighter machine.

If I do lower the center of gravity with loading the rears and I start to get some compaction is there an easy way to fix it with an core aerator or something that will not kill all the grass like disking the yard?
 

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