Front tire question.

[BufordBoone]

I have a JD 2355 that came with the farm. The tractor is 1993 vintage and low hours (1,443). I believe the tires are original. I already had to replace one rear tire due to dry-rot.

I now have a flat front tire. This tire probably fell victim to a stob while bushhogging last weekend. The front tires are Firestone 7.5-16 F2.

This tire is tubed. The sidewall showed cracks (visible when flat) that make me think it won't work without a tube. At the very least, I'll need a new tube as the stem on this one shows cracks and rot.

A tire dealer (first call, I've not researched prices much) advised that a new Firestone tire would be about $185. He then said a good (in his mind) alternative would be a used steel belted truck tire. He said the only downside would be less steering ability as the truck tire would not have the three ribs of the F2. He explained that the F2 has a center rib that is higher than the other ribs and that aids in turning.

Has anybody else tried a used truck tire for the front of your tractor? Any positives or negatives?

I may just put a new tube in my current tire but I've got a lot of stobs to worry about. Slime in my ATV tires seemed to cure the stob problem there. The other front tire on this tractor is tubeless and I'm considering it may be cheaper in the long run to replace the bad tire and run slime in both.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[whis]

truck tires are fine, steering might not be as good but if have a lot of stobs to worry about thats what I would use. plus you can use used ones and there a hole lot cheaper

 

[mjcountrybumpkin]

Til I was about 16 I thought big tractors came with truck tires on the front. My papaw ran them on all his tractors after the original ag tires wore out. He did a lot of traveling on the road and the truck tires would actually last him longer. By the way I am 31 now and the last tractor he used 15 years ago just sold last year with truck tires on it and they still worked just fine.

 

[franklinute]

I've use a steelbelted truck tire for my tractor. I picked a spare wheel and had the truck tire put on. Handy when a front goes down.
Once you start getting thorns in the front tires it seems the broken off thorns just keep working in deeper. I have also double tubed
a front tire before and it has helped keeping thorns away from the good tube. Get any old tube same size, cut out valve stem, cut tube
on the inside where it would touch the rim and then put your good tube in the cut tube. Just a little more work to put into the tire but
it does help.

 

[lowandslow1]

I have been running LT31x10.5R15's on my JD 1530 with a loader/grapple on the front. That is as large a diameter as I can put on before they would scrub the loader mount. I had three rib F2's on there originally and needed more floatation. I got them for $35 a piece from a used tire dealer, they cleaned the bead area and mounted them. They are tubeless. Have not had a problem with them loosing air. I keep them at 60 psi and they turn fine. The floatation is so much better and I have a heavy grapple and lift 2K+ pounds of logs all the time. When I need to turn tighter I just use a little differential braking to get it to turn on a dime.

 

[Soundguy]

I have some loader tractors with 16" truck tires. both have power steering.. i like them for load support. with power steering, the extra steering force needed is negligible, if any.

Used truck tires are generally in the 5-10$ range in my area. That said. if you have a new tube, or patch kit and tube is good, just get a wide farm patch and patch the casing of the tire on the inside, then tube and get back working.

I have a JD 2355 that came with the farm. The tractor is 1993 vintage and low hours (1,443). I believe the tires are original. I already had to replace one rear tire due to dry-rot.

I now have a flat front tire. This tire probably fell victim to a stob while bushhogging last weekend. The front tires are Firestone 7.5-16 F2.

This tire is tubed. The sidewall showed cracks (visible when flat) that make me think it won't work without a tube. At the very least, I'll need a new tube as the stem on this one shows cracks and rot.

A tire dealer (first call, I've not researched prices much) advised that a new Firestone tire would be about $185. He then said a good (in his mind) alternative would be a used steel belted truck tire. He said the only downside would be less steering ability as the truck tire would not have the three ribs of the F2. He explained that the F2 has a center rib that is higher than the other ribs and that aids in turning.

Has anybody else tried a used truck tire for the front of your tractor? Any positives or negatives?

I may just put a new tube in my current tire but I've got a lot of stobs to worry about. Slime in my ATV tires seemed to cure the stob problem there. The other front tire on this tractor is tubeless and I'm considering it may be cheaper in the long run to replace the bad tire and run slime in both.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[BufordBoone]

Thanks for the help. Nice to have a place to go for advice.

 

[Soundguy]

and this is one of the better places too!