I have a branson 4520r. nice tractor but i have some problems with my front end. I was pulling a box blade and the front tires started spinning a little. The front end just snapped and quit working. I took it in and they found the bolts on the ring gear sheared off. They istalled a new complete front end. Now while it is in 4wd and i turn the wheel left or right I hear a grinding noise. Kinda sounds like brakes on a car if you wore the brake linings down to the metal. the dealer is telling me this is normal. As I trailered the tractor home I stopped at a LS dealer and compared my tractor to a equal LS tractor with the same size front tires. My tires are a off brand 12-16.5 industrial tire. The Ls had a titian brand tire the same size. I measure the titian tire and it was about 34" tall my tire is 31" tall. Is this common with tires? would this have a effect on front to rear gear ratios? I know on a 4x4 pick up matching gear ratios is very important. Could a miss match like this cause a ring gear to blow up or make a grinding noise when I turn the wheel.
front tire size
- Thread starter Camastown
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Snowback
Platinum Member
I suspect that this issue is highly Brand dependent and ties back to how the front axle is geared and also if there is gear manipulation from primary drive between front and rear axles. Honestly do not have info on the different brands, but I know my Mahindra 2538 has somewhat larger/taller front tires than similar sized Kubotas, Deers, Bransons and Kiotis, etc... They are even larger than the Mahindra 1538 front tires and that is a similarly sized and weighed tractor with a Mitsubishi chassis. (The 2538 is a TYM chassis).
The fact that your tires are marked as the same size as that LS, but measure a different diameter is interesting. If there was a true diameter issue that was outside of your tractor's original intended gearing, then the front and rear would be fighting each other when in 4wd. Perhaps the air pressure could have been different, or maybe the sidewall is tougher on the LS to make it taller? I think even a lower pressure tire that was a bit shorter when loaded would still have a similar circumference to rotate/turn through, so maybe that issue would be mitigated and not impact things or bind it up - I don't know.
If the grinding noise only happens when turning could it be a shaft binding or perhaps differential gear mesh issue? Perhaps get the tractor up on stands, put it in 4wd, and chalk mark the tires to see if one full rear revolution equals one full front revolution to rule that out, and then if that is good, demand the dealer repair the grinding noise issue that seems to have been caused when they replaced your front end.
The original failure might be traced back to a mismatch in gearing between front and rear if those off brand tires are out of spec. That would be interesting and might cause a lot of Branson owners to get their jack stands out for a check... I think that just like all part time 4wd drive systems, there should be expected to be a slight mismatch, but our tractor conditions are usually dirt or mud which allow a bit of inherent slippage anyway. I just like to have things matched fairly closely if possible. Also, turning causes and additional slight gearing difference between front and rear that the differential has to help absorb due to the different distances traveled by front and rear tires during a turn. I'd also bet $20 there are far smarter guys than me who have gone into much more detail on this topic on other threads here.
Good luck!
TIRESURPLUS
New member
Bias Construction/Lawn&Garden/Farm Implement tires, can have a wide range of height. Because Bias tires are not DOT approved, the tire industries have no clear direction per say that every 12x16.5 ='s 33" tall. When the industries do convert to the metric such as a 305/70R16.5 then that makes the manufacture dial in more closer to each brand name. To make matters a bit more complicated, lets say you bought 1 new Titan today and put it on, it will not be the same OD as your older Titan tire. Bias tires stretch and grow over time, it is common to see this size tire grow up to aprox 2" in height over a 12 month period. Most manufactures will always suggest to replace in pairs.
Depending on your equipment it is very rare that it would cause a gear ratio problem, they are made to accept a percentage of OD change, for example lets say you had 2 Titan tires on, one with 65PSI, and one was flat with only say 10PSI, that tire could be 1" shorter (and this happens every day all over the world) of course the two tires are not the same OD, and your tractor would be fine. It certainly would be best most likely to replace the two tires with the same brand of tire. As any great advise check with your Manufacture of your tractor, if it was mine I would start with two matching branded tires.
Hope this helps you.
Steve
Depending on your equipment it is very rare that it would cause a gear ratio problem, they are made to accept a percentage of OD change, for example lets say you had 2 Titan tires on, one with 65PSI, and one was flat with only say 10PSI, that tire could be 1" shorter (and this happens every day all over the world) of course the two tires are not the same OD, and your tractor would be fine. It certainly would be best most likely to replace the two tires with the same brand of tire. As any great advise check with your Manufacture of your tractor, if it was mine I would start with two matching branded tires.
Hope this helps you.
Steve
