Garden Tractor rear tire choices

   / Garden Tractor rear tire choices #1  

daugen

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New Hope PA
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in between now
When I renovated/restored my 1986 Gravely 8199G about 8 years ago, I replaced the original turf tires with HDAPs on the rear.
Using the tractor in Pennsylvania in hilly rocky farmland, the HDAPS worked great. Since I have moved to NC mud seems to be more of an issue, and the
HDAP's plug quickly. I've had Carlisle TruTrac R1's before, and they never let me down though they would certainly imprint on wet ground. Here the ground is much more sandy, but parts have clay patches and those are the mud problems.

I have a JD X750 to mow my five acres of lawn. I use the Gravely for utility jobs too small for the Kubota, like pulling carts, my water roller, and high mowing down into ditches.
I also have some pretty swampy woods with a pond back there that I'd like to be able to get back there by UTV and the Gravely. So I need more grip, plain and simple.

Recently I put Firestone tri-ribs on the front, and they work wonderfully preventing side slip on slopes. So I'm good on the front, but I'd like to go more aggressive in the rear plus perhaps go up a size.

So here are my questions. Has anyone here tried the BKT style lawn tractor tire, with a cross between a chevron pattern and R1? I've seen the chevron pattern on big zero turns but not garden tractors. My gut here is to get what I want in mucky conditions I need to go full R1 again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OP40XguMbc

I've had Korean BKT R1 tires before on an older SCUT and they were simply outstanding plus were finished nicely. Made Carlisle's look third world.(or Chinese as many are...)

but looking at this brief video, that tread looks pretty deep; the question is, will it clear mud? Does anyone here have experience with these style tires? Does it take a lug style tire with huge voids to clear mud?

Secondly, as much as I'd like to go to a 26x12x12 tire up from 23X10:50x12, and the extra rear height of the machine itself would be fine, (this GT is not used for regular mowing) but I don't know if the extra tire height will clear the fender pans. So I am going to measure. I also don't know if the larger size tire requires a wider wheel, which would not surprise me. That adds a lot of cost... Looking at the pic taken during restoration, looks like a good bit of clearance under there. Not going to alter the sheet metal in any event.

I'm not going to tractor pulls so take that idea out of the discussion; it's the mud...

I'd appreciate feedback from any of you with experience here.
 

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   / Garden Tractor rear tire choices #2  
Daugen,

I have 1 set of Carlisle All Trails, (cousins to the HDAP Field Trax,) and 1 set of Carlise Tru-Power R1's. Like you I find the All Trails to be excellent in almost all conditions, except any kind of moderate - worse mud, which is where the Tru-Powers thrive. You need a tire that will clean itself better and R1's would be the ticket to that. I would suggest the Tru-Powers as I've been happy with them and I know other Gravely guys that have as well. The other option is to try adding a set of chains. They won't cost as much as a new set of tires, but they should be just as effective. As far as going up a size, there was a fellow Gravely enthusiast that just put a set of 25x10x12 ATV tires on the stock rear rims of an 8163-B. So far he isn't getting any rubbing, but they do look like they're close. If you go with 26x12-12 then I expect you'll definitely need to get wider rims since the 23x10.5-12 were already bigger than the standard 8.5 wide tires that Gravely had on those rims. Going even wider may be too much and you may have a difficult time getting them on the narrow rim.

Rick
 
   / Garden Tractor rear tire choices
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Rick, thank you. This particular Gravely is my favorite, and I might entertain putting larger rims on it as long as it looked stock. With the engine/trans weight in the rear plus my 220 pounds, I believe I'm able to put enough downforce on a larger tire that I'd get some usable gain. That Gravely rear axle is pretty robust; I don't think I'd overstrain the bearings with wider rims. Probably need to go two inches wider. And I don't know how to weld...best to buy something done properly.

can you or anyone recommend a source for wider rims with the right bolt pattern? Zero interest in chrome or fancy. Welded steel preferred.
Drew


yeah, R1's are likely...just wondering if I had to go "whole hog" or is there another hybrid tread that would work. I'm a tire guy, study my tires on TireRack, but there's no place to do that here. It's all word of mouth.
 
   / Garden Tractor rear tire choices #4  
Personally, I find chains to be the best option.
 
 
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