Tires How much will filling the tires help my DK45SE HST?

BTI · Mar 9, 2008

MVR- Just for my info, why do you advise to load the fronts?

BTI

MtnViewRanch · Mar 9, 2008

BTI said:
MVR- Just for my info, why do you advise to load the fronts?

BTI

Four reasons, #1, more weight = more traction = more pulling power.

#2, less air in the tire = tires holding a load better. Air has less area to compress, gets harder faster = tire bulges less.

#3, better stability

#4, and maybe it is just me, but I feel
that my tractor actually rides better.

dfkrug · Mar 9, 2008

SHILOH:

That's a great tractor.....have you read your owner's manual? It will
say don't even attempt FEL work without counterweight or ballast.
Some JDs I owned said don't even INSTALL FEL without ballast.

This subject has been covered many times on TBN. In brief, your
front tires will be overloaded without counterweight if you have AG
tires. Rear tire fluid will not counteract weight on the front axle; only
a counterweight will. A 3-pt implement of at least 500# should be used.
Better yet, 1000# or more. Finally, consider that rear tire fluid is very
hard to remove if you ever need to lighten up, as when you might use
the tractor without FEL.

SPYDERLK · Mar 9, 2008

MtnViewRanch said:
Four reasons, #1, more weight = more traction = more pulling power.

#2, less air in the tire = tires holding a load better. Air has less area to compress, gets harder faster = tire bulges less.

#3, better stability

#4, and maybe it is just me, but I feel
that my tractor actually rides better.

Yup - 1,2,3.
4. Cuz you can run the tires a little softer w/o bad squat under load.
5. More down pressure available with FEL, but without more weight supported by the front axle.
larry

IslandTractor · Mar 10, 2008

SPYDERLK said:
Yup - 1,2,3.

5. More down pressure available with FEL, but without more weight supported by the front axle.
larry

That is one of my main reasons for wanting the front tires loaded. I use the FEL to push over smaller trees and I need the weight up front to keep the tractor from climbing the tree rather than knocking it over. I had initially hoped to use suitcase weights but there are apparently none available that are compatable with the KL401. I haven't done the math in a while but I recall loading the front tires adds something in the range of 150 lbs which should help.

Oleozz · Mar 10, 2008

My 45 rears are filled with Rim Guard. 94 gallons cost $330. Not cheap but well worth it. My bigger IH tractor rears are filled with calcium chloride and I am soon going to take it out and put on rear wheel weights. I have 1,000 lbs hung on the front and now need more weight in the back for heavy tillage work.

Harold_J · Mar 10, 2008

Oleozz said:
My 45 rears are filled with Rim Guard. 94 gallons cost $330. Not cheap but well worth it. My bigger IH tractor rears are filled with calcium chloride and I am soon going to take it out and put on rear wheel weights. I have 1,000 lbs hung on the front and now need more weight in the back for heavy tillage work.

When you say you need more weight in the back of the IH for tillage is this because the calcium chloride has already been removed, or will the wheel weights actually be heavier than the calcium chloride so you won't require both?

SPYDERLK · Mar 10, 2008

IslandTractor said:
That is one of my main reasons for wanting the front tires loaded. I use the FEL to push over smaller trees and I need the weight up front to keep the tractor from climbing the tree rather than knocking it over. I had initially hoped to use suitcase weights but there are apparently none available that are compatable with the KL401. I haven't done the math in a while but I recall loading the front tires adds something in the range of 150 lbs which should help.

Know what you mean. Those are fairly small tires then, to take only about 15G between them. Try for some wheel weights too!
larry

IslandTractor · Mar 10, 2008

SPYDERLK said:
Know what you mean. Those are fairly small tires then, to take only about 15G between them. Try for some wheel weights too!
larry

My recall of front tire volume and added weight might be off. I did calculate all this stuff a couple of months ago and remember that I could use around 110 gallons total between front and rears. I believe the DK40 rears take 45 gallons to reach 75% so maybe the fronts take about 10 each. That is still only 80lbs each extra ballast which is probably worthwhile but not a lot. I'll have to find the calculations or do them over before I actually get started later this spring.

I would like to have more weight up front and may try to rig some sort of weight attachment to put on the brush guard too. I had looked for wheel weights and found them quite expensive.

edameyer · Mar 10, 2008

One additional benefit of loaded tires that I have seen mentioned before in another thread is lower center of gravity. I have over 300 hour on my CK20 TLB without loaded tires and have not needed the extra weight to get lots of work done. I am thinking of loading them though in order to make the tractor less tippy on my sloping ground.

I am having a difficult time trying to get good information on using calcium. Some say tubes required. Others say not required because there is not enough oxygen in the tire to support corrosion which makes some sense to me.