Loaded Tire experts...Help!!

[chim]

Don, thanks. That is the way I understand it. What I'm lost with is not having a formula or cheat sheet to determine how much pressure is optimum for best tire performance with different percentages of fill. It seems like the relationship is non-linear. I've been to tire manufacturer websites prior to filling my tires to see fill recommendations, but don't remember seeing inflation values. Maybe with all the tire sizes and tractor weights to deal with it would be tough for manufacturers to cover pressures.....................chim

 

[dgood1]

Chim,

I'm not sure that there is much of a relationship. The only thing that I think that you need to do is go by what the mfg recommends for the unfilled tire and adjust for personal preferences.

I think that you only need to have enough air to keep the tire bead seated on the rim. You don't want your tire to stay still while the rim spins inside the tire.

Just my opinion,

Don

 

[John_Mc]

<font color=blue>I think that you only need to have enough air to keep the tire bead seated on the rim.</font color=blue>

You probably also want to avoid excessive sidewall flexing, since this could affect the life of your tire, and will make handling a bit mushy.

 

[Kodiak]

I would like to add the safety aspect also. Lowering your air pressure can have great advantages as to traction and ride comfort. However there can be some adverse efffects by lowering it to much. As in to much sidewall flex during a sharp turn or on a sidehill. If your tire is to soft the high center of gravity versus the soft sidewall might result in the tire rolling back under the rim on the downhill side or outside of a turn and this could cause an unexpected rollover. Remember that for every tractor out there there is a different combo of operator, tractor,options and load weight at at a different heights, effecting the center of gravity differently. Its just a matter of common sense, not an absolute value set in stone. So please be safe.