Loading tires and lawn damage only Please

[ND teacher]

I just read 135 threads to ballasting, weight boxes and wheel weights. I really only want to know about damage to lawn and by that i mean wheel tracks compaction. I am thinking cheap and easy to builld ballast box, I like loading the tires with rimgaurd because its cheaper than wheel weights. I think the safest would be rimgaurd.

I know that when its a wet year or time of the year a garden tractor can be too heavy for some areas in a yard. On the farm if we drove a farm loader (85hp)in the yard we heard about it from grandma when she had to mow accross them.

I have a TC40DA with R4s and I want the heavy lift, excellent traction, and to be able to drive accross my yard without causing ruts. Seems like alot to ask.


The main question What kind of compaction difference is their between loading the tires and not loading the tires? Since rimgaurd is not reversable without added expenses and a weight box is cost effective to unhook.

 

[Wolfy]

I dont believe the difference in loaded vs unloaded tire compaction
has anywhere near the impact the loaded tires has for stability and
traction, I had loaded tires, they were ok on the grass but when the
loader bucket got heaped the tractor bounced around. A ballast box
and cast iron weights solved everything. The ballast box was only a few
hundred dollars, and if you use 4"-6" rocks, the weight can be adjusted
as required.

 

[George2615]

I don't have loaded tires and I didn't use the rear ballast this winter. Tractor weighs about 3500 or less including loader and I still have tire ruts in the lawn that I'll need to fill and re - seed. The problem comes from the first and last few snowfalls because the ground under the snow isn't frozen yet. Its not much, I should only need a couple inches of topsoil in each rut. Probably would have been deeper with the rear ballast on (about 800 lb. more weight). When its dry I drive on the lawn all the time without damage, just can't do it when wet.

 

[DAY]

I really only want to know about damage to lawn and by that i mean wheel tracks compaction. .

There is no definitive answer to this, as soil condition and tire width/weight are the determinate factors.
Ride your bicycle across wet loam, and you will have inch-wide ruts. Drive an ag tractor across clay in August, and you will not.

Like plowing, if it is too wet, then don't do it!

 

[Code54]

Really the weight is not near as important as the conditions. Just avoid the year when wet and you will be good. I had a Deere 310 backhoe (no idea of the weight but it is a FULL size construction machine) on the yard last month but we did it on dry days and it didn't tear anything up.

 

[whistlepig]

Good advice here. The yard doesn't determine how I set my tractor up. I just wait until it is dry enough to mow. And so far my grass hasn't been mowed this year. They are predicting rain for the next four days. Clumps of dead grass is better than ruts. One of the few disadvantages of mowing the yard with a tractor.

 

[Reg]

I just read 135 threads to ballasting, weight boxes and wheel weights. I really only want to know about damage to lawn and by that i mean wheel tracks compaction. I am thinking cheap and easy to builld ballast box, I like loading the tires with rimgaurd because its cheaper than wheel weights. I think the safest would be rimgaurd.

I know that when its a wet year or time of the year a garden tractor can be too heavy for some areas in a yard. On the farm if we drove a farm loader (85hp)in the yard we heard about it from grandma when she had to mow accross them.

I have a TC40DA with R4s and I want the heavy lift, excellent traction, and to be able to drive accross my yard without causing ruts. Seems like alot to ask.


The main question What kind of compaction difference is their between loading the tires and not loading the tires? Since rimgaurd is not reversable without added expenses and a weight box is cost effective to unhook.

Quick answer; little to none.
Quick rationale; It is the FRONTS that will print deeper, if you leave the loader on.

BTW, you can minimize a lot of this by moving your course across the grass each time, just budge over 10 inches or so instead of driving down the same pair of ~18 inch wide tracks.
You can develop a uniformly "rollered" and barely "compacted" lawn.
Don't say "compacted", say "rollered" - - feels better already, right ?

I maintain that the BIGGEST risk to turf is TIGHT ! turns when the soil is WET !
Worsened only by doing those turns with a heavy load in the FEL bucket.

Your TC40DA probably takes 50 or 55 gallons per rear R4 and maybe 35 gallons per rear R1, so if it is stability, loader counter weight and weight to the ground that you want filled R4s will offer you more of that.
You will STILL have a higher "print" effect from the front R4s, even unloaded, if you leave the loader on.
I don't have the arithmetic for this, but it amounts to the fact that they are narrower, the engine is up front and the loader bucket's weight is cantilevered out in front of them... b'sides, I have seen it happen when I have been packing disturbed soil back down.
A possible exception may be when the hoe is on the back, not that the front end floats off the ground, but on my similarly sized li'l tractor the rears seem to put down about the same print as the fronts when the hoe and loader are on.

 

[ND teacher]

THanks for the great advise, the comment that sticks with me the most is "The yard doesnt determine how i set my tractor up" Whistlepig
I bought my tractor for the loader. I am going to set it up for using the loader the most efficiently(on a budget of course).

I was having a few beers last night and i came accross an idea. My son has a John deere battery operated tractor(they sell them at walmart, plastic with a trailer), it spins out in the snow or loose sand etc. WE still have snow drifts here) I put my foot on the back and it plows right through. I was thinking why couldnt a person put dexcool antifreeze in the tires? After a few more i got to thinking if it would tip over on him that could be bad. PLus it would drain the battery a lot faster(I think).
I remember as a kid we had plastic hot cycle three wheeler sit down plastic. THe front tire would always wear a flat spot on it and dad put a rubber front tire on it, it was the fastest one in the neighboorhood, that was a pretty awesome idea back in the day.