Love of the R-4 Tire

[knute_m]

My current tractor has R4s -- the first R4s I've ever had. All my older tractors had R1s, and my recent small tractors had "rice tires."

My tractor spends a lot of time in the woods, especially where it is mucky -- different that muddy -- the muck doesn't stick. I have been extremely pleased with the R4s. They don't tear up the ground anywhere like R1s, yet I can take out a heavy load and I can skid without a problem.

I have a very steep gravel driveway -- steep enough that I have to put my pickup truck in 4WD to get out, even in good dry weather. The most snow fall we got at any time this winter was about 11 inches. With chains on the rear, I had absolutley no problem backing up my steep hill pushing a rear blade.

For bushhogging they are fine. For moving my dump trailer they are fine. For grading with a blade or box blade they are fine. For moving dirt with the FEL they are fine. For digging post holes they are fine.

Now that I had them for about a year, I wouldn't want a tractor with R1s again.

 

[_RaT_]

Right On jbrumburg! I just mounted four suitcase weights on the front of my 4300 and in the garden, the R-4's performed much better than without the weights but I still am going forward with my conversion to R-1's. I live on some hilly country in the great northwest and I am still shivering thinking about knocking down the gopher mounds come a few days when I'm on a side slope with the R-4's when I could be a lot more stable with the R-1's in the outer two positions. Yes, I could get the spacers for 700 smackers but I still could not achieve the traction of the R-1's. I guess growing up with a 4020 and pulling the wheels off the ground with nothing but torque pulling a manure spreader across our creek was nothing to brag about!

You want really good traction, check into the Michelin radial ags.

 

[MadDogDriver]

Why couldn't they supply an adjustible rim for the R4s. That way you could have floatation, stability and throw on a set of chains for traction. When I ordered my 4300 I really didn't want the R4s but now I'm beginning to like them for bush work and I can drive accross the lawn.

Too bad JD rims aren't like NH's, depending on the size tractor you can adjust the R4 widths in 7 positions (5 on my TC40DA).

 

[tommu56]

For any one that has switched from R1 to R4 how are they for puncture resistance? I keep poking holes in my R1's right at the base of the lugs with the shale on my property. I am looking at switching to R4's

tommu56

 

[_RaT_]

For any one that has switched from R1 to R4 how are they for puncture resistance? I keep poking holes in my R1's right at the base of the lugs with the shale on my property. I am looking at switching to R4's

tommu56

When your talking about the stock R1's and R4's that manufactuers put on their compacts, the R4's are considerably more puncture resistant. You can buy tougher R1's though then what are originally installed on many compacts.

 

[pat32rf]

Mad Dog- Those look like the rims that come with the ags on a JD. Thats what I was hoping for but the R4 rims are solid and wider than the ag rims. They only have about 1" more clearance if you reverse them, which I have, but this makes the valve stem very awkward to get at. Even with the stem guard I still managed to rip out a stem one day in the bush while building a trail for a guy .Had to make a quick trip to the trailer before it lost all the air and left me stranded. Lucky I could hook the FEL under the trailer at an angle and lift the bad wheel into the air to remove it. Then we winched it onto another smaller trailer and took it to the tire shop. Didn't hardly loose any of the WWAF even....

 

[MadDogDriver]

Looks like you need to get some NH wheels & paint the rims yeller. I have about 20" between the narrowest & widest settings.

Flat tires are NO FUN , but that's another great reason for BHs. You could get some NASCAR style tire changes with them. (BTW, nice job using the FEL Pat)

 

[pat32rf]

I might just measure my wheel bolt spacing and start checking out other makes of CUTs. Sounds like it would be easier than spacers. My R4s are starting to show a few wear marks and cracks after 3000hrs. The first year or two I used to faithfully park it way up in the quonset hut but now it sits outside my front door as the walk up the hill to the barn seems to be getting longer each year....

 

[ArkLaTexSam]

MadDogDriver, the R4 adjustable wheel/rims on my JD 4320 Cab are exactly like the ones you have in the picture. The only difference is mine have JD yellow factory paint and were on the tractor when I bought it new. I currently have them set at the widest setting which is too wide for my trailer. I'm going to bring them in a notch and it should load up without a problem. I have done everything with the R4's that I did with the R1 tires on my old tractor. The only thing about the R4's I don't like is that they flatten out the tall grass when bush hogging more than the R1's. There are several tractors with the adjustable wheels/rims at my local JD Dealer right now. R4's work fine for me as I have FWD. If I only had 2WD I'd have R1's for sure.

ArkLaTexSam

 

[schmism]

ya in a perfect world id have a set of R1's for every time i got near dirt, wether it be for FEL work, or garden work or whatever.

and a set of turfs for everytime i went to mow the yard. and id just use the nifty QA hubs and just move them around like wheels on my RC's right

this is why i have R-4's

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/99559-cuttin-grass.html

they allow me to work the lawn, and when im done, hitch up the box blade and fel and finish gradeing out the slightly wet dirt pile and still maintain SOMETHING for traction.