New R1's for my 955

[Mechanos]

When I bought my tractor, it had worn out R1 rears and mismatched size front R1's (both of which were the wrong size). I immediately had to buy new 7.00-12 R1 fronts. Now, a year later, I finally pulled the trigger new set of 11.2-16 R1 rears. The ONLY R1 tire I have been able to locate in this size is the Goodyear Dyna Torqe II... not cheap at all, but I'm looking forward to the traction. (I'm currently using a set of half-worn 12-16.5 R4's rears filled with water).

They're supposed to arrive this Friday and I plan to get them mounted and filled with RimGuard shortly thereafter. I want to repaint the wheels before I get the tires mounted though.

 

[creekbend]

Good for you. New tires and better traction add up to this important fact: a safer vehicle to operate. Sincerely hope your enjoy your Seat Time with those new tires.:thumbsup:

 

[955er]

I've been following your progress on the 955(s) over the last 18 months. You have certainly come a long way. How about some pictures of the two CUTs when you first started, and a picture of the current 955 with the new tires?

Great job. It's been a long time coming!:thumbsup:

 

[Mechanos]

I've got some pictures of when I brought them home last year, but don't really have much since then.



Also a couple of pictures of the new 7.00-12's next to the 6.00-12 on the right front and the 6-12 on the front right. I guess the PO didn't realize that a 6.00-12 and a 6-12 are completely different sized tires.

 

[Mechanos]

My new rears showed up today... I'm thinking that once I get them mounted, I'll notice a bit of an improvement in traction. :thumbsup:

 

[Johndeere3720]

Those new tires look great. I bet your 955 will like the difference as well. :thumbsup:

 

[Mechanos]

I knew the old rear Goodyear's were worn... but I really had no idea how worn they were until I stood a new one up next to the old one. There's a good 1" to 1-1/4" difference in the tread depth. I ought to be able to really dig a hole if I spin a tire now.:laughing: I'm going to try to get the old tires dismounted this weekend and the wheels cleaned up and painted so I can drop the wheels/tires off on Monday to have the new tires mounted and filled with RimGuard. But I am also working on rebuilding a finish mower deck this weekend and may not have time to do both.

 

[Mechanos]

Since it's getting colder and the R4's I'm currently using are filled with straight water, I decided the finish mower deck can wait. Dismounted the old R1's a got the wheels all cleaned up. I even managed to get them in primer. I used a flat yellow primer I got from the farm store. Here's a couple crappy cell phone pictures with even crappier lighting. The first one is a "normal" shot and second one is with the white balance adjusted a little bit. They're still glossy in the pics because the primer is still wet.



Tomorrow, I'm going to get at least one side of them painted with JD Gloss Yellow with catalyst/hardner. If they dry in time for me to flip them over, I'll get the other side painted too. If not, I shoot the other side on Monday.

 

[beenthere]

Looking good.
Hopefully the yellow will be Deere paint.

 

[WilliamBos]

Michelin did not make a set??

Hope they work out well for you.

 

[Mechanos]

Looking good.
Hopefully the yellow will be Deere paint.

Thanks. Well the paint will be JD Yellow, but it's not coming from Deere. I'm sick to death of overpaying for stuff simply because JD put their label or part number on it. Whenever I can source something elsewhere, I compare prices and go the most economical route. Sometimes Deere wins out.... sometimes they don't.

I'm using Van Sickle Tractor & Implement oil-based enamel paint with the catalyst/hardner additive. I had to go a local autobody paint supplier to get the correct respirator for the nasty isocyanates in the hardner.

 

[Mechanos]

Michelin did not make a set??

Hope they work out well for you.

The Goodyear's are 35.5" tall. Michelin does make two R1's that could work... an 11LR16 which is 11.5" wide and 33.5" tall, and a 320/65R16 which is 12.2" wide and 33.2" tall. The Goodyear's also appear to have a more tread depth than either of the Michelin. Since I was able to find a pair of the Goodyears, I went with those... but they are getting quite difficult to find. Hopefully, this new set will last for a long time.

 

[Mechanos]

Wheels are painted. I was very happy with the Van Sickle paint... very easy to shoot. I just followed the directions... Mix in the hardner (8:1 ratio of paint to hardner) and let it sweat in for 15 minutes. Then reduce with VM&P naptha (8:1 ratio of paint to reducer). Pour it in the paint cup on the spray gun and spray away. It sprayed very easily and covered very well.

I will say that wheels are not the easiest thing to spray... with the deep dish and all the little nooks and crannies, it was a bit of a challenge. I decided to hang the wheels so I could paint both sides at the same time.



EDIT: I just went out and checked on the wheels. They are dry to the touch in just 3 hours after spraying. That surprised me since it's kind of chilly here... about 60° for a high today... and usually, paint takes a while longer to dry at those temps. This is my first time spraying enamel with hardner. Did a little more reading and found out that the catalyst/hardner is actually a urathane additive. I guess that would make it a urathane-enamel paint.

Since it is kind of cool, I think I will give the paint a couple of days to thoroughly cure before I take the wheels in to have the tires mounted.

 

[Mechanos]

Finally got around to taking the wheels and tires down to the tire shop to get them mounted and filled with RimGuard. Took 16 gallons per tire... a total of 350 lbs of ballast. I got both tires mounted with air/water valve stems installed and filled with RimGuard for $96. RimGuard is usually up around $3.00/gallon from this dealer, but for some reason he was feeling nice today and only charged me $2.25/gallon installed.