R4 Tire Pressure

[PeteN]

I've looked through the owner's manual for my MT357HC to find nominal tire pressures for the R4's I have on this tractor. Nothing listed for the size of R4's installed. About the only recommendation I found in the manual was a drawing showing the tread to be flat with the ground and not cupped in either direction.

The max tire pressure listed on the tires is 40psi. I'm not using the loader right now so I'm going to play around with tire pressures to see if there is any improvement in traction or ride. Any recommendations? Front is a 12-16.5 with a 17.5-24 rear.

 

[sea2summit]

So it’s different for front or back is the way I was taught. Fronts just max out pressure if using a FEL. Rears get your heaviest implement and raise it off the ground then adjust the pressure until the treads all touch on a a flat surface like concrete.

 

[Roadworthy]

I'd probably go with about 30 psi front and 15 rear.

 

[Doughknob]

I have 15 in my rears and want to go lower but am afraid to. I really want radials for the rear.

 

[Avenger]

I don't believe if having the rear tires filled makes any difference, but I have my rears set at 14 psi. I use a small black paint marker and draw a "14" right next to the valve stem to help me remember. Thats a big tire, and 14psi is a lot of air.

 

[dieselscout80]

On my NH TC45 I have 16 psi in the fronts 10x16.5 and 12 psi in the 17.5x24 rear tires.

To get full contact with the rears I need to go lower.

I can always pump up the fronts if doing heavy loader work.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Get one of the laser aimed thermometer. Run the tractor around a bit, and then take three reading on the tire surface or lugs. The tire should have the same temp at the side of the tread, and on the center. If the center is hotter, it is over inflated. If the center is cold, it is under inflated. Same temp all the way across, and it is right.

 

[PeteN]

Dealer set the pressures quite high and not evenly. Had 36psi in the fronts and the rears were 21psi on the left side and 24 psi on the right. I set the fronts to 30psi and that put the tread nearly even with the floor. Set the rears to 16 psi. Left side was no problem adjusting the pressure but the right side kept spitting out fluid even with the valve stem at 12 o'clock. What a mess. Not sure how they fill these but it almost seems like it was overfilled with fluid if that is possible.

 

[Avenger]

Left side was no problem adjusting the pressure but the right side kept spitting out fluid even with the valve stem at 12 o'clock. What a mess. Not sure how they fill these but it almost seems like it was overfilled with fluid if that is possible.

That actually happened to me this last fall when I dumped the air out of rear tires for snow chain install. I jacked the rear of the tractor up, rotated the tire so the valve steam is at the very top, pushed the core in a bit to dump what should be a very small mount of beat juice out of the valve stem. Then I removed the core....

Beat juice streamed out onto the ground until the air pressure dropped. I put the core back in to stop the flow, spraying juice all over. I rotated the tire around a bit, but when I removed the core again, it kept pouring out the juice! Very strange. I probably lost a few gallons onto the concrete.

Not sure how a liquid could flow up hill like that. Siphons do it, but I'd have a hard time believing that a siphon was created somehow. The other side worked as normal. Small amount of juice from the stem, removed the core and it was just air. Very strange indeed.

 

[5030]

What does the sidewall state as recommended maximum pressure? Go from there.