R4 vs Bar Turf
- Thread starter MattEffinCameron
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rScotty
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- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
I had turfs on both my 16 and 33 hp tractors for 30+ years. Turfs give a nicer ride in the summer because they are soft, low pressure tires - and turfs have noticibly more sidehill stability. Turf tires do take a special wide rim to mount them on and those rims are costly as are the turf tires themselves.....but I think they are worth the money for the stability if nothing else. Our soil here is sand and rocks, so in the summertime the turfs can give traction as good or better than other tires. On rocks, the summertime trick for traction is friction rather than cleats.
Have you thought about flats? Most tractor tires are tubeless, but R4 and Ags can be hard to repair at home if they get a nail. Fixing those heavier tires often requires dismounting them from the rim. Turf tires are so soft you can repair them yourself right on the tractor with a tubeless gummy strip kit from the local auto store. Takes maybe five minutes and you're done.
My experience is that turfs certainly don't do as well as R4s or Ag tires in the snow. R4s and a heavy machine are best for snow, and everything works poorly on ice. But on a lightweight tractor you are going to be running chains in the winter anyway so the traction of the bare tire doesn't matter much. Chains do better on turfs than on bar tires because there's no space for the chain to fall between the bars.
Ags and R4s will tear up a lawn much faster than turfs, but some turfs are nearly as bad. THat's because it's the edge of the front tires that tear up grass and sod when turning. So the trick with turfs and smooth lawns is to make sure that your front turf tires are the kind with a rounded profile. Take a look at some in photos. The profile of front turf tires is very different among different makes. The ones you want have a very rounded edge; in fact they might not even have a discernable edge at all. Sort of balloon fronts. If they aren't that kind, try them on your lawn. If they work, good. If not, you already have the rims and it's not too badly expensive to buy nice round profile front turf tires. It's not like buying rear turf tires - that can be shockingly expensive.
enjoy!
rScotty
Have you thought about flats? Most tractor tires are tubeless, but R4 and Ags can be hard to repair at home if they get a nail. Fixing those heavier tires often requires dismounting them from the rim. Turf tires are so soft you can repair them yourself right on the tractor with a tubeless gummy strip kit from the local auto store. Takes maybe five minutes and you're done.
My experience is that turfs certainly don't do as well as R4s or Ag tires in the snow. R4s and a heavy machine are best for snow, and everything works poorly on ice. But on a lightweight tractor you are going to be running chains in the winter anyway so the traction of the bare tire doesn't matter much. Chains do better on turfs than on bar tires because there's no space for the chain to fall between the bars.
Ags and R4s will tear up a lawn much faster than turfs, but some turfs are nearly as bad. THat's because it's the edge of the front tires that tear up grass and sod when turning. So the trick with turfs and smooth lawns is to make sure that your front turf tires are the kind with a rounded profile. Take a look at some in photos. The profile of front turf tires is very different among different makes. The ones you want have a very rounded edge; in fact they might not even have a discernable edge at all. Sort of balloon fronts. If they aren't that kind, try them on your lawn. If they work, good. If not, you already have the rims and it's not too badly expensive to buy nice round profile front turf tires. It's not like buying rear turf tires - that can be shockingly expensive.
enjoy!
rScotty
OP
MattEffinCameron
Silver Member
thanks for all the info in your posts guys
Wound up going with bar turf...it really came down to believing that the big lugs on the corners of the R4 tires would dig in (especially the front tires) when cornering on the lawn for lawn mowing...as I mentioned in the original post, turfs were not an option, only bar turf or R4 so I took the lesser of 2 evils.
I guess only time will tell how those rear tires in the bar turf setup behave on the lawn...or in the snow...or the dirt
had not thought about flats to answer your question scotty...not sure if the bar turfs are on wider wheels or not?
Wound up going with bar turf...it really came down to believing that the big lugs on the corners of the R4 tires would dig in (especially the front tires) when cornering on the lawn for lawn mowing...as I mentioned in the original post, turfs were not an option, only bar turf or R4 so I took the lesser of 2 evils.
I guess only time will tell how those rear tires in the bar turf setup behave on the lawn...or in the snow...or the dirt
had not thought about flats to answer your question scotty...not sure if the bar turfs are on wider wheels or not?
Threepoint
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Congratulations on the tractor!
LLS
Member
Matt, I had bar-turf like you pictured and they did great in snow, with 380# of weight on the 3pt and an all steel Sims cab I had no problem with a 60" plow with wings om my B2320. The fronts will tear up the grass if you turn hard and fast but you can just back up and do a kind of 3 point turn to go around trees.
LLS
Member
Also they do good in dirt and don't hurt grass and they are wider than r4's.
