R4s Wiff

[Mark Page]

Had my first chance to try out the R4s on my new Massey. Had a weed get into my lawn and it was spreading like wildfire. Killed it off with a herbacide called Tenacity and then planned on exposing the soil with a 6ft disk harrow. The ground was damp but I am anxious to get seed down before the weather changes. After my second 200 foot pass the 14.9x24's were slipping and clogged with dirt. I was able to get turned around for the next pass. I engaged the 4wd and the 15.1x18s were slipping also, and clogged with dirt. I made it back to the barn with the tread packed with dirt/mud.
I hope this is not an indication of how they perform in snow, which is why I bought the machine in the first place. I have no doubt that old fashioned ags would have cleaned themselves.
Why is it that R4s are supposed to perform better?
The fronts are OK, but the rears need to have more lugs that are deeper, in other words ag tires.

 

[hr3]

Better get some chains.. I run them year round on my r4's

 

[creekbend]

I don't know what type of tires you have but I found this to be interesting in regards to Bias vs radial. BTW, I have Firestone AG tires on my tractor. Firestone Farm Tire Facts

 

[crowbar032]

Well, I thought I was in the same boat as I got R4's on my JD 5065E. However after plowing with it, I'm not so sure that I went wrong. What kind of ballast to you have if any? I added 856 lbs of weights to the rear wheels on mine and was able to pull 3-14 plows easily (1st gear B range). If I had had more room, I would have added 5 weights per side. I'm still pondering adding some suitcase weights to the back somehow. The thread I started is below.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/john-deere-owning-operating/253415-i-think-i-screwed-up.html

 

[amigauser]

I had industrials on my last tractor and they were bad on anything but pavement or dry ground. My current tractor has the turfs with lugs and they are much better than the industrials were. I had bad luck with industrials in snow (they would load up an spin) but the turfs seem to self clear. I second the better get chains post if you are running the industrials in the winter. They are good for loader work as they have more plys then turfs/ags but not much good for anything else.

 

[MMH]

I don't know what type of tires you have but I found this to be interesting in regards to Bias vs radial. BTW, I have Firestone AG tires on my tractor. Firestone Farm Tire Facts

Good link. Best explanation on diff. between bias & radial that I have seen.

 

[MMH]

How well each tire does in low traction conditions depends on the soil type. Saying that, R1s will always have better traction than R4s. My experience is that if you have very wet muck/clay then the R4s cannot self clean and essentially turn into slicks. If the muck/clay is sticky enough then the same will happen w/ R1s, but R1s will take on much worse conditions than R4s before this happens. As someone said, chains will mitigate many of these effects. I do not have experience w/ chains and cannot tell you if R4 + chains equals the traction of an R1, but it seems like it would be worth a try (chains are much cheaper than a new set of rims & tires).

Heavy, wet snow can have similar tire packing issues on R4s as muck/clay. One downside of chains is that they will tear up asphalt & concrete and may not be a good option for clearing snow off a driveway. If this is your primary need consider sipping the R4s. Although not common, many have sipped R4s w/ good success (on snow not muck/clay). There have been threads on sipping - do a search.

Some advantages of R4s is load capacity. For a similar tire size, R4s have a MUCH higher load capability. Also, when loaded heavy, R4s do not flex nearly as much (matter of fact, at full pressure and load capacity it is hard to see any sidewall flex) as R1s. When R1s are loaded I'm afraid to turn hard for fear of unseating the bead because the sidewall flex looks so bad. Another advantage is tire life if you spend allot of time on paved or gravel roads.

Overall, it seems like the guys who say that the R4s have plenty of traction don't get into swamp or heavy muck. The guys who have not much need for R4s do not carry heavy loads on their FELs, forks, etc.

Ultimately, your tire selection will depends on what your needs are.

 

[bigbull338]

i have R4s on my tractor an i have yet to see any problems in mudd.but of course we havent had a real wet muddy crappy winter since 2009/2010.in mudd the R4s dont track or rut up to bad.

 

[The Haymaker]

I use my R4 equipped tractor for everything from finish mowing to twitching logs. They don't shred the lawn if you are on top of wheelspin, yet they work relatively well in snow and mud compared to turfs. I think when talking getting the most bang for your buck out of a single tractor, they're hard to beat.

I did finally put chains (half worn, modified, 500lb pair of payloader chains) last winter and it was a marked improvement on the RimGuard loaded tires.

 

[flyingcow]

keep in mind, distance from fenders can limit road speed with chains on.

I have R-1's, when i bought the tractor it had ice chains mounted on it. very little clearance to fenders. Had to be careful, and they were tight. The tractor was unstoppable with them on. But a little overkill. If you got steep side hills, you might want them, but I would try a winter without chains. They will cause damage to pavement, no matter how careful.

 

[chim]

The only time I used chains was when I had a Cub 154 LoBoy that was 2WD. It was absolutely helpless in any amount of snow with the old diamond-pattern turfs but with chains on it went like it had 4WD.

The Ford 1210 that lives here since around 1993 has always had R1's. New tires were installed 10 years ago. The R1's provided good traction in most conditions.

Just traded in a B7500 with R4's. For the 10 years I had it the R4's worked well. There were times I thought they didn't do as well in the snow - depending on how wet / dry the snow was. Never loaded up with snow, but they did load up a lot more in mud than the R1's.

The L3200 has loaded R4's and so far it has been exceptional. There were places I had to use 4WD with the B7500 that the L3200 walks right through. Even though the tractor is heavier than the one it replaced, it marks the grass considerably less when mowing. It'll be interesting to see how well it does in the snow.

 

[94BULLITT]

R4's are between ags and turfs. They have more traction than turfs but less than ags. They don't tear up the turf as bad as ags either. I think R4's are more of a flotation tire. If you get in a mud hole they will not sink down like ags will. R4's are more resistant to getting snagged and they ride smoother. If you decide to get a set of chains check out tirechain.com they have some really good prices.

 

[DieselnHooters]

In a perfect world where $$$ is no object I would own all size tractors...SCUT-CUT-utility- Ags with all kinds of different tire threads. As it stands now in reality I can afford only one tractor so I went with a medium sized one and R4s, its a compromise and I did right.