Rear tire inflation

[alan40]

Didn't know quite were to post this. I have a rear tire that looks a little soft and it got me to thinking. Do I need a special gage to measure the pressure and if I need air will my small compressor do the job? I have one of the ones you plug into the cigarette lighter. Common sense says to put the valve at the top since the tires are filled but after that I need help.
I've had the tractor since April 2000 and I've never even thought of this.
Thanks, /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Al

 

[Bird]

Alan, you can use a regular tire gauge, but since they usually register 40 psi or more, it can be a little more difficult to be exact (I run 12 psi in my rear tires). I bought a low pressure gauge myself, and then after I filled the tires with water and antifreeze, I also bought a liquid/air gauge. Getting water in a regular gauge will probably shorten its life. And I, too, want the valve stem on top when I check the pressure, and I always give mine a little blast of air to clear the valve stem before putting the gauge on it. However, you won't give it much of a blast with that 12 volt compressor. But that 12 volt compressor will do the job as far as airing up the tires; just takes longer is all.

Bird

 

[alan40]

Thanks for the reply Bird!!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif As you can tell I don't have much experiance with tractors yet but that's why I like this site. Just ask and you shall recieve an answer.
Once again Thanks and have a great day!!
Al

 

[mikim]

Just be careful that you don't overheat it - 'cause it could be the end of it. I burned up my father-in-laws 12 volt trying to put air in my TC45 tires. I bought him a better one.

 

[Bird]

Of course you're right, Mike, you can burn one up if it runs long enough. I figure if Al has liquid in the tires, and isn't going to run very high pressure, then they won't require a great volume of air. If you start with a tire that's completely flat, even on a car or pickup, most of those little 12 volt compressors take a long time.

Bird

 

[toddler]

Speaking of tire pressure. How often do you guys have to pump up the front tires. Mine go low after about 2 weeks. I fill them to 22psi, and in 2 weeks they're both at 15psi. The rear tires I never have to worry about. However, when they replaced the rear valve stems, they filled them to 30psi. I didn't notice for almost a year. Ride is much nicer now at 12!
Todd

 

[Bird]

Todd, sounds to me like you need to look for a slow leak. I've not had my front tires go down that way (except when I had a mesquite thorn in the right front one).

Bird

 

[GlueGuy]

Toddler,

Sounds like you have a slow leak. The tires on Lucy have never needed to be filled. She's got about 50 hours on her now.

But this brings up a good topic: Tire pressure. My tires are at about 40 PSI (all 4). Bird says he runs his at 12, and that would seem to help a lot in the traction department. What do others run in their tires?

The GlueGuy

 

[gordon]

In my opinion that is way to high for the rear tires. But it also depends on your brand of tire. I've been changing the pressures in my rear tires and right now they are at 15 psi. Now the front is a different story with the added weight of a bucket full of wet sand and the smaller diameter of the tire.

My tractor has the Firestone All traction utility 17.5L-24 , its a six ply r-4 tread with a load rating of 4400lbs at 20 psi. So I started with twenty psi and worked my way down to the fifteen psi that I'm at now. I'm also wondering what pressures/rear tire brand people are running.

The lower pressure will give a better ride as well as alot less tire spin. Less tire spin less ruts, get the job done quicker and more comfortable as well.

Gordon

 

[Bird]

GlueGuy, don't you have R4 tires? I have the R1s and my manual recommends 16 in the rear, 24 in the front. Maximum is 35 psi to seat the bead. I'm running 12 in the rear and 16 in the front; mowing, tilling, etc. with the front end loader off. I don't change the rear ones, but boost the front ones to 24 when I have the loader on.

Bird

 

[Bob_Trevithick]

I just checked my new 4300, and the manual recommends 12 psi both front and rear for my unloaded R4s. They were all set to close to 30psi! I downed them all to 12.

I've gotten new cars which were way over-inflated also.. I was told the dealers do this so a car sitting on the lot for months doesn't develop flat spots in the tires.

Does 12 front and rear sound okay?

Thanks,
Bob

Bob Trevithick

 

[Von]

Bob, I have turfs and run 24 psi. in the fronts because of the FEL and 10psi. it my loaded rears. I think 12 without a FEL is fine.

 

[Bird]

Bob, I'm doing almost like Von; 12 psi in the rears and 24 psi in the front (may lower my rear ones to 10 psi as he has done because I'd not getting a complete footprint with the loaded rears). I'm running R1 (Ag) tires.

 

[jfakerj]

Bob
On my 4300 w/ldr & bh I run my fronts at about 30 and the rears at about 20. If I go down much under that on the fronts I've noticed the tires swat down a lot when I'm using the fel and I've already got lots of crack in the side walls. I even had to put a tube in one front just to hold air from going though the side walls. I had the rears down to about 12 but had fluid leaking out around the bead so I upped the pressure to 20 and no more fluid leaks.

Jerry

 

[PaulT]

I just picked up on this thread. From memory, I think my manual says to run 34psi in the fronts and 24 psi in the rear (r-4s). I remember because I decided to check them in September, after running the tractor all summer long. THe dealer delivered it with 34 on the rear and 24 on the front - exactly backward from the manual specs. The obvious thing was to correct the settings, which I did. I noticed a difference right away.

Since 12-15psi is a contradiction over the manual (for the 2710 with R-4s, anyway), I'm curious what process all of you went through to arrive at your current pressures? Me? - I read the manual and set them accordingly. It makes sense that I would get even better traction/ride if I went lower like you guys, so I probably will.

 

[beenthere]

Referring to my JD4300 manual for 6-ply R-4's, the table gives MAXIMUM inflation pressures of 30 psi in the rear and 50 psi front. It further suggests these maximums are for LOADED tires, and I suspect lower pressures are ok and more comfortable for the ride (when no load). FYI

 

[Pks]

I don't want to make a mess of this thread so I will appologize in advance.

For those of you who have read a pressure value from the manual, did you compare it to the maximum pressure listed on the sidewall of the tire? I don't intend to sound flipant here, it's just an honest question.

I would like to suggest that anyone with R4 tires and a lot of weight on the 3 pt, NOT go below 15 PSI in the rear tires. One of my tires was immediately squished flat when I had 12 to 15 PSI in them and then lifted 900 pounds on the 3 pt. Since the tire bead came off the rim, I had to take it to an auto shop to reinflate it.

IMHO, follow what the tire manufacturer recommends, not what the tractor manufacturer recommends. Manuals are known for errors (32 vs 22 is just a figer stroke difference; right?). I'll bet on that tire sidewall any day.

Incidently, the argument between what the manual recommends and what the tire manufacturer recommends does appear important. Firestone said that what Ford reccommended was too little pressure; Firestone wanted more pressure.

Peter

 

[Bird]

Peter, I won't try to go into detail on the subject of tire inflation, been out of the business a few years, and don't claim to be an expert anyway, but there's a world of difference in car and pickup tires and tractor tires. Basically, the pressure listed on the sidewall of your tractor tires is the maximum to be used to inflate and seat the bead; has little to do with the pressure at which you should run them (and I know there may be some exceptions and if someone wants to correct me, feel free to do so). The pressure listed on the sidewall of your car and pickup tires might be considered a "maximum"; however, you can generally exceed that by 10% if the weight they're carrying justifies it. And, more importantly, you should NOT run them at less than 80% of the pressure on the sidewall. At least that was the rule the last time I had anything to do with the business.

In '91, while working with my brothers in their tire dealership in Alaska, we warrantied some Uniroyal tires. Every one that we warrantied (bubble between the cord and tread) was on 3/4 ton GM pickups or suburbans and were being run far below Uniroyal's recommended minimum, but within the minimum in the vehicles' owners' manuals.

Now I don't know any more about the Ford/Firestone deal than what was in the news, but I strongly suspect the same thing happened with them; never would have been a problem if the tire pressure had been kept up to what it should have been. And then of course I also suspect that incompetent drivers had something to do with it, too. I've blown (I meant in one big bang) both front and rear tires while doing in excess of 100 mph with no power steering and never had a problem controlling the car, but a lot of novice drivers will instinctively hit the brake, which is the worst thing you can do.

Oops, let me off this soapbox before it collapses./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[bgott]

<font color=blue>I've blown (I meant in one big bang) both front and rear tires while doing in excess of 100 mph with no power steering and never had a problem controlling the car</font color=blue>

How the h**l did you do that? Drive over your own tack strip?

 

[Bird]

Nope, Brad, no tack strips. You just caught me wording something very poorly when I said both front and rear. What I meant by that is that I once blew a right rear tire while running just over 100 mph on one car, and some years later blew a left front tire on another car while running about 110 mph./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif