Tires Selection criteria of ag or industrial tires

[montejw]

haven't read any other replies. my choice of industrial tires was because i drive the tractor in my yard a lot. i mainly mow some pastures, drag the driveway, and move horse poop. ag tires would be better for some of this, but the yard (where the tractor is stored) would be trashed.

4x4 and hst, never had a problem.

 

[Johndeere3720]

I don't have a scientific answer on the puncture resistance between the R1s and R4s. Maybe someone else can help out?

All I know is I had several pieces of equipment (with their operators) working on my property while I was building my house. Almost every time they came out, at least one R1 tire would get a flat. The one guy with industrials never had a problem.

I have torn down (literally dug up and knocked down) about 50 locust trees and have pushed them into a burn pile. There are locust thorns stuck in my tires a lot. If you were to look at my tires, you would see hundreds of little "spots" on my tires where the thorns have stuck in and broke off. I have only had one minor leak so far... and took care of that with some green slime. I am VERY happy I went with R4s... although I do miss the traction of R1s.

R4s suck in the mud and I hear the same about snow... but they are dang tough!

Makes me wonder, why cant they make an R1 tire with the sidewall strenght of the R4? I love my R1 tires, great traction which is a high priority, but i just wish they were wider. Being 6" wide, they bury themselves in soft ground fairly easily. i have came really close to getting stuck but the Diff. lock pulled it right out. So I guess that I would prefer R1's that were just a bit wider, atleast 8-10 inches (I live in the rainy half of Oregon) so i have better weight distribution and more ground contact. R4s are graet with sidewall straenght, but i havent noticed a difference between R1s and R4s on the lawn.

 

[LD1]

Makes me wonder, why cant they make an R1 tire with the sidewall strenght of the R4? I love my R1 tires, great traction which is a high priority, but i just wish they were wider. Being 6" wide, they bury themselves in soft ground fairly easily. i have came really close to getting stuck but the Diff. lock pulled it right out. So I guess that I would prefer R1's that were just a bit wider, atleast 8-10 inches (I live in the rainy half of Oregon) so i have better weight distribution and more ground contact. R4s are graet with sidewall straenght, but i havent noticed a difference between R1s and R4s on the lawn.

Michelin actually offers a tire similar to what you are describing. I think it is an XM47 or something. It is basically an industrial tire with AG lugs from my understanding. Which would be nice.

Me personally, I opted for the AG's. Mainly because I am cheap and R1's were the cheapest.

I mow with them and as long as its dry, they are fine. But for brute pulling, the R4's cant hold a candle.

But my dream tire would be one with R4 toughness, Ag lugs (or maybe a little deeper), and about twice as wide as my current 7x16 front. Skinny front tires and FEL work dont mix in soft conditions. I know everyone says that if it is that soft, you have no business being in it. But, sometimes you have no choice. Like maintaining the creek that runs throught the woods, or whatever.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Another option is putting duals on. Besides extra traction and flotation it will give you a lot more stability. For my use, my little kubota would be worthless without them.
Rick

 

[LD1]

Another option is putting duals on. Besides extra traction and flotation it will give you a lot more stability. For my use, my little kubota would be worthless without them.
Rick

I have often thought about doing that but I didn't know if anyone made a kit for it.

Is yours a custom one-of-a-kind type setup or does someone actually make a setup for it??

I was also concerned with the added stress on the front axle/spindle assemble as well as the steering. The duals would give the wheels/tires combo more leverage on the axle. Do you have any issues, or diffulcity steering?

I am not worried about the rears, It is always the fronts I have problems with and would probabally only want the duals on the front anyway. With a full bucket, there usually isnt much weight over the rears anyway, at least in my case.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I made the fronts myself as I couldnt find them anywhere. I also used the next size smaller ag tire to give me more clearance on the loader frame and didnt need the extra floatation on the hard pack.I got some extra rims, cut out the center, had the welding shop in town roll me out a couple circles(u might be able to find the right size pipe) the same size as the cutout center and then welded it to the new rim on the under sized tires. It has worked well, the only thing I did bend both front tie rods right after I got the tractor but I attribute it more to being a newb. Was ripping up tundra in 4 wheel drive and doing it a bit to aggressivly for a l2800.
Rick
Unverferth.com had the rears

 

[Gary Fowler]

Dual front tires, now that would be something to see not to mention steer on a CUT. I am thinking that the reason the ag tires are smaller is since they have increased traction, they dont want to put to much strain on the axles and drive train and the size that they put on normally give you plenty of traction for the HP available. You could possibly put them in a low enough gear to twist off an axle with super wide tires. You could certainly go to a larger size tire front and rear as they make all sizes of ag tires. My LS 7010 front tires are 11.2 x 24 with 16.9x30 rear. The 7030 model is identical except with torqued up injection system and has 12.4 x 24 and 18.4 x30 and I could likely put these on my tractor with out problems if I wanted to to get more traction and flotation. As long as the rolling ratio remains the same, you can put larger tires on any tractor within reason. You would be limited to clearance issues for steering and fender wells.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

here you go, doesnt effect the steering at all on the hard pack and digs in and acts as a sort of rudder in sand giving more precise steering and less push.
Rick

 

[ArtMech]

Dear friends,

My head is turning around from so many aspects and arguments :confused2:

But I agree with the one - most important thing is to use the tires what they are designed for.
I've bought an M tractor with the 12.4 X 24 front and 18.4 X 30 rear Ag TITAN tires. They are worn out up to ~1 inch of lugs remaining. I'm about to think whether to change the tires or not. If yes, what type or what kind of manufacturer to choose? The type of ground I have is clay, sand, soil and some sandstone.

Important argument posted by 'montejw' who says "ag tires would be better for some of this, but the yard (where the tractor is stored) would be trashed." Curious thing is, that a small L tractor (~900 kg) with deep lugs damages my grass in the yard much more than a heavy M machine (~3000 kg) with shallow lugs. But indeed, all must depend on the works you're gonna do.

And I really like TITAN tire producer (its distribution is not available in my country): if even the tires are old (2003) and after heavy use, but there are no tear or crack traces because of time and ultraviolet rays impact on them. I can buy the Ag or industrial tires of required dimensions over here, but I doubt about their quality. The 12.4 X 24 are of Israeli production and 18.4 X 30 are Russian.

Anyway, it's not a problem. We'll see...

And one extra question just for fun
Wouldn't you think, that the worn out Ag tires with shallow lugs may perfectly function as the industrial ones?

 

[Gary Fowler]

Saracenas: I think you will find that industrial tires wont fit the rims you have now. If you decide to go with industrial, you will need to buy new rims also. THe industrial are wider and rim is smaller in most instances.