Tires Solid tires for rotary cutter

[Kaon99]

According to Moss Road and others, solid tires are the way to go on the 400 series rotary cutter (aka brush hog or bush hog). After losing the bead on one of the rotary cutter tires in the first 20 minutes of use, I am now a solid-tire believer. However, I searched the discussions on the subject and could not find any specs/sources for solid tires. If the info is there, I would appreciate knowing how to locate it. If its not there, it would be good to know how to buy the right tires, since I’m sure that most everyone with a rotary cutter has the same problem I do. Moss Road, would you mind revealing the specs/source of the solid tires you ended up using? I am going to call Power –Trac as soon it reopens and complain, but I have a feeling that no magic cures for the tire problem will be forthcoming from Tazewell. In the mean time, I would like to be lining up a source to buy solid tires from.

Thanks in advance. Hope everyone has a great Christmas. Ken in Mississippi

 

[Bob999]

I hope you share what Power Trac says and does about this problem. I am considering purchase of a Power Trac but the warranty is a concern that may ultimately cause me to decide against the purchase.

Their warranty specifically excludes " ...merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose ...". I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that this means that even though they sell a mower for brush, they don't guarantee that it will cut brush. Their only warranty is for defects in material or workmanship and neither your comments or Moss Road's comments in another thread really seems to suggest that the wheel/tire is defective in material or workmanship. I understand your comments to suggest that the wheel/tire used by Power Trac is not suitable for the purpose and this would be excluded from warranty coverage.

Additionally, according to the Power Trac warranty, what ever warranty coverage exists is provided by the manufacturer of the wheel/tire and that is not disclosed on the Power Trac website or in the material package they sent to me. If the wheel and tire are not manufactured by the same company you could quickly end up in a position of each company pointing at the other company as being at fault for the problem.

 

[trailertrash]

Kaon99,

just a thought for you, but I also read the post's about popping beads and was wondering if anybody had ever tried something as simple as putting a tube in their tire?Seems the sidewalls are so short that they don't flex they just pull the bead. I would think a tube should stop this

 

[Anonymous Poster]

You could also stick tubes in them - I did this on my ryan aerator with similar tires after losing the bead several times and it worked great - Happy Holiday to all -edm

 

[MossRoad]

I bought my solid tires at a local company that deals in industrial casters and hand trucks. I can get the sizes and the name of the company in a few days, if you like. They came per-installed on rims and had to have a bushing sleeve put in them to fit the axle bolt that came on the PT. I think someone mentione tht PT has a solid tire. You might want to call them and tell them of your displeasure and ask if they have solid tire solutions.

If anyone tries tubing them, let me know how that works.

FYI, they appear to be the same tires that are on the 60" mower and the 60" power angle snow blade(which I used again today) and they seem to work fine. I wonder if it is just the weight and forces on the brush hog that cause the failures. The brush hog runs through the most extreme situations that a tire can handle. I wnder if the manufacturer has any ides what these tires go through?

 

[bubenberg]

someone is going to say, he repeats himself, but so do the subjects on this pt site. pneumatic tires are kinder to your pt and your attachments. if the mowing industry would have found a way to replace the nuisance of flat tires from temperature changes, too much slope, not too much paying attention of what we are doing, too fast for the weather, grass condition you can be sure, whoever invented that maintenance free tire would become wealthy very fast.

we have come full circle from pneumatic to foamfilled, partially foam filled. back to Goodyear tires with intertubes and slime. why we object to the solid tires is: THE SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL EFFECT. what we have found out is the solid tire in our use, traveling at about 8 to 10 mph all day long the SRR Effect is very bad. more parts brake, more welds pop, more screws and bolts are lost. i have done this test with my ztrs and the two kunz finish mowers.

for one season i kept one kunz finish mower pneumatic and the other one with solid tires, the difference in maintenance and repair was very obvious. the solid tire lost out.

when i discussed that with other pasture mowing and woodlot cleaners they have done the same thing and are back to to pneumatic setups.

a good way, to the detriment of my crews, we check our tires every morning. we have since this addl. maintenance point was added on a daily bases, (that anoying checking tires every morning before mowing one single blade of grass) had less and two of the machines NO tire brakedown the whole season ... just my two cents worth

happy mowing ... it's just three some month away

 

[MossRoad]

Hans,
I agree with you on the solid tires being harder on the equipment in most situations. However, after ripping the tire off of the rims on the brush hog several times in slow, but extremely rough, conditions, I'll accept the role of solid tire tester for a while /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif. Maybe someone else can tube the tires in their brush hog and we'll compare notes.

Either way, the pneumatic tires that come on the brush hog for the PT400 series as standard equipment do not seem to be up to the job. Maybe Power Trac should tube them directly from the factory?

 

[JohnMiller3]

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/34-140594-TwilightBrushCuttingdayisdone-800.jpg> Why not use the proven and time-tested durable laminated tires…?</A> /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[MossRoad]

I've got one of those on my 3pt hitch brush hog.

I don't have the tire size with me. Where is a good source for these?

 

[waterglyn]

I had tubes put in mine and so far they have worked without a problem. I have used it for approximately 15 hours in rough terrain.