Tire loading - required or luxury?

[pat32rf]

You gotta get some more weight on those rear wheels, either ballast box, loaded tires, or heavy snow blower. Without the weight even chains spin on ice....
I like loaded tires but my tires are small (JD4300) so I carry rear ballast as well. The ballast gets replaced with hoe, blower, backblade as needed but the 3pth is never empty..

 

[Gary Fowler]

What is your reason for not wanting to ballast your tires. That is practically free weight just pay for the WWW fluid and you wont have to worry about water freezing in the tires and at least 3/4 (75% fill)t of the weight is not carried on the axle but on the tire itself. You can do this work yourself also to minimize the cost if that is an issue.

 

[k0ua]

I have loaded tires, and I am very happy with the performance gains. But if you are worried about it for some reason, why don't you load the tires with water for a little while and try it then you can drain it before it gets too cold and you are not out any real money, just the fill valve about 10 bucks and maybe a pump $6 at home depot.. actually I guess you would not need the pump for water as you would have water pressure, maybe a simple hose valve at the filler location for ease of use, when you burp the tires. In any case this would be a good way to check it out before you spent money for WW fluid, or RV antifreeze or RimGuard or whatever. Just a thought. Me I run RV antifreeze, and a 750 lb. ballast "barrel" on the 3pt. for my L3400, it is about right, tire spin is very rare.
and havent lifted the rear end again since the filling of the tires.
James K0UA

 

[Pushing_Tin]

Mine are filled with beet juice and I've been very pleased.

 

[foggy1111]

A few reasons he may not want to load his tires....(1) when he puts the bh on the tractor and hauls it on a trailer and (2) the extra weight tears up peoples yards and makes deep(er) ruts....when drivng across them with the hoe and tractor.

I rest his case.

 

[Jay4200]

Buy or make a ballast box and fill it with Portland cement.

No good - I take the BH off to run a blade, rake, or snowblower - all of which use up the 3pt hitch.

JayC

 

[Jay4200]

What is your reason for not wanting to ballast your tires. That is practically free weight just pay for the WWW fluid and you wont have to worry about water freezing in the tires and at least 3/4 (75% fill)t of the weight is not carried on the axle but on the tire itself. You can do this work yourself also to minimize the cost if that is an issue.

I can't handle any more weight for transportation when the backhoe is attached. Wheel weights might work.

Also, I realized yesterday that I hadn't reduced my tire pressure after removing the backhoe - my rear contact patch is reduced easily by 50%. That explains a lot.

JayC

 

[Ford tractor]

I assume the tractor in question is the one in your picture? With turf tires? If so, chains work very well on turf tires. Better in fact than on R4 tires. Get the 2 link version or an H-bar version if you will be operating on a side slope. Straight link chains will allow you to side slip on hills and that's not so enjoyable. You will have to be real good about staying off black top. I've put many a chain imprint in it. Pretty easy to do on 3-5 year old pavement (even in winter) or when the sun is hitting it making it softer. If you are going to be working at snow removal, you may want to have in the contract a loop hole so you don't get charged for damage to the pavement. Just a thought.

If you can get wheel weights that would help in conjunction with the chains. Tractors in nearly all cases work better at or near maximum weight for ground engaging activities. But if you are truck or trailer limited on what you can haul, then that's going to limit your options.

 

[Jay4200]

I assume the tractor in question is the one in your picture? With turf tires? If so, chains work very well on turf tires. Better in fact than on R4 tires. Get the 2 link version or an H-bar version if you will be operating on a side slope. Straight link chains will allow you to side slip on hills and that's not so enjoyable. You will have to be real good about staying off black top. I've put many a chain imprint in it. Pretty easy to do on 3-5 year old pavement (even in winter) or when the sun is hitting it making it softer. If you are going to be working at snow removal, you may want to have in the contract a loop hole so you don't get charged for damage to the pavement. Just a thought.

If you can get wheel weights that would help in conjunction with the chains. Tractors in nearly all cases work better at or near maximum weight for ground engaging activities. But if you are truck or trailer limited on what you can haul, then that's going to limit your options.

Yes, that is my tractor in the picture, and I am planning on putting 2-link ladder chains all the way around. I will be doing snow removal on my own driveway, and possibly my road, but all just my own stuff. There is no asphalt in sight - everything is gravel. I don't think I'll need to worry about side-slipping, the only sidehill is the crown in my driveway, which I hope won't dump me into the woods. I did pretty well with my 2WD lawn tractor w/ 2-link ladder chains last year, but it wasn't pushing a 600# blower....

JayC