Tire Longevity

NewToy · Jul 28, 2009

Just wondering if anyone has actually worn out a set of tires on their CUT. I have around 465 hrs on my Titan R4's and can barely see any wear. I operate primarily on the grass with some gravel road going between properties. The rear's are 10 ply and the fronts 6 ply. I don't think I'll ever actually wear them out.

John

Ken45101 · Jul 29, 2009

I think the front tires are getting worn down on my B21 TLB. I lot of pushing/spinning to dig with it has probably taken it's toll. It has 600 hours on it.

There is probably more wear than you realize if you compared the tires to what they were like when they were new. But for normal mowing, etc., they will probably last a long time, maybe longer than you keep the tractor.

Ken

Farmwithjunk · Jul 29, 2009

For the typical uses you describe, it's not UNCOMMON to see tires wear well beyond the life of the rubber. In other words, you may still have good tread when the tires are starting to dry rot. I've got a '79 Deere 2440 with the ORIGINAL rears still in good shape. (GoodYear Dyna-Torque bias ply R1's {8-ply}) Road wear and excessive loader use will wear 'em quick. Keep 'em on the dirt and grass, they might last quite some time.

NewToy · Jul 29, 2009

I figured they would start falling apart before they actually wore out. It stays in the garage so they don't get dried out from the sun, maybe I'll get 30 yrs out of them as well.

LBrown59 · Jul 29, 2009

1200 hours on this BX23 and they are the original tires.

NewToy said:
Just wondering if anyone has actually worn out a set of tires on their CUT. I have around 465 hrs on my Titan R4's and can barely see any wear. I operate primarily on the grass with some gravel road going between properties. The rear's are 10 ply and the fronts 6 ply. I don't think I'll ever actually wear them out.

John

I have a 1966 Bolens 850 with the original turfs on the rear.
You can't see any wear on them .

radioman · Jul 29, 2009

farmwithjunk has said it right. Most off-road vehicles tends to have the tires dry rot, crack, get flats more often then wearing out. When this happens, I noticed the conesus is to add tubes to tires just to get a few more years out of it due to cost of replacing rubber completely all around.

Soundguy · Jul 30, 2009

hard surfaces and slippage will wear the tires.. sun and weather checking will also deteroriate them.

IE. if you leave her inthe sun parked and the weather.. and run across pavement all day. they will likely wear out faster than a shed kept unit that ross across grass all day.

not unherd of to get 40+ years out of a tire.. i know i've got antiques with original rubber on them..

didn't see fwj had already posted this.

ditto what he said.

soundguy

Egon · Jul 30, 2009

not unherd of to get 40+ years out of a tire.. i know i've got antiques with original rubber on them..

didn't see fwj had already posted this.

Them is shed sitting tractors with very few hours on the tires.

Working agricultural tractors have a much shorter life span before the tread is wore off. Again it's a matter of hours the tires have been out in the field pulling.

Seem to recall away back when on the farm tires got replaced about every four years or so.

PA hayseed · Jul 30, 2009

I think I would do anything to keep the tires on my tractor rather than buy new ones. I priced mine out after the one tire had a rather large chunk torn out of it, all I can say is when the dealer told me the price my face looked like this emoticon

The price was for one of the rears. Since we are on the topic, does anyone have a recommendation on a tractor tire manufacturer? Preferably the best of both worlds (cheap and long lasting).

ToadHill · Jul 30, 2009

I have a 48 8N with the original rear tires on it, but the fronts have been replaced. Lots of cracks in the rears but with tubes they still hold air and work fine.

5 year Old Kioti has cracks in the rear tires and the fronts are at least 1/2 worn out. Tractor has 900 hours on it.

I won't even guess the hours on the 8N but I know it's a bunch. If I put 900 hours on the Kioti in 5 years, you can bet I've put many thgousands on the 8N in the 25 years I've owned it.

Soundguy · Jul 31, 2009

What original rubber.. no way.. must have never done a day of work in it's entire life, and sat shedded that entire time too....

like some would have you believe.....

I have an original 10-28 on my 8n as well.. dry and checked but holds air fine... plenty of use on that tractor when i got her...

soundguy

texasjohn · Jul 31, 2009

front tires on my Kubota 5030 are worn on inside, not worn much on outside.... turns out that they needed alignment. I bought the tractor used. Were out of alignment about 2 inches...have aligned it now...have learned that tread will wear even on slow moving vehicle. I leave my tractor in 4wd except when on pavement.

rear tires show chunks of rubber bitten off, little actual wear otherwise on the tread... about 720 hours on it.

Egon · Jul 31, 2009

What original rubber.. no way.. must have never done a day of work in it's entire life, and sat shedded that entire time too.... like some would have you believe.....

Just put that tractor in front of ground engaging implements and cultivate a couple of hundred acres a year. Then come back after 40 years with the original tires!

alchemysa · Jul 31, 2009

LBrown59 said:
1200 hours on this BX23 and they are the original tires. I have a 1966 Bolens 850 with the original turfs on the rear.
You can't see any wear on them .

Yeah, mowing grass is pretty easy on tyres. Backhoeing isnt real tough on tyres either.

Actually, professional mowing guys tell me they wear out the fronts before the rears. 'Turning' is what does it.

Soundguy · Aug 1, 2009

alchemysa said:
Yeah, mowing grass is pretty easy on tyres. Backhoeing isnt real tough on tyres either.

Actually, professional mowing guys tell me they wear out the fronts before the rears. 'Turning' is what does it.

I pretty much only mow with my NH 7610s.. it has fat 10-16 tri- ribs on front that are worn slick and thin.. the beefy rears are wearing down.. but not nearly as fast as the fronts. I'll likely need new frotns next seasons.. but still get at least 5-10 years more on the rears at their current rate of wear.. unless I find some sharp stick or something.. I think the asphalt is what gets my tires the most...

soundguy

pat32rf · Aug 2, 2009

I've got about 3900hrs on my JD4300, mostly on rock, roots and gravel. Chains in winter. Tires are showing wear but still lotsa tread. Also lotsa cracks from sun.
A few years back I discarded the original 10ply Goodyears off a 40yr old trailer because of cracks. The replacement offshore tires are now almost as bad....

arrow · Aug 2, 2009

Soundguy said:
hard surfaces and slippage will wear the tires.. sun and weather checking will also deteroriate them.

IE. if you leave her inthe sun parked and the weather.. and run across pavement all day. they will likely wear out faster than a shed kept unit that ross across grass all day.

not unherd of to get 40+ years out of a tire.. i know i've got antiques with original rubber on them..

didn't see fwj had already posted this.

ditto what he said.

soundguy

I've had a set of ag fronts dry rot so badly, they wouldn't hold the tube anymore. This is a shed kept tractor and these Bridgesdtones lasted 10 years. I think the tires of yesteryear had more actual rubber in them instead of the synthetic compounds they mix in with rubber tires today. What better way to sell tires that are not going to wear out. We'll just find a way to let them rot out. Also it is not only the sun that cracks tires but also ozone in the air. Apparently, since my tractor is kept in a shed, this is the substance that had the biggest role to crack mine. A tractor shed where you run a welder probably hastens ozone cracking.

Soundguy · Aug 3, 2009

I think there is a huge movement towards replaceable items vs durable items.. it's a trend that is being used more and more these days.

soundguy

texasjohn · Aug 4, 2009

I drive 20 miles of I35 regularly... treads come off tires with great frequency... I see about 10 treads in that distance almost every day and usually at least one vehicle stopped at roadside working on tires. I don't know if tires are less durable than in years past, or if I'm just noticing more, or because it is that I35 is an extremely heavily traveled interstate. Perhaps people simply drive them until they come apart as a cost saving measure.

I know that I myself have over 50 tires given all vehicles and trailers and replace one to two tires monthly from catastrophic failures. Lately, I've had quite a number of tires wear unevenly down to the cores.

I know it's not tractor tires, but it is rubber on the ground and my personal experiences.