daTeacha
Veteran Member
There has been a lot of discussion about tire types, pressures, footprint, etc. in the past. I just thought I'd share something I noticed with everyone.
As you know I have this new DX29. I've been working carrying some fairly heavy loads in the bucket while having about 900 pounds hanging on the rear hitch as a counterweight.
Noting the fronts seemed squashed a bit with the loader full of rocks I checked the tire pressures a couple of days ago and found ther rears at 9 pounds, fronts at about 28. The fronts are 6 ply rated, the rears are 4 ply. The fronts can take up to 40, the rears say 18 but the Goodyear manual lists 26 for the same size and ply rating. At any rate, I noticed the full width of the rears was white with gravel dust from traveling along the driveway.
I took the fronts up to 32, and raised the rears to 17, figuring the 9 pounds was ridiculously low for the 4400 lb empty weight of the tractor and counterweight.
After hosing the tractor down that night, I resumed similar work the next day. Observing the rears with the 17 lb. pressure in them showed the white dust from the driveway was now only observable on the center half of the tires -- the increased pressure to only 17 lb. was enough to make the tires lose contact with the driveway on the outer 1/4 of each side, effectively reducing the footprint to half what it was.
Simple proof that pressure is important, and a little makes a big difference. On a lawn, the higher pressure would make the center of the tire dig deeper into the turf since it deflects inward less.
As you know I have this new DX29. I've been working carrying some fairly heavy loads in the bucket while having about 900 pounds hanging on the rear hitch as a counterweight.
Noting the fronts seemed squashed a bit with the loader full of rocks I checked the tire pressures a couple of days ago and found ther rears at 9 pounds, fronts at about 28. The fronts are 6 ply rated, the rears are 4 ply. The fronts can take up to 40, the rears say 18 but the Goodyear manual lists 26 for the same size and ply rating. At any rate, I noticed the full width of the rears was white with gravel dust from traveling along the driveway.
I took the fronts up to 32, and raised the rears to 17, figuring the 9 pounds was ridiculously low for the 4400 lb empty weight of the tractor and counterweight.
After hosing the tractor down that night, I resumed similar work the next day. Observing the rears with the 17 lb. pressure in them showed the white dust from the driveway was now only observable on the center half of the tires -- the increased pressure to only 17 lb. was enough to make the tires lose contact with the driveway on the outer 1/4 of each side, effectively reducing the footprint to half what it was.
Simple proof that pressure is important, and a little makes a big difference. On a lawn, the higher pressure would make the center of the tire dig deeper into the turf since it deflects inward less.