Tractor Tire Longevity

[ritcheyvs]

As a new tractor owner, I wonder how long tractor tires should last. Almost all my use is on dirt, grass, or in woods (seldom travel on pavement). I'm sure new tires are pretty expensive so I got to wondering if I'll need to buy a set any time soon.

Scott

 

[farmeratheart]

I don't know about the CUT/SCUT tires of today either Scott. What I remember from my early days on the dairy farm though, is that sidewalls would crack and rot out from exposure to the manure long before tread was an issue. This was with what are called R1 tires today. I've only had my tractor about 3 years (It was 1 year old when I bought it.) and it has its original tires ... It will be interesting to see what this thread yields in information!

Frank

 

[DAY]

"I wonder how long tractor tires should last."
-Longer than you. . .
Seriously, the tires on my Yella Fella are well past the 30 year mark (the odometer quit working at 3338 hours), and still have plenty of tread. the front sidewalls are showing some cracking, though.

 

[mguitas]

As a new tractor owner, I wonder how long tractor tires should last. Almost all my use is on dirt, grass, or in woods (seldom travel on pavement). I'm sure new tires are pretty expensive so I got to wondering if I'll need to buy a set any time soon.

Scott

As long as your not on the road, should last awhile.

 

[creekbend]

My Father and an Uncle of mine had farms joining each other's property where I grew up and was raised. Their Tractors were Farmall, Case and MF. I do not ever remember any of the equipment getting new tires. They may have, but I don't remember. I do remember bush hogging Mom's rhubarb patch late one evening, because the tractor that I was driving at the time, had no headlights.

 

[k0ua]

Like anything else, it depends on many things. How much you use the tractor, what kind of enviorment (flint rocks, sandy soil, lots of road usage) all add up. but I have seen a lot of old tractors with 30 or year older tires, cracking and splitting and chunks coming off from spinning the tires are a bigger problem than just normal wear. But in general they last a good long time.

James K0UA

 

[dennis52]

While searching for my last tractor purchase I was shown a Kubota L4300 with loader that was 3 years old and had only 400 hrs on it.

The tractor had done a lot of hard work clearing hard rocky land.
The owner clearly had not shown much care for it.

The front AG tyres were already in need of replacement.

 

[George2615]

My tractor is a 2004. So I guess that's 8 years since 2012 tractors are out.
I run R-4 industrial tires. Rears are in great shape. Fronts are the ones that seem to get the most abuse mainly from turning. They have various nicks and cuts and have been plugged from nail holes.
The tractor sees minimal road use and only has about 400 hrs. (My tires are pictured) They still have plenty of life left in them. From what I can see and from other friends tractors the front tires will be the first ones that need changing. One friend just changed his front tires on a JD 790 with about 2000 hours.

 

[Branchchipper]

Don't sweat the tires!
(and stay off the pavement)

My first tractor was a 1973 MF 135-D; I bought it from the original owner in the mid-80's. It still had the original R-1 (ag) rear tires (calcium filled), and the tractor had approx. 2000 hrs on it, all in field use.

I replaced those tires a few hundred hours later- they did not leak; there was some checking, but the main reason for replacement was that the lugs were simply no longer high enough for really wet conditions.

Having said that, those tires were still a long way from "worn out." Had I not lived on very hilly terrain, I probably wouldn't have thought of replacement for many more hours!

 

[MotorSeven]

I can say this, after 600 hrs, lots of heavy loader work in 4WD and quite a bit of road running, my front Ag tires are looking pretty beat. I am guessing that around the 1000 hr mark they will need to be replaced.

 

[DAY]

I can say this, after 600 hrs, lots of heavy loader work in 4WD and quite a bit of road running, my front Ag tires are looking pretty beat. I am guessing that around the 1000 hr mark they will need to be replaced.

I stopped at the local Deere dealer; there were two 30-35 HP machines, similar in a age and condition to Motorseven. Front tires (R4) were way worse than the rears. I suspect they came from either loading stone or plowing snow on a commercial level. Blacktop/concrete wears out tires faster than dirt!

 

[bucktaker]

If you keep it in a shed or barn out of the sun that will extend the life alot. I believe 4wd usage will decrease the front tires life as they are sized to slip or pull. Normal rear tire life should be 2500-3000 hours of field work, gravel, concrete, blacktop use will decrease life.

I have noticed large tractors that get roaded to and from different fields go through tires pretty quick.

 

[slowzuki]

Our tractors get about 1 hr of pavement use for every 5-10 hour on the clock. Old 4wd with ags would get about 500 hours our of a set of 11.2x24's. The rear 16.9x30's would wear about 5% in the same time.

Our Kubota got 400 hours out of the first 10x16.5 R4's. The rears had no measurable wear at the same hours.

Our MF has 4000 hours with very little road use, the radial R1W 14.9x24 fronts lasted 2500 hours, tread was perfect, sidewalls cracked out. The warrantee tires are still about 90% tread.

 

[sweettractors]

As a new tractor owner, I wonder how long tractor tires should last. Almost all my use is on dirt, grass, or in woods (seldom travel on pavement). I'm sure new tires are pretty expensive so I got to wondering if I'll need to buy a set any time soon.

Scott

Typically I see rear tires go out at around 2000-2500 hours of mixed on and off road use. Ken Sweet

 

[daybreak1998]

As a new tractor owner, I wonder how long tractor tires should last. Almost all my use is on dirt, grass, or in woods (seldom travel on pavement). I'm sure new tires are pretty expensive so I got to wondering if I'll need to buy a set any time soon.

Scott

Howdy,
A long time with the use you are saying. They will probably weather rot and crack before you wear them out. Anytime ag tires are used across cement, asphalt, and such, you will have more wear.

 

[Hoosier Hay Man]

Also with little use the tires will get harder with age which will slow the wear but increase chances of cracks. I have 30 plus year tires with quite a bit of wear left that have some cracks that perform well. I think the older tires hold up better than the new in some applications.
I have read where some farmers will buy new tires and save them for a couple of years so they will get harder to hold up better in corn stubble. The new gentic corn stalks are real hard and if cut short will eat tires in short order. A neighbor just put 6 new tires on his 8000 series Deere with over 3,000hrs for about $10,000. They were radials but tires are getting a bit pricy.

http://www.farm-equipment.com/pages/Issue-Oct-2011-Where-Ag-Tires-Fear-to-Tread.php

 

[rd_macgregor]

The Titan R4s on the front of my DK45SC had quite noticeable cracks between the treads by the first winter I had it (see thumbnail pic). After over 650hrs, the tread is holding up OK, but the cracks certainly haven't gotten any better! As long as the tires don't actually fail, I expect to get at least a couple of more years out of them, say, 1000+hrs anyway.


BOB

 

[sweettractors]

I bought a 1955 JD 40 in 1977 and the back tire tread was extra good, however, it was dry cracked and hard. I ran that tractor hard for 30 yrs on those tires and when I sold it, they were as good as when I bought the tractor. I think the old rubber was a lot better than this softer new rubber you find in tires today. Ken Sweet

 

[2458n]

Makes sense that the small tires on the front wear out first as they make more revolutions than the larger rear tires. Steering does not help with wear either. Do tire dressings help with the sidewalls? Kubota rear tires will be 30yrs. old this year. By bragging I will probably cut one down on a fence post or something!

 

[art]

Ag wise loaded tires are about 2,000 to 2,500 and unloaded double that. Fronts do always wear first do to there smaller diameter and depending on there lead lag ratio might wear out in less then half the time as the back.

This is where proper ballasting makes a big difference and any end that is to heavy will wear the tires far faster. I've had farmers tell me of excelerated wear when leaving the front weights on through the year and basically stateing they know they took an extra year off!