Weight of CK30 on Lawn

[Mavrik02]

I'm considering the purchase of a new CK30HST. I would use it to do many chores around my 20 acres of land but I will also need to use it to cut the grass of our lawn.

With a weight of >3000lbs (tractor and mower) are there any problems with leaving ruts when cutting the grass? The Kioti dealer was pushing turf tires pretty hard.

Thanks...Fred

 

[TractorLegend]

Whats your soil condition, mine is sandy and I dont care too much about ruts but in my case it doesnt.
I'd only go turf tires if traction isn't a concern.
Will you be in mud at all ever??
I think 80-90 % of Kiotis are sold with owner choosing Ind. tires

 

[Ricktx]

This is hard to say (soil conditions, soft? etc). I had the same question and ended up going with the industrial tires. Ruts have not been a problem unless I am doing loader work and I have very sandy soil (almost all sand). I do not know if turf tires would be tough enough for other projects (20 ac). 43 hours now !!!!! 50 hours gets here quick!!!!

 

[Mavrik02]

Ground conditions are ~4-9 inches of top soil with clay underneath. When conditions are totally dry the clay is hard as a rock (when wet the clay is very soft). I am more concerned about marking up the top soil where the grass will grow.

I will be in mud and loose dirt quite a bit and didn't really want the turf tires but the dealer is pushing them and chains very strongly.

Fred

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Soil conditions really make a difference, the more clay you have the worse the ruts will be when it gets wet. A modest weight tractor will rut loamy clay if it is wet, a heavy tractor ruts worse. After the ruts are there, they dry concrete hard and you pretty need a box blade or a tiller to tear the area up and start over. When conditions are dry, the issue pretty much goes away, clay is like concrete, loamy clay is a bit softer. I would listen to the dealer's advice about the turf tires. They are wider and softer than industrial tires (R4) and leave less impact. There are TWO downsides to turfs, they have less traction, and they have soft sidewalls so a full bucket can smash the tires down, if you are going to be doing a lot of loader work with turf tires, you want to air them up so they have extra pressure, then when you go on the lawn, remove some air to reduce the impact to the turf.

 

[timb]

Hey neighbor. I'm also in Westmoreland County, with similar touchy clay soils (and weather) and our experience so far -

When it's wet - my JD 4710 (6000lbs with filled R1 tires and loader) leaves significant ruts just on a single pass through the yard. Not as bad as a full-sized ag tractor, but no way you want it on your lawn much. On the other hand, the family's old Ford NAA (3500 lbs with filled R1 tires) leaves barely noticeable ruts, but it does still leave marks.

Went it's dry - the 4710 doesn't seem to leave significant ruts or marks - but it will kill the grass off after a few passes. The old Ford mostly gets around without too much marking unless you pass over the same area more than a few times.

From that - around here - with R1's I'd say 3000 lbs is probably the absolute limit for a lot of "lawn" travel - and you'll have to stay off the "'lawn" when it's at all wet. 2000-2500 lbs. is probably a better limit. With R4's - you could probably get away with a bit more, and turf's would go higher yet.

On the JD, the relatively narrow R1 fronts are probably worse offenders than the back tires - so fatter R4's would probably make a noticable improvement.

 

[VictorW]

I used to live in your area and now I am in the NW corner. You get a little snow and if you intend to plow it with the tractor, you'll need chains with the turf tires. Chains in mud have a tendency to plug up unless you buy the style as used on log skidders and they're not cheap. This is my personal observation with chains on R-1 tires of my old tractor. You can check out this web site for prices, www.tirechains.com. They were the lowest price I could find. I picked up a set and they are fine. Not cheaply made. They might even be near you and you wouldn't have to pay shipping. Bob S. advised that turf tires are softer which is correct but by Titan tire's web site, www.titan-intl.com, front turf-8.5" wide, R4-8.4" wide; rear turf-14" wide, R-4-15.3"wide. The load carrying is also higher with R-4, about 75% more, and if you intend to do loader and maybe BH work with it, the R-4 would be better. I have R-4 on my CK30HST. When the ground is wet, you can't help but to make impressions with 3100# of tractor. Ruts if it's muddy and very soft. When it dries up, no marks at all. But as Tim said, run over it numerous times in the same place and the grass will brown up. If you're going to get into some good mud, the R-4 will plug up. Another learning experience from having R-1 on my old tractor. You advised mud and loose dirt. With the front end and the rear diff locked, you should be OK, but how much mud is mud.
My suggestion is the R-4. A good all around tire but will make markes in soft ground and will plug in heavy mud. The other alternative; a friend had turf tires on his and then bought extra rims and AG tires. He switches them as his work changes. I know it's extra money but maybe something to think about in the future and help your decision at original purchase time.
Good luck on the tires and I think you'll love the tractor.

 

[AutoUnionTypeC]

I mow with a CK20 and R4's no problem at all, I did have load of logs delivered to my home and that did leave depressions, but were gone within a month or two. I would expect you will have no problem with the CK30 and R4's, except when it's very wet.
Regards, Jamie

 

[DK35vince]

I live in Western, Pa. with similar soil conditions.
I mow my lawn with a DK 35/R-4 tires.
The only time my tractor tries leaving ruts/marks is in spring thaw. When the frost comes out of the ground you don't want to be riding around in the yard, but my Wheel Horse or even walking on it leaves marks then.
Once the ground settles in from the thaw I have no problem.

 

[Dargo]

With the loader on my little Kubota and RFM, I weigh well over 6500 pounds. With the R4's, I don't have any problems except in early spring and late fall. Being less than half the weight, I can't imagine you having any problems.