When to Retire a Tire?

OkieG · May 2, 2004

I've been wondering about the wear and tear on my front tires for months now. How do you decide when enough is enough? They are Goodyears and are almost 6 years old with 600 hours on them.

This first pic is of the right front tire viewed from the seat.

OkieG

OkieG · May 2, 2004

This next pic is a closer view that shows some weather cracks. How concerned should I be?

OkieG

OkieG · May 2, 2004

This last shot shows bar wear. Some parts of some of the bars are just about worn away. It looks like the there's a bit too much camber to me, based on the wear pattern. I'll try to adjust that.

Overall, what do you think? Still some time left, or should I start shopping?

OkieG

frank_f15 · May 2, 2004

i ain't no tire expert, BUT u seems to have an unsual amt of wear on the out side lugs. u are most certainly going to lose traction, whith thos tires. mine are 6 years old also( about 350 hrs) and look nothing like that. if it was me? i would repalce them

frank_f15 · May 2, 2004

meant to ask ( forgot) what are the rear tires like?

OkieG · May 2, 2004

Frank,
I don't have a picture of the rear tires handy. It getting dark out. But, they are in much better shape, with about 75%+ tread remaining.

OkieG

jinman · May 3, 2004

I would never replace tires based on appearance. If they still hold air and you aren't loosing significant traction, I wouldn't worry about it. I've had ag tires with cleats busted and big cuts and gouges in the tread, but inside they look fine. Here in the sunbelt, surface cracks are normal with the beating tires take from the sun.

I think your tires look fine. I sure expect a lot more than 6 years and 600 hours from my tractor tires. ...just my opinion.

Poppa · May 3, 2004

So, what is the "expected" or "average" life of a tire? And, does it change with the type of tire i.e. Turf, Ind, Ag?

Mike

Ledgemere Farm · May 3, 2004

Like somebody else said, as long as it's holding air, keep it.

_RaT_ · May 3, 2004

I agree Jim. The wear on these tires is as standard as I see on 4WD tractors with R1's. They wear out much, much faster then the rears. With the relatively small number of hours folks are putting on their compacts each year, I would venture to say they may never wear out the rears on their watch.

rambler · May 3, 2004

Holds air & you aren't out of traction, run it.

Altho it looks like you do a _lot_ of road travel, if you drive it on the road farther from home, then you might want to replace in another 100 hours or so.

If you do that much pavement wear, do you need to be in 4wd? Or would you convert yo the industrial lug? You are wearing the lugs off those tires way too fast, they should look like that after 1000+ hours, maybe 2000 hours.

--->Paul

Soundguy · May 3, 2004

Gosh.. that's practically a new tire /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Heck.. go with it till it disintegrates.

I had my 1946 2n out for a spin and just when I pulled back in my driveway, one of my front tires actually blew off the rim and landed a few feet from the tractor... Now that's when you change a tire! If it's holding air keep it!

Soundguy

OkieG · May 3, 2004

I'm not sure how you can tell, but you are right, my tractor does see a lot of pavement. I live in a development of +/- 1 acre lots, and I drive around the neighborhood quite a bit for one thing or another.

Four wheel drive is only engaged when off the pavement. I read, or was told that it could ruin the front axle running with MFWD engaged on pavement. I guess some folks do that though, and get away with it.

Thanks,

OkieG

OkieG · May 3, 2004

Heck.. go with it till it disintegrates. 

I'm sure there is some traction loss, but your advice seems to reflect the consensus. Guess I will try to adjust the camber and just go with them for a while longer. After all, I'd hate to retire tires that are practically new. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif The front tires have tubes, so they may hold air for quite some time yet.

OkieG

AndyMA · May 3, 2004

Good Idea

I replaced both R1 fronts on my Ford 2120 when I picked up a full loader load at about 900 + hoursand bust the side wall in one. The other didn't look much better. I replaced the rears when I burst a sidewall (that had a big rock induced split for years) when the tube finally burst through the split with over 1600 hours and 16 years use. I spend a lot of time on rock and that chews up the tires.

Andy

OkieG · May 3, 2004

will try to adjust the camber 

Oops. No camber adjustment possible, just toe-in. Oh well. Must just have to live with extra wear on the outside edges of the tires.

OkieG

OkieG · May 3, 2004

Andy,
Not many rocks in this part of Oklahoma. Tires just look like they been over rocks.

OkieG

_RaT_ · May 3, 2004

Andy, it is the 2120 that I was thinking of that has the R1's that are half as good as the picture that was attached were comparable hours. I think the 2120 is extra tough on tires partially becasue it does have a very high capacity bucket. It is very easy to continually overload the tires. On the otherhand, I really like the big bucket and would prefer to prematurely wear out the tires then diminsh the load capacity.

Henro · May 3, 2004

I also would run the tire till it's natural end... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

But I would worry about one thing, that is how the diameter of the tire was changing in proportion to the diameter of the rear tires. This would only be a concern when using four wheel drive.

My understanding is that you want the front tires to be turning a little faster than the rear tires on a 4X4 tractor when using 4X4 mode. If the fronts got smaller and smaller due to wear, at some point you would have them turning relatively slower than the rear tires. The tire makers say this is a bad thing. Undue stresses on the drive train can result.

There is a way to do a test to see if a tractor is in a problem mode or not. It involves two people, and marking the tires on the tractor. If I remember right, it goes kind of like this. On a flat surface the tractor is run first in 2wd for ten turns of the rear tires. At the same time the number of revolutions of the front tires are counted.

The the tractor is put into 4wd and run on the same ground for ten turns of the rear tires. Again the number of turns of the front tires are counted.

In 4wd mode you want to have more turns of the front tires than you had in 2wd mode. This tells you that you have some overspeed in the system. If you like math you can calculate the percent overspeed.

If you have less turns in 4x4 mode, time to do something about your tires.

This is the way I remember it anyway, and I think I got it right. The procedure is outlined somewhere, I think either at the Goodyear or Firestone web sites...maybe even both... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

jinman · May 4, 2004

( Guess I will try to adjust the camber and just go with them for a while longer. )

I think toe-in and camber on a tractor is set for the best steering in loose soil. Also, when you drive on pavement with a tractor, you really scuff the tires due to not having any suspension. Turns are especially rough on the outside edges of tires and the cleats/lugs of R1s. That's why the lugs wear so quickly on the outside of the tire. Have you ever noticed how a road grader's front tires really lean in a turn? Your tractor doesn't do that, but it doesn't run like relatively flat tread on a auto tire either.

When I drive my tractor on concrete and turn it, I almost always see faint black tracks that tell me my front tires are wearing very quickly. Last Saturday at my tractor dealer, I saw a rough service tractor with a brush cage built around it. the rear tires had very little cleat left and the front tires, that were about 16" wide, had no tread whatsoever. They looked like slicks on a dragster. I had to look closely to see that they were actually R4s that had been worn out many hours ago. they even had frayed cord sticking out the side. I looked closer and I saw they were filled with foam. I suspect the owner of this machine just didn't want to spend the money to buy new tires and have to pay to have them foam filled. The rig had a big brush cutter behind it and is probably used to cut down mesquite trees. Anyway, don't let your tires get that bad before replacing them. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif