Wide mounted tires>premature bearing failure?

[Builder]

I have my front tires in the widest mount position. Glad I do because of the steep ground I work on. Got a comment about premature bearing failure with my tires mounted the way they are (widest position), the rears filled and my frequent loader use.

Anyone experience premature bearing failure with wide mounted tires?

 

[SPYDERLK]

I have my front tires in the widest mount position. Glad I do because of the steep ground I work on. Got a comment about premature bearing failure with my tires mounted the way they are (widest position), the rears filled and my frequent loader use.

Anyone experience premature bearing failure with wide mounted tires?

I dont think wide set will hurt them at all, but its gives very little stability advantage to have wide set fronts. The rear topside will lift a long way before the front pivot reaches its stop.
larry

 

[Arky217]

Don't know about how this might affect tractors, but reading this has prompted me to tell a little story.

About 35 years ago when I was much younger and much more foolish (not that I still don't do some foolish things), I moved my family from the East coast to Alaska in a camper built on the bed of a 2 ton truck.

Somewhere in Canada, I had a blowout on one of the rear duals. I removed the wheel with the blown tire and, not having a spare, I wondered which way I should mount the remaining good wheel, inboard or outboard.

I chose outboard, thinking that I would have more stability; BIG MISTAKE !

In less that 500 miles, with all the weight counterlevered on the much smaller outer bearing, the bearing failed to such a degree that it 'welded' onto the axle in such a way that the only way I could get the axle out was to hacksaw it into through the differential cover opening.

Had I put the wheel inboard, I 'think' it would have at least lasted quite a bit longer. (The inboard bearing was at least twice the size of the outboard bearing)

The end of the story:

We were stranded for 10 days on the side of the road while I hitchhiked over 100 miles to a city, got an axle from a junkyard, a new bearing, and hitchhiked back and made the repair.

 

[D7E]

It wont hurt . I used to drive tractors that were spaced out to 100 inches for specialty crops and it was never a problem .

 

[repete]

I learned the expensive way to NOT turn them around. I replaced bearings numerous times and the entire outside casting twice ($400 each).

Once I put them in the "inward" setting I quit putting parts into the front end.

I use this machine a lot. I have a little over 5000 hours on it so obviously it has been around the block and back again.

My 2 cents..

 

[D7E]

What do they measure anyway . They don't look that bad to me , A lot farm tractors spend their whole lives on 72 inches ...Come to think of it i've changed a few JD 30 series bearings but they were in narrow on 60 inch any way .

 

[Skyco]

It stands to reason placing the wheels farther out will stress the bearings more.
More load=less life.
Now will that matter? It depends on how the whole system is engineered. If it means the bearings fail in 20 years instead of 30, it may not matter to you if you keep the tractor 19 years, if it means they fail in 2 years it may.. Really no way to know how much "extra" Kubota built in....

 

[Builder]

I'm thinking how much the loader is used for heavy work may wear them out faster than if I just did crop work. Since I use mine more for construction and FEL work, I wonder if I should turn them in. I like them out wide.

 

[EE_Bota]

It is harder on the bearings, but probably not so bad as to worry about it unless you do heavy loader work on rough ground, at a speed other than very slow. But, doing my usual though experiments (make it much wider, much narrower, much heavier, much lighter, much faster, much slower) I come to the following conclusion:

Unless you can make the front very very wide, and be assured the axle won't simply break, due the to pivot point, a wide front axle will not add appreciably to stability. It will give the perception of increased stability, but it will not help much against a roll over.

The rear axle is key, and wider there is definitely a help, but even so, ballast is still the key.

 

[magicheater]

Turning the rims around does lengthen the lever that applies the stress. I did it for a brief time on my B7800 until I managed to find rims that would accommodate the wider tires I wanted. I do lots of loader work and prefer the wider tires for better flotation. I have had a set of 12" wide tires on my L4350
for 10 years now with no apparent front end problems. I had custom rims made that centered the tire on the hub and with the centerline of the rears as close as I could get for both. For me it is all about flotation:thumbsup: and I guess the perceived stability enhancement. But thinking about it, they did outlaw three wheelers for a reason. You don't see many loaders on a tractor with a tricycle front end either.