Tires Rear Wheel Spacing

[blin]

Are there any drawbacks to leaving your rear wheels in the wide space set up, rather than the standard narrow?
I have a L4330 4WD with R4 tires.
My place is about 60% even grade, and 40% medium to steep grade.

 

[MHarryE]

Coverage by a tiller, rear blade. Not fitting in your garage/machine shed. Also bucket width if you are trying to dig a trench to bury a dead horse. General operation should be no problems other than the clearance ones like I mentioned. Bearings should all be sized for the widest width plus factor of safety.

 

[FTG-05]

I have the same tractor and live on the top of a hill. When I had the local Kubota dealer widen it's stance to the widest, I asked the service manger if there were any downsides. The one he mentioned was that the rears would not follow the front tires exactly.

I haven't had any operational problems like bush-hogging or using the box blade. But I gotta admit: I haven't had to bury any horses yet!

It's made the tractor a lot more stable since I did it, so no complaints from me.

Good luck!

 

[wmonroe]

My place has some steep hills so when I bought the Kubota I had the dealer put the wheels at the max width, no issues in almost 400 hours. For a while I was considering some wheel spacers but that would put me over 6' wide and my bucket and majority of attachments are 6'. The ford 961 has power adjust wheels and is set at max width, about 7' 6", it is very stable on the hills even being a narrow front end.

 

[jimainiac]

When I bought my L3830 with Loaded R4's it seemed so much more stable than the previous smaller tractor with R1's, I was satisfied with it. When I bought a set of heavy duty studded ice chains I realized there wasn't enough room behind the wheels to the fenders. I had to swap the wheels side - for - side to get the maximum width, which was a good trick considering their weight. It gave me plenty of clearance for the chains, and increased the stability. We have a lot of hills, so I wouldn't think of ever changing them back. It put the tires closer to the edge of it's trailer, but it still fits on. And I used the backhoe to dig the hole to bury my horse.

 

[blin]

Anyone have any pictures of the back of their Kubota L series tractor with the wheels wide spaced?

 

[TripleR]

My L5030:

 

[blin]

Thanks for the pic TripleR. Are these Wheels wide spaced? They look close to the inside frame. I'm trying to see if mine are wide spaced, but they look about the same as yours. If they are spaced, how much additonal width did you get?

 

[FTG-05]

I had mine spaced out as far as they would go by the local dealer.

Before:

After:

 

[blin]

I can really see it on yours FTH-05. I'm using the outside edge of the tail lights as a guide, and the center of your tires are further out by maybe 5". Mine, although I don't have a good pic of it right now looks about centered with the outside edge of the light. That's good news for me.

 

[dragoneggs]

RRR and FTG, those are some mean rear views!

 

[TripleR]

Thanks for the pic TripleR. Are these Wheels wide spaced? They look close to the inside frame. I'm trying to see if mine are wide spaced, but they look about the same as yours. If they are spaced, how much additonal width did you get?

I really don't know the difference as I had the dealer set them to maximum width prior to delivery and did the same with the L5740 as we have a lot of hills.

by dragoneggs: RRR and FTG, those are some mean rear views!:

And everyone told me R4s wouldn't work in mud. Probably can't tell, but that's a 7' blade.

 

[Citydude]

My L3400 with aftermarket 4" spacers. I needed the spacers and the rear tires loaded because of the hilly terrain I mow.

 

[blin]

I really don't know the difference as I had the dealer set them to maximum width prior to delivery and did the same with the L5740 as we have a lot of hills.

And everyone told me R4s wouldn't work in mud. Probably can't tell, but that's a 7' blade.

Aren't there just two STOCK options on the wheel spacings? On is narrow and the other you separate the rim from the wheel and bolt it to the other side of the tractor. Because there is an off set to the bolt location on the rim, they will stick out farther from the body frame.

 

[blin]

My L3400 with aftermarket 4" spacers. I needed the spacers and the rear tires loaded because of the hilly terrain I mow.

Citydude,
That's some serious wheel width!
Where did you go for the spacers? Any issues with axel stress?

 

[TripleR]

Aren't there just two STOCK options on the wheel spacings? On is narrow and the other you separate the rim from the wheel and bolt it to the other side of the tractor. Because there is an off set to the bolt location on the rim, they will stick out farther from the body frame.

Let me see if I can explain it. You can unbolt the outer rim from the center dish and flip it for narrower or wider, you can bolt the dish to one side or the other of the rims, so you have several combinations, mine on the L5030 and now 5740 were/are set as wide as you can go, but we have one more adjustment available on our M8540 as set to maximum width, it won't fit in some places or work well with the box scraper. Essentially you can flip the dish, flip the rim and bolt to the inside or outside bolt holes.

The manual on the L30 is not too good.

 

[FTG-05]

Aren't there just two STOCK options on the wheel spacings? On is narrow and the other you separate the rim from the wheel and bolt it to the other side of the tractor. Because there is an off set to the bolt location on the rim, they will stick out farther from the body frame.

According to the owner's manual for the L4330, page 62, there are three different spacings for the rear wheels/tires: 52.8 in., 54.3, and 58.7 in. I have mine on the 58.7 version.

You can reverse the rim and then place it either inside or outside.

 

[blin]

According to the owner's manual for the L4330, page 62, there are three different spacings for the rear wheels/tires: 52.8 in., 54.3, and 58.7 in. I have mine on the 58.7 version.

You can reverse the rim and then place it either inside or outside.

When you say reverse the rim and then place it either inside our outside, are you refering to placing it back on the same wheel or the wheel on the opposite side of the tractor. If it's the same wheel, wouldnt that change the direction of the tread?

 

[FTG-05]

Look at page 62 of the OM, I was trying to verbalize what it was showing. When I had mine spaced out, they had to change sides to keep the tread in the correct direction. My rear tires are marked for "traction" and something else. The local Kubota dealer knew what to do and did it.

 

[blin]

Thanks for the input. Always a wealth of information, and greatly appreciated.
Has anyone swapped their own? Was it a Pain in the ***? Mine are filled 3/4 with water and Methanol.
Anyone else have any photos showing the tires set wide?