3400 Front Tires

[valverde]

I have a 1974 Ford 3400 that has a New Holland 545D front loader on it and its very heavy. I am looking for suggestions for front tires. I am using it in a very rocky piece of property in the Texas hill country and it is EATING tires.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Wes

 

[Ultradog MN]

Do a google search for used airplane tires. There is a place - maybe in Kansas that sells them. Folks in thorn country that eats up tires swear by them as they are 10 or 12 ply.

 

[Down South]

http://www.noflats dot com/tractorfronts.htm

Gensco

 

[valverde]

Actually I have a set of them already but they are losing rubber everytime I use the loader. They are "Gensco" in Houston, the same as noflats.com. The main problem is they are too big, they rub the lower frame of the loader and the front spindle under load. I am going to try and get a smaller size tire, maybe that will help, unfortunately not many options on a 16" rim.

H34x10x16 16ply tire
H30x09x16 16ply tire is what I am going to try.

Thanks for the feedback.:thumbsup:

 

[Down South]

I was looking at them myself and wondering about the offset.

Perhaps a 15" 30x8.8x15 or a shorter mower tire? 27x7.75x15?

You ar right not many smaller choices

DS

 

[shouk]

Go to a junk yard and get a set of used truck tires, spares usually work well, usually unused tread. 16" wheels were a standard in the 8 lug community for many decades. Junk yards should be littered with them and that is what i have used in the past. Outside diameter will range usually from 28" to 32" for standard tires.

 

[valverde]

I ended up back at Gensco and picked up two new tires: 32x8x16

They are shorter so they wont rub the loader and they are narrower so they wont rub the spindle, plus they are 14 ply rated for 13000 lbs.

I have an old truck tire for a spare if needed 235x85x16

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Down South]

valverde I didn't see that size what section is it in?
Sounds like a perfect solution.
And a 235/85/16 is tubeless and a radial.


shouk I think you are mixing metaphors.
Got to remember most tractor wheels are tube type and 4.5 or 5.5 wide except for the Biggies. 16x6 wide 6x6 rim is rare, i have found 2 not sure of the offset.

You have to hunt hard and or pay big to find tube type tires these days,
A 7.50x16 8 or 10 ply doesn't fit well on a 4.5 wide rim and few that would mount it.

In the old days this was much easier, more tire size choices and the 5.5 rim was much cheaper than 80-100.00.

I have a tractor with mismatched 7.00x16 6 ply on 5.5 rim and fit perfectly. And more than 30 years old.

Its not so easy for a cheap S O B like me these days

DS

 

[shouk]

Thats just what I do, some people like to spend more money some less but for around 10 bucks I put used 3/4 ton truck tires (forget the size but they are modern tires and radial "omg") on my tractor fronts. I put them on tubeless. Also I have never had a problem putting a tube in a "tubeless" tire. They are rated just over 3000 lbs a piece which would be 6000 lbs front axle weight on a 2wd tractor, that 3400 w/ loader isnt going to pick up that much, and if it does I am sure it is exceeding other limits so why worry about tire limits, they will hold more than they are rated also. I dont understand why radial or bias matters for his use, I know the difference just dont see the reason to stay away from radial, because it doesnt matter for this discussion. I much prefer the truck tires, they are decently aggressive with excellent traction but still easy on the grass. Wheel width was not mentioned in the original post but it appeared that wider tires were not a problem due to the tires listed that Wes was looking at. One thing to remember have you ever seen a very rocky and hilly runway!!

 

[Soundguy]

Go to a junk yard and get a set of used truck tires, spares usually work well, usually unused tread. 16" wheels were a standard in the 8 lug community for many decades. Junk yards should be littered with them and that is what i have used in the past. Outside diameter will range usually from 28" to 32" for standard tires.

yep.. I'm running truck tires on my 850 with a loader.. handles them good.