Tires Bar Tires

Hootie · Mar 29, 2003

I have had my 2200 since June '02. It now has 198 hrs. on it. We built a house on five acres last year. I agonized over buying this tractor and now know that if I did not have it life would have been miserable. I now view a FEL as a PU truck, once you have one you don't know how yo would live w/o one. I have a woods 4' BB, first choice 4' tiller, & 60"MMM. Man it is hard to stay off this thing!! It has been a great get away for me since while you're doing work you gotta have your mind on what your doing. This machine has done everything I have asked. You just have to keep in mind that you have to do some things in "smaller bites" than you would with a larger machine.
Lastnight a friend pointed-out the new Gold 3110. I went nuts! Started researching and began to think trade up. You know........none of us wants more HP!!!!! So after thinking and looking 'round the net, the 2200 is still my baby! But, I have turf tires and do alot of spinning/slipping in this nasty clay we have around here. Love the turfs for mowing but often look down and there I am spinning away losing traction.
Buying a set of wheels and turf tires would be alot less $$ than a Gold 3130! Good justification, huh! The wife will accept this logic or I am a terrible salesman.............
Anyway, will bar tires really make that much difference?
Have a great day on your tractor!
Hootie

nitronut1 · Mar 29, 2003

Having just bought a set of bars to "augment" my stock turfs - I can personally tell you that the bars are fantastic for working in wet/muddy conditions. There's a night and day difference between the two. I am still glad I have the turfs though as I will not run the bars in the summer.

cpicton1 · Mar 29, 2003

I have been using my BX2200 since March of 2002. I bought it with the bar tires so I haven't used it with turfs. The previous rear wheel drive garden tractor I owned had turfs and a few times when I tried to drive through mud at the edge of a pond I mow the turfs balled up and I got stuck. The bar tires make a big difference in mud. Of course 4X4 helps too. I mow my lawn with them without damaging it as you might think they would. I do try to mow when the ground is dry . They get good traction in snow too. Chains on the rears do help on ice and wet heavy snow. If I was only going to mow the turfs would be great but for loader or grading work I think the bars are your best choice. I use them year round. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Anonymous Poster · Mar 29, 2003

My BX-2200 had turfs so when I traded up to the BX-22, I took delivery with turfs, too. Three weeks later I swaped them out for the bar tires and couldn't be happier. They make a HUGE difference for FEL work as well as moving snow. Based on a lot of commentary here, I'm not worried about mowing with them as the ground will be dry before I need to do that for the first time this season.

chrisjbell · Mar 29, 2003

<font color="blue"> Based on a lot of commentary here, I'm not worried about mowing with them as the ground will be dry before I need to do that for the first time this season. </font>

I've got ag tires on my B7300. I don't use it for finish mowing, but I try to keep it off my lawn (especially with the backhoe on it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif). The bars do mess up the lawn somewhat and they are also more prone to compact the soil since the weight is all on one or two bars at a time instead of distributed across a bunch of little bumps.

But they are great in pasture. I probably couldn't get my tractor up some of my hills in the wet, even with 4WD, if I had turfs on it.

Oh, but they are really not good on pavement. You get a bumpy ride, and pavement wears 'em out like nobody's business.

Anonymous Poster · Mar 30, 2003

Well, other than inside the garage...we don't have any "pavement" here! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I was actually surprised with how little the bar-turfs hurt my lawn two weeks ago when I was "aquiring" some cut up trees from a neighbor across the street. I had the hoe on to counterbalance the weight of the very large log sections in the FEL as I traversed from the road across the front lawn to where I needed to go. As long as I stayed out of an obvious wet area and varied my path, I got no damage to the lawn.

I vary my pattern each time I mow, too, so compaction should be less of an issue. But I'll risk it as my wife and I use the BX for non-mowing 80% of the time...mostly with the FEL.

cpicton1 · Mar 30, 2003

With the combination of the lighter weight of the BX tractor and wide flotation type design of the BX bar tires, I believe they do less damage to turf than most of the bar type tires on larger machines. Something like walking on deep snow with boots compared to snowshoes. They will do some damage if you drive around on a wet lawn but I don't like cutting my grass when it is wet any way. The BX bar tires are quite different from the ones on a B7300. The BX bars are not as deep or aggressive as the larger tractor bar tires but still get better traction than the BX turf tires. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

chrisjbell · Apr 1, 2003

<font color="blue"> still get better traction than the BX turf tires </font>

Yup, I'm with you on that one. Turf tires are great on the lawn, but spin like crazy when it gets wet or steep.

Anonymous Poster · Apr 1, 2003

I used to be stuck constantly in the boggy peat patch I call my yard with my two wheel drive tractor. I finally made up a set of chains about 10 years ago and they have not been off the tractor since. It was like adding turbocharging! With turfs on my 4WD BX I never slip a bit, but we have NO snow or ice around this part of the world... 65 degrees yesterday. Felt a lot like spring.