Best Tire for Boggy Ground

[glennmac]

What tire is best for boggy ground? By that I mean ground that can vary from moist soil (in dry times) to moist/muddy (in average times) to covered with a few inches of water (in wetter times).

I am not concerned in the question about whether the tire leaves tracks or imprints. The concern is getting through the boggy ground without bogging down; or, if you do bog down, driving out without getting completely buried.

My experience with boggy ground is limited to my R4's, and I'm not too pleased with their performance. But I dont really know if turfs or ags would be any better or worse.

As I try to logically think through the different tire types in these conditions, I get brainlock from trying to balance the various factors: floatation (wider tires) vs. tread pattern vs. pounds per square inch of tractor weight on the tire (same as floatation?) vs. mud shedding ability vs. traction (whatever that means in a bog) vs. other things I'm not even thinking of.

Independent of the tire type question, would loaded rear tires help or worsen the bog down potential?

Any logical thoughts or, better yet, actual experience would be welcome.

 

[looch]

Is the boggy ground covered with grass? I'm only guessing here, but maybe someone can either validate this or shoot me down. I think a balance between not sinking but still having traction is the ultimate situation. Snowmobiles that are meant for off-trail use have very long tracks with pronounced ribs that stick out every 4-6" or so. Same for sport-type ATVs that do a lot of sand dune riding. Applying this same logic, I would say that a set of turfs would probably give you the surface area you need. Not very "bitey" though. Adding a set of chains would act like the ribs on the snowmobile tracks. I ask about the grass because the chains would have something to bite into. I don't think this set-up would work very well in plain old mud.

Paul

 

[glennmac]

Good clarification. Yes, there would be grass or other forms of meadowy vegetation. Left uncut, the really wet areas grow cattails, the semi-wet areas grow phragmites (reeds) and the least wet grows grass. If I keep cutting, the grassy stuff eventually seems to take over. Right now I've been doing a lot of loader work in some areas so there is a lot of plain mud. But the veggies will definitely grow back fast. In some areas it is so overgrown I cant tell that I'm going into a depression or swale where there is mud under standing water. (The high vegetation conceals it.) That's when I've gotten into the most trouble.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I don't know anything more aggressive or better for water than ag tires ...

Well maybe a boat.../w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[glennmac]

John,

That's what I've usually assumed, but a seemingly knowledgeable dealer was suggesting to me earlier today that a high floatation tire might tend to keep you out of the submerged situation in the first place. He has been selling JDs for 25 years and says he rarely recommends ags on compact tractors, but only for heavy implement pulling applications. The beat goes on.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>...He has been selling JDs for 25 years ...</font color=blue>

Maybe he should start using the product he sells... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Glenn, if you got stuck up in our neck of the woods in sticky muck, surprise swampy water, mud mud mud, etc... with turf or industrial tires mounted ...

after about 10 minutes of laughing our back sides off, we'd probably pull away leaving you stranded to teach you a lesson...

But, we'd come back with our Ag's mounted and pull ya out.../w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

Flotation type tires (turf tires?) will keep you from sinking in so deep, but you won't have any traction. Narrow ag type tires will sink deeper, but dig their way through. Have you ever been to one of the automobile mud bog contests? The only one I've attended in person was one where they attached a cable to the back end of each car, pickup, jeep, etc. before they took off through the mud pit to see who could go the farthest before giving up, then they winched them out backwards. And the only two vehicles to make it all the way through were pickup trucks outfitted with what looked like extra narrow, but tall, tractor ag tires.

Bird

 

[rf33]

Having run swamp buggies, which are basically a truck frame with two transmissions (for added gear reduction) and tall (about 36") tires, in the nastiest conditions in the Florida Everglades, I would have to agree that for running in wet, boggy conditions the R1 will beat the R4 or the Turfs hands down. We tried turf tires with chains, but they would eventually just plug up with mud and spin. The ags will really tear up the grass, but if your concern is getting through the muddy stuff, only the ags will do. You quickly learn this when getting really stuck means that you might have to walk through about 15 miles of swamp to get to the nearest civilization.../w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

rf33

/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[gordon]

Your best bet a radial ag tire. Or for the best of both worlds the Michlin xm 27 http://www.michelin-us.com/us/eng/tire/ag/pages/html/xm27utl.htm

The xm 27 has the floatation of an r4 with the tread design of a r1. NICE /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Gordon

 

[mlmartin]

I'll weigh in with my opinion.

If all you want to do is get across the wet areas, I'd go with high floatation turf tires. If you are using implements in the wet areas, then ag tires may be the way to go. Be careful, though. Ag tread and spinning wheels is an excellent way to bury your tractor to the frame.

I have high floatation tires on my JD 870. While I've lost traction in deep mud, I haven't had to be pulled out. Then again, the mud I've dealt with was surface mud, not bog.

Matthew