Getting clay mud off tires easily

[TractorTherapy]

Ok. Hmm. Sounds like this is a problem everyone has...without any great solutions. I can't do the public road deal. At my place specifically, my shop is surrounded by road base/pea gravel. If I drive over that pea gravel, my tires turn into giant sprinkled donuts. If I pressure wash, there's enough mud washed off to start a small garden...which is exactly what happens in the spring. I'm not talking about a small amount of dirt...inches all the way around the tires/tracks, adds up, and is now mixed into the pea gravel on top of the road base and I've got weeds.
Gonna have to noodle on this some more. I've sketched some mechanical type scrapers out in my brain, but I worry with my ability to break stuff with the tractor that I'd tear up a tire. Something that you drive over before reaching the shop proper would be better, maybe some long "tracks" with angle iron in an inverted V...like a trailer ramp, but more closely spaced...dunno if it would work.

 

[Gator6x4]

My simply solution to not get mud on tractor tires is to stay off the tractor when it is muddy. When you drive a heavy tractor over ground that will turn to mud and stick to your tires, your leave behind earth that is like concrete. So what did you accomplish except make extra work for yourself and shorten the life of equipment.

 

[lman]

No mud here today, 18 deg. Time to get the tractor out.

 

[Smokeydog]

Advantage of having a long gravel driveway on a hillside cleans most of the mud off. Can drive in pasture to sling mud off the tires. Grass and stubble help scrub. Also drive in shallow creek with solid rock bottom. Dry falls off in tractor shed concrete floor and use aluminum scoop to shove out the door.

 

[TractorTherapy]

Gator6x4, I'm not out 4-wheeling. Sheez, I getting work done in tough conditions. Mud happens. I'm trying to find a solution.

 

[lman]

Gator6x4, I'm not out 4-wheeling. Sheez, I getting work done in tough conditions. Mud happens. I'm trying to find a solution.

What are you working on? Corn and soybeans are done around here, along with hay baling.

 

[TractorTherapy]

Nothing so noble. Demo, Site Prep, Forestry mulching, land clearing, food plots. At my place, I have a hay field, native wildflower field, and a small hobby plot for pumpkins, squash, corn, beans, sunflowers.

 

[lman]

Nothing so noble. Demo, Site Prep, Forestry mulching, land clearing, food plots. At my place, I have a hay field, native wildflower field, and a small hobby plot for pumpkins, squash, corn, beans, sunflowers.

Sounds like fun, when it's dry.

 

[oldnslo]

Tractor,
Maybe not an option but can you just keep the vehicle in the mud vs driving around your yard? I don’t believe there is a good solution to getting the mud off consistently and reliably with out some serious elbow grease being involved. I.e. machine dedicated to mud duty and another kept on hard ground.

 

[DaBear3428]

the solution on commercial construction sites is a long flat mound of fist size and larger rocks, they drive over them and it knocks off the mud as it fills with mud they hose it down or bring in more rock to make it higher.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

 

[newbury]

For those of you with the pressure washer solution - what is about the minimum pressure washer specs you might recommend for tires about the size of 14.9-28?
Do you think a little 2,000 psi/2GPM would suffice for sticky clay?
I realize that more pressure and volume would do it faster, but I'm not cleaning concrete.

 

[4570Man]

My simply solution to not get mud on tractor tires is to stay off the tractor when it is muddy. When you drive a heavy tractor over ground that will turn to mud and stick to your tires, your leave behind earth that is like concrete. So what did you accomplish except make extra work for yourself and shorten the life of equipment.

I guess I’ll just sell my skid steer and tell my construction guys they’ll have to carry the building materials by hand until summer.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

My tractors I store in a shed with #57 gravel. I don't care if mud gets on tires or gravel and horses poop in there anyway. I have a nice new asphalt driveway also but by the time I drive around, through a pasture and down the road wide open the driveway stays clean.
Lots of time they'll be mud on our paved road but after rain it's washed off.

 

[bdhsfz6]

For those of you with the pressure washer solution - what is about the minimum pressure washer specs you might recommend for tires about the size of 14.9-28?
Do you think a little 2,000 psi/2GPM would suffice for sticky clay?
I realize that more pressure and volume would do it faster, but I'm not cleaning concrete.

A 2000 psi washer would work but it would take awhile to clean a tire that size. Using a Rotox nozzle would help.

I use a 3500 psi model without a Rotox and it works ok on my 12.4-24 tires.

 

[bigtiller]

Try a turbo nozzle, it pulsates and rotates a cone shape of water droplets to cut through the hard to clean surfaces.

https://www.amazon.com/Karcher-Nozzle-Electric-Pressure-Washers/dp/B06XDPMZNZ/ref=asc_df_B06XDPMZNZ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198123788296&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16152101898289312804&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9017874&hvtargid=pla-351939042941&psc=1

 

[MH8675309]

I drive down our road (gravel) in transport gear. But you gotta watch out as sometimes those chunks will come flying right at you

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

What is a solution for sticky, clay-mud build-up on tractor tires and skid steer tracks when I get back at the shop? From Oct-Mar it doesn't take much for the sticky clay to create a 1-2" layer all the way around the tires/tracks.
Short of pressure washing before going inside, is there a labor-saving way to get the bulk of that mud off before going indoors or near the shop.
Is there some type of "cattle-guard" that you could drive over that would get it off?
How about some sort of tire-scraping wheel or track attachment?
Maybe something you can put on the tire as a non-stick treatment?
Something else?
Thanks, Scott

Old, used tooth brush. Maybe a little soap if you have it.

 

[lman]

Old, used tooth brush. Maybe a little soap if you have it.

I heard there were a lot of guys looking for work. Give the new guy the toothbrush.

 

[Gator6x4]

I heard there were a lot of guys looking for work. Give the new guy the toothbrush.

Better first find out if he charges by the hour or tire. If by the hour or tire, cleaning with a toothbrush is going to take a long-long-long time.