Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor

   / Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor #41  
Sorry but you are wrong!!!!!!!

Any chain is a good improvement over bare rubber of any kind.
However I have used most every style of tractor tire chain.
From 4 link spaced double ring chains to two link spaced alternating double ring and v bar reinforced, too two link spaced street and ice lugged chains, various dou grip or H patterned.

None of them will come even close to the studded Euro patterned tire chains;
the OFA's, the TRYGG's, the Aquiline Talon's.
The traction and ride quality are unmatched of these chains.
Wrong about what?
l said the same thing as you did.
Ladders are completely functionable and they are not the end all be all in tire chains.
Plus the chains you mention are expensive but no where near the price of the 10“ ring chains we placed on skidders.
A lot depends on what the op wants to spend but he doesn’t have to spend a lot to get better and servicible traction than he has now.
 
Last edited:
   / Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor #42  
I'm looking at a Mahindra 5145 and twice now I've been told I can't get R-4 tires with the 2 piece width adjustable wheels.
They can get R-1 Ag tires like that but not R-4s. I pointed out that the factory brochure shows the wheel/tire combo I want
but have been told they can't get them like that. Is the this the sign of a dealer not willing to go the extra mile or am I being unreasonable?
My property is very hilly and I need to get the wheels out as wide as possible. They told me I could turn the factory 1 piece wheels around and switch sides with them but there's no adjustment. I was also told I could use spacers but I don't want spacers.
Picture of brochure attached.

View attachment 782881
You’re right. The rims on some models are one-piece, and two on others, even with R4 industrial tires. The center wheel can be fished out or in and the rim itself has the bolt mounts for the wheel at an offset to center to create more adjustment for width. I hear you with the ruggedness of the r4 sidewalls, but they tend to “ball up” with mud and snow, whereas R1 don’t.
 
   / Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor #43  
Last summer I replaced my front R1s with 8 ply tires. The originals were 6 ply and there is a big difference in how much the tires handle max load in the bucket.
 
   / Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor #44  
Would R4 tires have better traction as compared to R1 tires in a wood lot type of working surface. I have on occasion dug trenches with the tires trying to pull a log in the woods. It seems to be a tractor weight-engine HP- tire type/ size type of problem.
The difference between R1 and R4 tires for my tractor is only a couple of inches. Would that really make a difference?

The tires I have are the second line of listed AG tires.
 

Attachments

  • 8C488A9E-060C-496C-8403-F7C7216B224C.jpeg
    8C488A9E-060C-496C-8403-F7C7216B224C.jpeg
    2.3 MB · Views: 72
   / Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor #45  
Would R4 tires have better traction as compared to R1 tires in a wood lot type of working surface. I have on occasion dug trenches with the tires trying to pull a log in the woods. It seems to be a tractor weight-engine HP- tire type/ size type of problem.
The difference between R1 and R4 tires for my tractor is only a couple of inches. Would that really make a difference?

The tires I have are the second line of listed AG tires.
I don't think so.
Where R4's seem to be advantageous is on hard packed ground or asphalt. They take a larger weighted load when filled and I have noticed more traction with R4's than ags in the above described circumstance.
In the woods where things can get soggy under leaf strewn forest floor, ags have the advantage traction wise for the same size tractor. Ags also have the advantage of creating more ground clearance where an inch or two can mean the difference of getting high centered on a ground obstruction or not.
As you so aptly point out, no discussion of tire efficacy is worth a darn without comparing things such as you mention of size and weight of tractor.
I have seen next size frame tractors with 14.9 or 17.9'x 24's industrials go through 8" of snow effortlessly when skidding where the compact 25-30hp size tractor struggles in the same circumstance with industrials as well.
 
   / Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor #46  
Last summer I replaced my front R1s with 8 ply tires. The originals were 6 ply and there is a big difference in how much the tires handle max load in the bucket.
Bingo. That’s what I have done, too. You need to match your front tire’s load capacity with what your front end needs are. I do a lot of loader work with heavy square bales and some logs or buckets of soil.
Pretty sure BKT and Trelleborg makes Ag tires with heavier load capacities.
 
   / Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor #47  
Whenever you say spilt rim, every old guy thinks of the old widowmaker split rims that no shop will touch these days.
Not 100% true. We still have one local shop here that will still do the widowmakers. It's the only one around that will do those. The other type of split rims that I have about half of the shops will do. They frown when they see them coming but will do them. It surprises me to see split rims (not widowmakers,) still in production today on brand new trucks.
 
   / Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor #48  
Not 100% true. We still have one local shop here that will still do the widowmakers. It's the only one around that will do those. The other type of split rims that I have about half of the shops will do. They frown when they see them coming but will do them. It surprises me to see split rims (not widowmakers,) still in production today on brand new trucks.
as a lad i worked in a gas station on the outskirts of houston TX and learned really fast from others experience with split rims. After dodging 1 that got away from another kid who had no business working on one. from then on I turn them over and point the ring down when airing them up. I still remember that ring flying by and rebounding off the wall.
 
   / Getting the wheel/tire combination I want on a new tractor #49  
I remember some tires that had a metal ring you had to pry off.
 
 
Top