JD wheels on a Mahindra

Spentit · Mar 24, 2018

I have a 2565 Mahindra with R1 tires. Looking for R4 tires so as to be a bit easier on my lawn. Found a set of factory wheels with mounted tires off of a JD 4044R 6 lug front, 8 lug rear. I understand the matched gear ratio on 4x4's have to have certain front to rear ratio's. My question is are compact/utility tractor wheels created equal across brands. 6 lug fit a 6 lug, 8 lug fit a 8 lug? I want to swap these JD 4044R R4 10-16.5 front, 16.9x24 rear. Onto my Mahindra 2565. If it had R4's they would be 10.6/80x18 front, 18.4x24 rear. I researched the diameters on all the tires and the JD's are a bit shorter. Does any one have experience doing this? The JD tires are a bit shorter but they came off the same tractor so I am hoping for an equal rolling ratio. If that ratio matches the Mahindra is the $5000. question, or what ever it cost to replace the gears that might get cooked. But at this point I am curious about wheel swapping. Any help would be appreciated.

dieselcrawler · Mar 24, 2018

There are 2 different issues here, as you seem to understand.

The bolt pattern is easy enough to measure. The other factor is the diameter of the center hole, as many hubs have a center protrusion that must fit inside that hole. If the lug nuts/bolts have tapered seats where they clamp the rim to the hub, that is known as 'lug-centric', as the lugs center the rim on the hub, vs others (Ford superduty trucks factory wheels) use 'hub-centric', where the protrusion of the hub OD matches the rim center hole ID and the lug nuts are flat faced and only provide clamping force, not centering influence.

Careful measuring of bolt holes and center holes is the only sure way to figure out if they will fit properly.

As to the front to rear ratio issue, that may take some checking. Perhaps going so far as mounting the wheels, jacking up the tractor, and rolling all 4 tires simultaneously to see if the fronts 'over-run' the rears by 3-5%.