New tires, or new tractor?

[beardley]

Fine folks of TBN, I have been debating a few options, so I'm looking for some opinions. I currently have a 2012 NH Boomer 30 shuttle shift, Loaded R1s, FEL, 5' brush hog, tiller, box blade, pallet forks, and a 6' rear mount blower. I used this tractor extensively while I built my house, and its size was invaluable for moving timbers, and grading the new lawn. I'm at a point now though, that it actually causes me a fair amount of trouble ever year, because I spend 1/2 of the summer fixing the ruts in the lawn. I bought it w/ ag tires, because at the time I did a lot of firewood work, so the extra traction in the woods was a big help pulling logs. I've been buying firewood as of late, and its so cheap around here that it just doesn't make sense to still cut all of my own. So my main use cases are:

-Brush hogging less than 1 acre, plus roughly 1 mile of trails.
-Moving Firewood from the shed to the house
-snowblowing in the winter
-occasional gravel driveway work
-garden plot work with the tiller and the bucket

I have about 2 months I can drive the thing on the lawn without making a mess, and the rest of the time, I'm just creating work for myself in the spring, so the question is, should I look at some R4s w/o loading the rears, or should I be looking at a smaller unit. Say a B or BX? I hate to try and rebuild by implement supply at this point, so I would love to be able to stick to the 5' toys, even if I need to reduce my ground speed with the brush hog. I know a BX or a 1 series wouldn't handle the 5', but I'm just not sure where I should be heading here. . .

 

[rademamj1]

Just my thoughts, but some R3 Turf tires probably would do exactly what you need. Make wide turns, try not to tear the grass. Avoid the grass after a rainstorm. You will be just fine. Don't load the tires. In fact running at 5psi under recommended inflation, will never leave ruts on any lawn. Also, turf tires also function very good during plowing and snowblowing operations. Messicks has a utube video on how successful turf tires can be in the wintertime.

I have R4 industrial tires on my tractor. Good for loader work. Then we did a 1400 feet of gravel road, and the gravel delivery guy also helped with gravel spreading. His tractor used R3 turf tires....because he also does sod delivery and laying down the sod, using that same tractor and loader. He must not leave any ruts. R3 tires did great in the gravel.

Even a BX can tear up the grass and leave ruts on the lawn, if your not careful. It is certainly a lighter tractor, but smaller tires go with it, so the lbs/sq-inch is no different than your NH.

 

[Redlands Okie]

Change the tires and leave out the extra weight from filling them. Leave it in 2 wheel drive when possible can also help. As already pointed out smaller tires on smaller tractor may not gain much.

 

[beardley]

Thanks for the quick responses. I assume the Turfs would require a different rim size as well right? The R1s are pretty narrow. I could always grab a set of chains as well for the turfs if traction in the woods or my few low spots become problematic.

 

[ericm979]

None of the uses you list mention the lawn. When do you drive it on the lawn? If you're mowing the lawn with it, I'd suggest a riding lawn mower of some kind for the lawn. It'll cost less than new wheels and tires for the tractor, and mow better.

Brush hogging a mile of trails seems like it'd be a lot of work with a sub compact tractor, and I'm guessing that a 6' snow blower is a good thing to have in NY.

 

[rademamj1]

Yes. Going from R1(narrow) to either R3/R4 does require new rims. They can be found on eBay or ordered from your dealer, or some other source. I am thinking $1200 to $1400 for all four tires, rims included.
To be honest, only 8% of compact tractors sold are ordered with the R1 Ag tires. They are not as popular due to serious ruts and tearing of the ground. Never heard of R3/R4 tire owners complain about traction issues.

 

[beardley]

None of the uses you list mention the lawn. When do you drive it on the lawn? If you're mowing the lawn with it, I'd suggest a riding lawn mower of some kind for the lawn. It'll cost less than new wheels and tires for the tractor, and mow better.

Brush hogging a mile of trails seems like it'd be a lot of work with a sub compact tractor, and I'm guessing that a 6' snow blower is a good thing to have in NY.

I'm not currently mowing the lawn with the tractor, I have a typical rider for that job. The damage is coming from just general movement around the yard, moving firewood, transporting mulch, etc.

The snowblower is a must around here. We typically see an average of 150" of snow per year, and my drive way is roughly 75 yards with a slope.

 

[beardley]

Yes. Going from R1(narrow) to either R3/R4 does require new rims. They can be found on eBay or ordered from your dealer, or some other source. I am thinking $1200 to $1400 for all four tires, rims included.
To be honest, only 8% of compact tractors sold are ordered with the R1 Ag tires. They are not as popular due to serious ruts and tearing of the ground. Never heard of R3/R4 tire owners complain about traction issues.

I'll have to swing into my dealer, and see what the cost would be. If we're talking less than $2000, then there is zero reason for me to consider a smaller unit, and the added cost associated with the upgrade. Its been a good tractor, I've only had 1 issue with the loader control valve in 8 years.

 

[rademamj1]

I found the video.
Messicks found that in snow Conditions, R3 Turf and R4 Industrial tires perform identical. Who would ever have thought. Very unexpected.

Tested | Turf vs R4 snow traction - YouTube

 

[Jstpssng]

You often can find decent used tires mounted on rims at dealers. I don't know why, perhaps because you aren't the only person who decides that he wants a different platform?

 

[wolc123]

My suggestion would be to keep your R1's, and get a second set of rims with turfs. That way, you won't need to compromise and you will have the best tire for any situation. Take off the turfs and put on the R1's for winter and for those two or three months of summer when the lawn can handle them. Use the turfs when you need them to avoid lawn damage. R4's are really only good for industrial applications for which they were designed. They damage soft lawns almost as bad as R1's, and provide traction no better than turfs in soft ground or snow. A 2wd tractor with R1's will develop about the same traction force on soft ground as an equal weight 4wd tractor with R4's. Turf tires with chains are way better for winter traction, or soft ground traction than R4's, so if you need to have just one set of tires, I would go with turfs.

 

[LouNY]

You don't say what size tire your existing ones are.
There may well be some alternative tread patterns that will work on your existing rims.
In the attached link for 14.4-24 if you scroll most of the way down the page there are 3 different tires that may be of interest.
12.4-24 and 32/85R24 Farm and Tractor Tires

 

[beardley]

You don't say what size tire your existing ones are.
There may well be some alternative tread patterns that will work on your existing rims.
In the attached link for 14.4-24 if you scroll most of the way down the page there are 3 different tires that may be of interest.
12.4-24 and 32/85R24 Farm and Tractor Tires

The rears are 7-14, and a quick google doesn't show me many options. I may go the 2 set route, although trying to move a set of loaded rear tires doesn't sound like a fun afternoon.

 

[Tinhack]

When I bought front and rear tires for the 3910, they came with tubes and mounted on new rims. The fronts were shipped to my door. I met the delivery truck down front to pick up my rears. I backed my tuck up to the back of his trailer and we rolled them into my truck. (A bit of a drop but we didn't break my back glass.) The rears are 13.9x28. The price difference for tires alone was not that much more than the complete set. This allowed me to keep one of the better rears as a spare. The old fronts weren't worth keeping--They were that bad. Bent rims and leaky tubes. If you buy your tires mounted, you can switch them when needed for a season. Or buy a lawn mower.

 

[shooterdon]

I ordered oversize turfs on my LS 4140 with cab...tires are loaded. I have no issues with tearing up my lawn and they work well in snow. My dealer talked me into them....good dealer.

I would never change wheels as someone suggested. I take my turfs into the woods and try to be careful. So far so good.