Now That R14 Tires Have Been Out For A While

[clarksvilleal]

...

About the tires? Do those R14s mash the grass down in front of a finishing mower worse than R1s? R1s have minimal contact surface area to the ground and don't mash things down as bad as R4s did. I expect it's the same with R14s. I like running a mower with R1s, you can't tell where the tractor wheels even ran.

So here is my experience with the R14 tires and grass wear (not exactly what workinonit was referring to, but I'll get to that evenutally below) after a couple of weeks with the tractor:

So far, after mowing the grass several times, never when soggy wet, I haven't seen any signs of unusual grass wear caused by the mowing itself.

However - and this is a BIG however - just yesterday I noticed a pair of very visible wear strips in the grass leading up to and beyond a gate in the deer fence that surrounds my fruit and vegetable crops. Previously, with the B2910 and its big turf tires, ruts did develop over a number of years for just perhaps a few feet on either side of the gate. Now, however, after less that 3 weeks, it appears that I am killing the grass over a much longer run leading - maybe 20 feet or so - leading up to the gate, and a similar length run on the other side of the gate, just by driving over that same path a few times a week.

This was disappointing. I do have another gate on the back side of the fenced-in area a couple of hundred feet from the garage where I store the tractor that I can use as an alternative entry point. I may start doing that to keep the side yard near the garage from looking unsightly, as it is starting to do. That will be a minor nuisance, but short of paving the path from the garage to the gate I don't see any other way to avoid killng the grass with the R14s, as it sure looks like is happening.

As for mashing the grass down in front of the finishing mower -- in my case a 72" Kubota belly motor -- that does not seem to be a big problem, at least no more so than the turf tires on the old B2910. I'm not sure if the R14s are much better in that regards, but they definitely are no worse.

 

[Creamer]

So the R14s are not a softer flotation type tire? They are more stiff like an R4?

 

[Creamer]

Same goes for New Holland and Kubota. I find that my Deere dearler staff is knowledgable about most things they encounter periodically. What they lack on is being educated on the new things Deere offers. I suppose that happens at a primarily Ag location.

About the tires? Do those R14s mash the grass down in front of a finishing mower worse than R1s? R1s have minimal contact surface area to the ground and don't mash things down as bad as R4s did. I expect it's the same with R14s. I like running a mower with R1s, you can't tell where the tractor wheels even ran.

Turf tires, due to more ground contact area, do not press the grass down like an R1 or R4. I am surprised you use R1s as they have the highest ground contact pressure of any of these style of tires,

 

[IndyJay]

So the R14s are not a softer flotation type tire? They are more stiff like an R4?

As I understand it they use the same carcass as the R4. Stiff side wall.

 

[workinonit]

Turf tires, due to more ground contact area, do not press the grass down like an R1 or R4. I am surprised you use R1s as they have the highest ground contact pressure of any of these style of tires,

That's counter intuitive. If you are mashing with more area regardless of the pressure you are mashing more grass down. I get that what I am mashing I'm doing with more force but my surface area is much less than the other tires. I use R1s because I do many other things besides cut grass but even with that I probably would still use them. I have zero issues with mashed grass when I mow. No one around here uses turf tires. I have someone that's going to give me a new set but I won't put them on. They can't possibly do any better than what I'm using.

 

[Creamer]

That's counter intuitive. If you are mashing with more area regardless of the pressure you are mashing more grass down. I get that what I am mashing I'm doing with more force but my surface area is much less than the other tires. I use R1s because I do many other things besides cut grass but even with that I probably would still use them. I have zero issues with mashed grass when I mow. No one around here uses turf tires. I have someone that's going to give me a new set but I won't put them on. They can't possibly do any better than what I'm using.

You are confusing force with pressure. With R1s the force is concentrated in the area of the lugs only and therefore the pressure on that grass is much higher than if turf tires would be used to spread out the force. The less pressure on the grass the quicker it snaps back. This is why most lawnmowers use turf tires. Personally I use AT101s because I find there is too much slippage with turf tires on newly cut grass which releases a little moisture. The pressure on the turf tires is not enough to get cleats to bite through a nice thick grass cover.

 

[lman]

You are confusing force with pressure. With R1s the force is concentrated in the area of the lugs only and therefore the pressure on that grass is much higher than if turf tires would be used to spread out the force. The less pressure on the grass the quicker it snaps back. This is why most lawnmowers use turf tires. Personally I use AT101s because I find there is too much slippage with turf tires on newly cut grass which releases a little moisture. The pressure on the turf tires is not enough to get cleats to bite through a nice thick grass cover.

Which tractor do you have the AT101's on?

 

[workinonit]

You are confusing force with pressure. With R1s the force is concentrated in the area of the lugs only and therefore the pressure on that grass is much higher than if turf tires would be used to spread out the force. The less pressure on the grass the quicker it snaps back. This is why most lawnmowers use turf tires. Personally I use AT101s because I find there is too much slippage with turf tires on newly cut grass which releases a little moisture. The pressure on the turf tires is not enough to get cleats to bite through a nice thick grass cover.

Actually, I'm not confusing anything. I understand the division of force, I'm simply bringing surface area into the discussion, which generally is never mentioned. I think the question of how much tire treads affect grass is a function of the type of grass. I cut bahaia and cetipede whci I think is affected less by tractor tires than other grasses.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

I just want to put my own two cents in on this. I have found that tractor tires is actually a very deep subject and there are many factors that one has to take into account before making their final selection. It's rarely an easy choice given all the mixed terrain and use types most people are faced with.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I bought a new MX 5400 this spring with R-4's. My first go around with them when everything else I ever had was AG tires. I REALLY LIKE THEM... tractor seems so much more stable and less bouncy.