R1 to R4 tires on a Kubota L4400?

[rScotty]

Sounds good. You'll know when you try it out. Wind-up in the drive train is real easy to tell because wind-up is what makes it hard to shift OUT of 4wd. Especially with a load in the bucket and in 4wd....

So if it takes force to move the lever to get out of 4wd then expensive parts are being stressed and stretched. Letting us know it is time to figure out another plan before something breaks.

rScotty

 

[LD1]

I have not seen an actual industrial lug tire (like skidloader tires) made for a 16" rim.

Personally I dont like your "possible" option. You are going SMALLER on the rear and LARGER on the front.

The internal gearing of the tractor already OVERDRIVES the front tires. Meaning they spin a little faster than the rears, which is what you want. Your possible option is gonna exaggerate that even more.

As per your chart, the tire options for R1 give you a 1.595 ratio.

10-16.5 R4's that match the 17.5L-24 that kubota specs are a 30.5" diameter tire. 48.8/30.5 =1.60 ratio. A whole lot closer match. But again, requires rim change.

The BTK tires you list for front dont really even look like a true R4, just a heavier ply ag tire. Which you absolutely can do for both front and rear. But if you ever have done loader work on soft ground....I dont think going skinnier on the fronts is a good idea.

 

[rScotty]

So, keeping the ratios of mounted diameter the same won't keep me out of trouble?

I went back to some of the online tire info and cannot find the spec you are seeing for "mounted diameter". But the spec for "rolling circumference" is always there. It is what you want to compare.

 

[cpainter]

I have not seen an actual industrial lug tire (like skidloader tires) made for a 16" rim.

Personally I dont like your "possible" option. You are going SMALLER on the rear and LARGER on the front.

The internal gearing of the tractor already OVERDRIVES the front tires. Meaning they spin a little faster than the rears, which is what you want. Your possible option is gonna exaggerate that even more.

As per your chart, the tire options for R1 give you a 1.595 ratio.

10-16.5 R4's that match the 17.5L-24 that kubota specs are a 30.5" diameter tire. 48.8/30.5 =1.60 ratio. A whole lot closer match. But again, requires rim change.

The BTK tires you list for front dont really even look like a true R4, just a heavier ply ag tire. Which you absolutely can do for both front and rear. But if you ever have done loader work on soft ground....I dont think going skinnier on the fronts is a good idea.

I know what you mean about the front going bigger and the rear being smaller, but I might be in that situation already. I'm on my third set of front tires and my original rear tires. The rears are worn down pretty low, and when I have new front tires on, I'm kind of in that unbalanced situation due to unequal wear. I guess pressure or unbalanced weight loads could have the same effect. I'm not sure how to counter that.

I definitely agree with your observation of the tread design on those BTK R4's. I'm rethinking that option. It's the blockier tread design that I think will help me on the rocks and the BTK's pretty much like the R1's I'm wanting to get away from. I might just have to fork out the money to buy 16.5" wheels to replace my 16's and get a REAL R4 tire. I think I'm ok staying with the original rear wheels and going with a 14.9-24 R4 though...as long as I can source them around here.

Thanks for helping me work through these issues.