Rocking horse ride

RoyKing · Mar 3, 2019

Saw a video of the rocking action front to rear, is that caused by too much water in the rears, a wave cresting over in the tires. Or air pressure in tires? I've got radial tires soft side walls.

the old grind · Mar 3, 2019

Its from lack of a resilient suspension combined with the undamped rebounding properties of tires allowing both ends of a vehicle to bounce but not in sync. Heavy implements, FEL, backhoe, etc can increase the rocking.

One doesn't need a drop of liquid in any tire, just traveling a wee bit too fast for surface flatness will get the oscillation going. A complaint on some puncture-proof tires is how exaggerated, even violent the result of stiffer shoes makes.

I can't imagine NOT adding ballast to rear tires out of fear that the tendency to rock would be any greater. :2cents:

Fallon · Mar 4, 2019

Most all heavy equipment does that regardless of loaded tires or not. Payloaders or yellow backhoes almost gallop down paved roads. Big tires arent balanced well or super round. But the biggest cause is a lack of suspension & heavy overhangs.

Some fancier loaders (on TBLs, payloaders or tractors) have a dampening system on the loader to help. Its essentially a pressure tank on the loader lift circuit & a valve to open up that tank. When the valve is open the air in the tank can compress & expand to absorb the bounce imparted by the loader.

diesel85 · Mar 6, 2019

My little BX2200 has rocking horsed before on uneven grounds when going fast.

Back on the old farm, I got the old JD rockin' around on pavement. I wouldn't do it now, but if I slammed on the brakes I could start making it rock while going down the road. Fun times... lol

Oldoak · Mar 7, 2019

My opinion is that if you're experiencing a "rocking horse" like affect, you are going too fast for field or road conditions. Now if you were creating it for the fun of it.........oh well, but it's very hard on machinery.

Like mentioned, commercial industrial machines have load dampeners. Time is money and faster traveling speeds are essential.
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ovrszd · Mar 7, 2019

Oldoak said:
My opinion is that if you're experiencing a "rocking horse" like affect, you are going too fast for field or road conditions. Now if you were creating it for the fun of it.........oh well, but it's very hard on machinery.

Like mentioned, commercial industrial machines have load dampeners. Time is money and faster traveling speeds are essential.
'

Actually it's not "too fast". It can be stopped by speeding up.

It's a simple frequency issue and easily corrected.

Can't imagine anyone having fun with it.

diesel85 · Mar 7, 2019

Oh trust me, when I was younger, I had fun with the rocking horse effect. There were times I sat in the tractor for 12+ hours -- you start to look for fun or thinking "when will I ever get done going around in circles?" lol -- one or the other.

Though, now as I am older and wiser, I know not to take unnecessary risks.

jeff9366 · Mar 7, 2019

Wood's Comfort Ride reduces tractor oscillations due to FEL loads and to a less extent implement loads.

LINK: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/390196-comfort-ride-new-product-w.html

RoyKing · Mar 8, 2019

I'll try more speed, it does with no load in the front, and I'll putting some more weight on rear 3pt

ovrszd · Mar 8, 2019

Changing weight distribution will change the frequency (speed) of the bounce. But it won't eliminate it. Hopefully it can be changed to a speed you don't use.

Diesel85's comments above about field work are an example of the frequency matching work speed. With towed tillage equipment this can be avoided by simple hitch adjustments. Speed change is not an option in most cases.

I deal with this regularly when running the road grader on maintaining gravel roads. Slight changes are required as road material type changes.

rScotty · Mar 8, 2019

jeff9366 said:
Wood's Comfort Ride reduces tractor oscillations due to FEL loads and to a less extent implement loads.

LINK: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/390196-comfort-ride-new-product-w.html

Most larger tractors with FELs have a damper on the loader arms so that they don't get into that resonant "hobby horse" mode. I don't know why smaller tractors don't have the same damper. It sure would make washboard roads more pleasant. The problem isn't the loaded tires so much as it's a response to any slight wavyness in the road surface. The main driving force is the elasticity of the sidewalls of the tractor tires.

You can easily add an inexpensive damper system like the Long's comfort ride gadget to any tractor FEL. I have comfort ride on the backhoe and it is nice for driving any distance - regardless of the type of road.

BTW, you can play with the speed to try to stop the oscillation from starting, But once it starts rocking, changing speed could also make it suddenly worse. If my tractor without the comfort ride starts to hobby horse I usually just slow down abruptly until it stops and then continue at a slower speed.
rScotty