Tires and traction for Zero Turn Mowers...Solved for me anyway.

[EONE]

I have about three acres of lawn, some flat, some quite hilly. I have used lawn tractors for years, but made the switch to Zero Turn mowers a few years ago. I had mowed our Vol Fire Dept lawn for many years with a Cub Cadet Z-Force ZT mower..and I loved it. I bought a Bad Boy MZ 48" for home. Very decent entry level mower, very rugged machine. But a year ago I wanted one that rode better and had some features I liked. I traded for a new Bad Boy "Maverick" with a cushioned ride and suspension seat. 54". Great machine....
But..With my lawn being hilly and wet in places, I was never happy with the scuffing and sliding of the tires on hills, wet or real dry never made a difference, the turf tires were terrible. So... I went on the forums and YouTube and decided to make the switch to chevron, bar tread tires. Same as a farm tractor. I am here to say, that if you are wondering about them ripping up the lawn..for me, these new tires are fantastic....less damage even if you slide or do a real "zero" turn. With care, on hills and wet lawn they are great. No damage at all if you use care in turns and operate the machine with some finesse. I am sold on these tires. Much better than turf tires.

 

[Dadnatron]

I have been looking at different tires for a newly purchased Ferris 3200Z for farm mowing. I am constantly slipping and spinning them when turning. I have looked at similar tires as yours, and it is good to hear that they work well. I don’t really need them for hills, but I do a lot of tight turns around fence, trees, etc and spin the turf ties constantly.

I don’t know whether there is a secondary market for essentially new turf tires, but if I could get even a portion of the cost of new chevron tires, I would likely do it. My tires have 4hrs on them and I already recognize they aren’t what I really need.

26x12x12 turf

 

[BoylermanCT]

I just put Carlisle AT101 chevron tires on my Hustler X-One zero turn and I love them. Much better traction and they do less damage to the lawn. I can go up and down hills that my stock tires would have spun on.

 

[4570Man]

I just put Carlisle AT101 chevron tires on my Hustler X-One zero turn and I love them. Much better traction and they do less damage to the lawn. I can go up and down hills that my stock tires would have spun on.

ZTRs should come standard with the AT101s. Mine went from useless to king of the hill quite literally with that swap. It also performs way better in mud.

 

[EONE]

Mine are some Chinese tires, I got a set of them for $148.00 on Amazon. Got them in two days. They seem to be very well rated, 6 ply, tires. My size was 23-10.5-12 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RVYF3OQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1....Still dam wet here this spring.. But I mowed an area yesterday after I put the new tires on..... What an amazing difference. No zero turn will always be slide/spin free, but I was surprised at how much less damage these tires cause even if you spin or slide. The turf tires just peel off a whole slab of grass, these just leave a small mark.. with care they work almost perfectly.. and I mowed through a real bad spot, that I would never have gotten through with turf tires. And the worst thing about the whole deal is that when I expressed the idea of these tires a year ago to the dealer when I got the new mower, he said they were no good, too much damage to lawn etc.... He was dead wrong. I should have gone with my first thoughts. Some brands of higher end mowers come with them now or with ATV tires.... Bad Boy has a whole bunch of new models this year in the commercial line and they come with aggressive tires now....

 

[TnAndy]

THANKS for the heads up guys !! I have an Exmark zero turn, and it slides all over my hillside areas. I asked the local dealer if there wasn't some better tire I could put on it, and all I got was a shrug.....

 

[Code54]

I switched out to Kenda 502's on our Ferris and it has helped with traction a TON. Does not seem to tear grass any more than the factory tires and I don't slide around on the hills anymore.

 

[aa777888]

This is a bit of a necro thread, but might as well keep all this great info in one place.

My venerable JD Z425 that I got (used) way back in 2009'ish is in dire need of new rear tires. It came with, and still has, the original Innova Cayman IA-8030 tires, size 22-9.50-10.

That size is not available in the AT101 or K502. After some research my choices are, in what I think is the right order of traction from lower to higher, are:

- The original Innova Cayman IA-8030
- Carlisle Turf Trac R/S
- Kenda 506
- Innova Cayman IA-8028

All are 4 ply tires. I'm leaning towards the K506 as the IA-8028 looks a little too aggressive.

Any guidance or opinions would be most welcome before I pull the trigger on some new rubber.

 

[BoylermanCT]

This is a bit of a necro thread, but might as well keep all this great info in one place.

My venerable JD Z425 that I got (used) way back in 2009'ish is in dire need of new rear tires. It came with, and still has, the original Innova Cayman IA-8030 tires, size 22-9.50-10.

That size is not available in the AT101 or K502. After some research my choices are, in what I think is the right order of traction from lower to higher, are:

- The original Innova Cayman IA-8030
- Carlisle Turf Trac R/S
- Kenda 506
- Innova Cayman IA-8028

All are 4 ply tires. I'm leaning towards the K506 as the IA-8028 looks a little too aggressive.

Any guidance or opinions would be most welcome before I pull the trigger on some new rubber.

I have the AT101's on my zero turn and love them. They were 10X better than the turf tire it came with. If they are not available, the first three you listed look like standard turf tires. I was very unhappy with those on my mower. I would go with the IA-8028 or look at Carlise AT489's.

 

[DK35vince]

Personally, I would go with the more aggressive tire.
The standard turf tires that came on my zero turns were useless crap.
I run Carlisle AT 101 tires on my zero turns.
Night and day difference from the crap stock turf tires that came on them.

Attachments

• 
  HPIM1661.JPG

  240.4 KB · Views: 734