New member, new owner new “don’t knows”. I live on a hillside in WV, wanting to clear an acre of hillside with my BX23s. Tipping is all I hear about so out of the abundance of safety I’d like to know about wheel spacers. I DO NOT have a mower to contend with. Could you all help me with quality, bargains, what is enough spacer, what is too much, will to much strain the axle. My tires are also weighted. Thank you in advance for your expertise and experience in this upgrade.
Wheel Spacers
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scootr
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I used 3" Bro-tec spacers on my tractor. They increased stability considerably. They weren't cheap. The quality is outstanding. But then I figured buy once cry once was the best policy when it came to keeping my wheels on.
WranglerX
Super Member
I use 3 inch BROTEK on the rear of my small MF GC 17xx series and it improved stability a lot (at least my butt thinks so), the BROTEK spacers are hub centric where as aftermarket "automotive" may not be for whatever you tractor is....As for front, probably not a real necessary thing as most front axles pivot and don't add any stability till at max tilt angle, rear axle is rigid to frame so that is where stability is....
Also on hills go up the hill, and down the hill, never across face of hill.....
Also on hills go up the hill, and down the hill, never across face of hill.....
rScotty
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Good Advice. And always go up and down hills in 4wd. That way you have 4 wheel braking as well as 4wd traction.
rScotty
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I noticed that in the BX23S Owners Manual (pg. 58) it says not to use weighted tires and the backhoe at the same time. I don't see anything about spacers.
MF243RedTop
Gold Member
Only real need for them on front is if you want to keep the same track...
When the tires aren't on the same track it's easy, unless you're very mindful to catch something with rears that the fronts passed by....
But it's not necessary ..it's up to you .
When the tires aren't on the same track it's easy, unless you're very mindful to catch something with rears that the fronts passed by....
But it's not necessary ..it's up to you .
I’m seeing and reading because the front axle isn’t solid there is no benefit to putting on front, (you all know best) I’m thinking 3” on the back and keep buckets low to the ground as well as turn my head, (or try to) when backing up trying not to roll up over a stump or rock.
rScotty
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hmm... this is an interesting discussion about wheels & spacers. Some thoughts....
You said that the front axle isn't solid, but take another look. The front axle on most all the compact 4wd tractors is one solid rigid axle connecting the front wheels.
The center of that solid front axle is pivoted to the center of the front tractor frame in such a way that the entire front axle can rotate up and down about 15 degrees in the vertical plane.
The axle cannot rotate at all in the horizontal plane...so tractors steer just like cars do..
The way the typical tractor front axle is pivoted, that axle can rotate about the center pivot enough to lean the front of the tractor until the top of the axle comes in contact with a hard stop - usually that stop is just the frame of the tractor.
Widening the front by putting wheel spacers on the front axle could be an advantage if you can figure out how to overcome a couple of problems ....
The first problem with front spacers is that there is that by the time the front axle leans enough to hit its stops, the totally rigid rear wheel is already lifting off the ground and the tractor is beginning to turn over. Putting a spring suspension on the rear axle is how cars and trucks solve that problem. On those, the rear axle can pivot relative to the body.....but none of the common compact tractors are built like that.
The other problem is that the front wheels are already mounted out from the support of the front wheel bearings so widely that adding a front end loader really stresses front axle bearings and seals. A search on TBN will bring up lots of front axle rebuilds. Moving the wheels on spacers puts them even farther from the bearing support and would make that worse.
What would work to solve both problems would be to change a couple of things.....
It nees a change to make the front axle longer instead of moving the wheels farther from the end of the axle.
And a change that provides a pivoting rear axle suspension.
I've heard that some of the European hillside tractors are made that way, but not ours.
Since those things aren't going to happen here anytime soon, we do the best we can and just put spacers on the rear axles. It helps a lot. But when we do that, we also have to consider that the rear axle isn't going to handle all the weight it could when the wheels were closer in.
Enjoy,
rScotty
