Wheel Spacers

[SAVED1]

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.

 

[scootr]

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.

 

[SAVED1]

I looked up the Bro tec site. Thank you. Did you do front and back. Is it helpful to do both ends.

 

[WranglerX]

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.....

 

[rScotty]

SNIP)

Also on hills go up the hill, and down the hill, never across face of hill.....

Good Advice. And always go up and down hills in 4wd. That way you have 4 wheel braking as well as 4wd traction.

 

[rScotty]

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]

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 .

 

[404nouser]

Rear for stability
Front to look the same but no real gain.

 

[SAVED1]

Rear for stability
Front to look the same but no real gain.

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]

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.

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

 

[SAVED1]

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

I guess what seen, and apparently misunderstoodhmm... 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
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.

I guess what I’d, seen and obviously misunderstood about the axle, was that when you put your front bucket down and raised the wheels you could move the wheel up and down with the opposite happening on the other side was why in some ppls option wheel spacers didn’t help the front. I’m totally assuming when you lift both rear wheels off the ground you can’t move them in the same fashion by hand and for that reason extending the wheels further out and the physics of weight being further from the center is what aided to tipping prevention. Thanks for your response Scotty, this why I’m here, to learn with out bruising or wallet busting

 

[SAVED1]

I guess what seen, and apparently misunderstoodhmm... 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.

Somehow my reply ended up in your response the only thing I know less about than tractors is technology. Thanks Scotty

 

[rScotty]

Somehow my reply ended up in your response the only thing I know less about than tractors is technology. Thanks Scotty

That happens to me, too. Sometimes my replies end up inside the boxed message that I thought I was replying to...and so far I can't figure out how to make them separate out or get back to start.

What I do to get off that carnival ride is just go ahead and hit "Post reply" which then brings up the option to "Report, Edit, or Delete". I delete the whole message and start over.

There's probably another way,
rScotty

 

[WinterDeere]

There's probably another way,

Many different ways, but here's one of the simpler solutions:

Hovever your mouse over the three little dots in the top middle area of the response window:

Under "More options", you'll find a pair of square brackets "[]", with the tool tip "Toggle BB code":

Click that, and your window will change from rich text to raw Bulletin Board-style text:

You can see that anything listed between the "QUOTE" header and "/QUOTE" footer ends up inside the quote box, with that little bit of gobblety-gook "rScotty, post: 7357041, member: 2212" just creating a label at the top fo the quote window.

Now you can just be sure that what you're typing ends up below the /QUOTE footer.

 

[WinterDeere]

Oh, and as to spacers... bad idea on the front, if you're running a front-end loader and pushing anywhere near front axle max capacity. Wheel spacers increase stress on everything from wheel bearings to steering knuckles, due to increased moment arm length (torque in vertical direction). If you're not running a heavy loader, or otherwise loafing along nowhere near max capacity, then it's probly fine. But we all know that front axles are the weak point, when pushing for maximum loader capacity.

They can add stability to the front, but the stability gains are likely marginal (as already described by others), and the risk likely not worth it in most applications.

 

[WranglerX]

That happens to me, too. Sometimes my replies end up inside the boxed message that I thought I was replying to...and so far I can't figure out how to make them separate out or get back to start.

What I do to get off that carnival ride is just go ahead and hit "Post reply" which then brings up the option to "Report, Edit, or Delete". I delete the whole message and start over.

There's probably another way,
rScotty

Got to watch where you cursor is when doing a quote and reply.....