Tires Will ag tires destroy my lawn??

Anonymous Poster · Sep 26, 2001

Anybody have an idea what using ag tires on my lawn will do? Will the damage be that bad?

Anonymous Poster · Sep 26, 2001

This is Bird's unit with ag's... how does his lawn look?

ejb · Sep 26, 2001

Probably depends on the size/weight of the tractor, wether or not you are in 4wd and how wet the lawn is and if you are just going across it, or you want to mow with them on.

I can cut across my finish lawn, in 2wd or 4wd with my JD5410, as long as I don't take any sharp turns, or the grass is dry. Besides that, they just cause too much damage. A smaller tractor would probably cause less damage. I couldn't even consider mowing my "finsih" lawn with this tractor; I use a smaller tractor with turf tires for that job.

RichNJ · Sep 27, 2001

I use a Kubota L4310 with 7ft rear mower and Ag tires to finish cut my lawn. The rear tires are filled with calcium solution. If the ground is wet the tires will leave marks. Also if the FEL is on the tractor then the marks from the front tires will be deeper. If using 4WD and then turn sharp the front tires will leave marks.
Just last nite my wife cut the lawn with the FEL mounted. It looks fine. I too was curious so I just tried it and as long as you use common sense the lawn looks fine. Sure you can walk around the lawn and occasionally feel the depressions left by the cleats on the tires but there is no visible evidence.
The time savings are great. When using a 4ft MMM on Cub cadet it took about 2 hrs to cut the lawn. With the 7 ft Kubota it takes about 20 minutes + 15 minutes to trim with the Cub Cadet. Not only is the cut bigger but you can go much faster with the bigger tractor.

Bird · Sep 27, 2001

Well . . ., actually that's the pasture (see the dried cow patty) by the tail wheel./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif But my "lawn" (kinda stretchin' a point to use that word for my yard), is mowed with the same tractor; just a different mower./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif Of course this clay is hard enough when it's dry that a Caterpillar wouldn't hurt it./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

cisco · Sep 27, 2001

I agree with the prior replies. I've a L3410 with a FEL & R-4's - the "lawn" is safe if it's dry & I practice wide turns (preferably not in FWD). If the lawn is soaked, forget mowing (so, pray for rain).

EldoNixon · Sep 27, 2001

Does anyone have direct experience with a BX2200. I'll probably be lazy and mow with the FEL on. My soil is pretty soft and sandy--no clay that I've yet forund, but I do have really good drainage, so it's not usually holding water. I can't decide which tire to order. I have a B&B so the lawn has to look great, but I want to use the snow blower to blow an area for my dogs to get down the hill. The snow really piles up where it dumps off the buildings. Is is realistic to plow down a grass path and be able to back back up? Can you blow snow without having the blower float on the ground? I'd like to protect the grass but keep the snow from piling up. It's not that the dogs are that spoiled, I just get tired of the yellow snow by the back door. The grade is agout 15%-20%. I'm afraid I'll get stuck with turf tires, but the ags might destroy the lawn. I'm trying to get just one set of tires--orr atleast make the best guess with which tires to order initially, see how it goes, and then order the other set if necessary.

Anonymous Poster · Sep 27, 2001

Bird,

I don't care what you say... dried cow patty or not...

You have a beautiful pasturized lawn! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

frank_f15 · Sep 27, 2001

bird: that dried cow patty as u call it is now refered to as an ecoligically friendly from of natural fertilizer. in any case your pasture looks fine. as for ag tires? everyone to their own taste. i run r4's and at times i wish i had ags (with chains) and other times i wish i had slicks. nothing is perfect.

John_Mc · Sep 28, 2001

Eldo- If you need a lawn you can play croquet (sp?) on, then turf tires are probably the only way to go. If it's mostly visual appeal you're after, I would seriously consider R4 (industrial) tires. They are a good compromise between the traction of an Ag tire and the turf protection of a Turf tire.

Plowing snow with turf tires is very tough to do with any serious accumulation of snow. You'll need a lot of ballast on the tractor, and probably need to look at chains (chance of damage to lawn?). Snow Blowing with turf tires may be more do-able, depending on the slope. I don't have a lot of experience with snow blowers and turfs, but perhaps someone else will jump in here.

If you do go with the R4 tires, you want to be as light as possible when mowing. For this reason, you'll probably want to remove the FEL, unless it's very dry and/or you can stand a bit of tire imprints. Also, you might want to consider NOT filling your tires... if needed, you can add wheel weights in the winter for added traction, then take them off for the mowing season. Mow in 2WD whenever possible, and avoid sharp turns (the tighter you turn with R4's, the more you chance ripping the lawn up, especially in 4WD)

You might see if your dealer will let you bring out the model tractor you are considering with R4's (and other tires, if possible) try a bit of mowing (or even just driving around) turns, straight, etc and see how it looks to you. Try it on different soil conditions, if possible for a good idea of what you can and can't get away with.