Tires tires and tiiiires

[Forest Road 594]

With the christmas spending sprees upon us I've been looking toward the future a wee bit. Ok into dad's dreamworld! My 312-8 is could use a set of tires. The lucky replacements most certainly will not be any type of turf saver. I plow dirt and snow, blow snow, grade the driveway, and pull and push trees and debris w/ this machine. So my question for those in the know is this -

What has been your best performing tire? Ags or ATV tires.

I've seen a few of you comment on the successes of both.

And if its ags is one brand/model performing better than another. Given the different hardness factors of some of the ags available? 2, 4, or 6 ply?

And how about size 23x 8.5 / 9.5 / 10.5 - 12" And what PSI do you reccomend?

Thanks for all of your opinions!!!

[wheel horse 1045 2]

I've used Ag's and turf tires and i work my tractors all year as well and have wondered also about the ATV tires but as far as Ag's and turfs i prefer the turfs cause chains is what i use with them and I'm not personally crazy about chains on my Ag's.

[Redbirdman 7]

I've been messing around with tractors since 1955 and I still don't have a real scientific answer:

Except this: Ag tires do perform better in soft dirt. and do not have the tendency to 'hop' like atv's when starting to slip or spin. But they leave >>>> impressions in turf and are more apt to 'grind' the grass.

ATV's do less damage to turf but have a tendency to 'pack' soft moist soil so they are not too cool for such things as grading or tilling.

Snow depends on wet ice cream or dry powder...."And it is the opposite of dirt"

The atv's pack ice cream sno where Ags squish it out of the way.

But atv's get better traction in powder.. (the opposite of dry dirt for some reason?)

Now this: The Ags feel much better rubbing under you leg (thigh and calf) like a massage when you are driving a RJ with no fenders. But the ags have more of a chance of grabbing your pants cuff and yanking you off the tractor and flopping you like a rag doll on each roll of the wheel until it stops on top of you......but that's ok!

The turf tires do not hurt so much, if at all, when they roll over your foot, but they will squish a cat. meyeeeeoooooowwww

Ag tires may miss your toe completely, or the dogs tail. but if one of the lugs lands square on your toe or fidos tail there is going to be yelping.

And WH is right about chains, difficult and not as much authority with Ags as Atv's, but Ag's are much better off on hard construction dirt and not so apt to pick up nails as atv's. And thorns, brambles, hitchhikers, devils spurs will all puncture atv and turf tires but dont seem to touch Ags.

Ag tires do sound better running down a road....(kinda like bvvvvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Turf tires just go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

All in all it comes down to what looks best! Ags look stupid on turf tractors,and atv's look silly on others.

I hope I cleared that up for you...... :D

[Audioshot 2]

The only purpose that AG "lug" style tires serve is to transmit as much of the torque from the axle to the ground as possible as well as supporting the weight of the machine while pulling a load or ground engaging attachment. They are listed as "industrial" as far as the application. ATV tires are designed to do the same thing, however, only holding the weight of the vehicle and operator only.

The biggest issue I see with AG tires is misapplication. When you run AG's on hard pack gravel or paved roads, the base of the lugs tend to spit and crack from the lugs bending (over excursion). AG lug style tires need to be used where the entire tread lug (non-skid) is dug into the dirt or snow so the base of the tire is supporting most of the weight of the machine BEFORE high torque is applied to the tire. City and town DPW's and utilities have learned this the hard way. Thus most have switched to a diamond (turf) or All-Weather style tread pattern. Don't get me wrong, AG's do look cool and mean.

[hodge 6]

Huh... lots of opinions and science. My experience with a steep yard- ags perform MUCH better, and do not tear things up, if I chose to operate carefully. I have used them for a couple of years, and my yard is fine. I could climb banks that turf tires wouldn't allow me to even consider. They work well on damp/wet grass, where the turf tires are almost useless. In dirt, such as the garden, ags perform much better, also. In snow, ags are pretty useless. Agressive turfs work better, plus turfs allow chains to do their jobs, where ags with chains only allow the chain to contact where the lugs are. I just sold my two tractors with ags- if I had kept them, I would use ags in the summer/spring/fall, and turfs with chains in the winter. Brands? I don't know. In my humble opinion, one probably isn't going to grossly outperform another. Get the ones which are the best price, in my opinion.

To me, ags would also perform better than ATV tires, for what you intend to do.

I like the looks of ags, but for practical purposes, they allowed me to mow my yard in many more conditions than turf tires did. So, they were worth more than their good looks.

[MyOtherCarisaWheel Horse 10]

I've been messing around with tractors since 1955 and I still don't have a real scientific answer:

Now this: The Ags feel much better rubbing under you leg (thigh and calf) like a massage when you are driving a RJ with no fenders. But the ags have more of a chance of grabbing your pants cuff and yanking you off the tractor and flopping you like a rag doll on each roll of the wheel until it stops on top of you......but that's ok!

The turf tires do not hurt so much, if at all, when they roll over your foot, but they will squish a cat. meyeeeeoooooowwww

Ag tires may miss your toe completely, or the dogs tail. but if one of the lugs lands square on your toe or fidos tail there is going to be yelping.

Hmmmm 55 years of having clothing ripped off - being dragged by lawn mowers - ending up under said mowers - squishing cats - running over both human and k9 appendages, it may be time for a new hobby. How do you feel about stamp collecting Redbirdman?

[Kelly 1,028]

Well I have a set of ATV tires that look very close to AG's and work as good, I bought them off ebay for new $85 a pair shipped to the house, they are only 2 ply, but so are many cheap ag tires, I bought 25x11.5x12's they fit pretty good i run about 8 psi in them.

[Redbirdman 7]

Hmmmm 55 years of having clothing ripped off - being dragged by lawn mowers - ending up under said mowers - squishing cats - running over both human and k9 appendages, it may be time for a new hobby. How do you feel about stamp collecting Redbirdman?

It's made me the man I am today! :ychain: