Tire Recommendations for steep, snowy, mud

[Alrashid2 442]

15 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

Bulging happens when you put fat tires on skinny rims...

Ya but these are the same rims and tires as others have. I'm thinking that once theyre installed on the tractor and the wheel weights are on, the pressure will squish them down?

[Handy Don 15,785]

18 hours ago, Alrashid2 said:

Ya but these are the same rims and tires as others have. I'm thinking that once theyre installed on the tractor and the wheel weights are on, the pressure will squish them down?

These are designed for ATV off-road travel and I suspect the rounded shape is deliberate. At a lower pressure, the tread will flex as the tire turns, yes, and that is likely planned as a way to eject dirt that might clog the tread. 

For a flat face on a non-radial tire, the internal, circumferential cords that make up the “carcass” would have been the same length across the tread face, but clearly they are a bit longer in the center. 

 

[Alrashid2 442]

OK, maybe it's all good then! I will admit, I am looking at the photo I posted of the old tires (unmounted) next to my new tires (mounted on rim). The tread looks flat. BUT I just went back and found a photo of my tractor from the rear, old tires mounted, and the tread was much rounder, similar to my new tires on the rim. Thinking this is normal and should be good. So excited to try them out! It's Valentine's Day though so I'm spending time with my wife Projects will wait

[Handy Don 15,785]

21 hours ago, Alrashid2 said:

so I'm spending time with my wife

Excellent decision 👍

[Alrashid2 442]

Welp, finally got the tires on! Were they better than my old tires? Absolutely! Were they good enough? Nope! Haha. As many of you called.

 

Before I couldn't get out of the shed. Today, I got about 15 yards before getting stuck, and spent an hour pushing and rocking to get her back into the shed. The new tires definitely have more bite, but unfortunately not enough. I wish these had a locked differential, as what was happening was I just kept getting 1 tire spinning. 

 

This is also an unprecedented amount of snow for us here. I'm hoping with the warm weather this week a lot melts and we'll try again!

Edited 17 hours ago by Alrashid2

[Handy Don 15,785]

The tires look good!

I suspect you could have gone backward down the slope, but getting back up....well, maybe not! 

[wallfish 19,101]

15 minutes ago, Alrashid2 said:

I wish these had a locked differential,

Well, then when you try to steer and it would be going mostly straight. So another problem you would need to deal with.

Tip that plow forward as it looks to be tilted all the way back for some reason. Tilted all the way back like that will dig the plow in. Then, starting from your shed push the snow away so you're not totally driving through deep snow, but on more stable ground. Work your way out doing that until you get to where you want to go. 

[AlexR 2,511]

More weight and chains is the answer you are looking for.

Good news is chains should still fit those tires good. And when it's not snowy those tires will get you better traction then just turf tires. 

[Alrashid2 442]

I'm thinking of putting on my cargo rack and and throwing about 160 lbs worth of sand bags in the back, and trying again Fri!

 

Picture of my rack

[Alrashid2 442]

@wallfish I actually do that on purpose. I drilled additional holes in my plow to put it into what I call "Transport Mode". Couldn't stand the ~4" of ground clearance with the plow, so when not in use I tip it up to gain a few inches of clearance. Unfortunately, replacing the tires made me realize I didn't account for something: in "Transport mode" my plow just barely cleared the opening of my shed doors when going up the ramp. Well, getting new tires has changed things enough that now my plow hits when going back into the shed... ugh. I'm thinking taller rear tires = tipping the front end downward = plow now lower. I'll have to tinker to see if I can raise that plow at all, or maybe raise the shed ramp enough to clear it... always something!

 

 

[wallfish 19,101]

10 hours ago, Alrashid2 said:

I'll have to tinker to see if I can raise that plow at all

Ahhh. Yes the taller rear tires will lower the blade some. There should be an adjustment underneath at the rock shaft where it lifts. (Not if you have a solid lift link connected) Disconnect it, turn the trunion to adjust the height and reconnect. Just don't raise it too far so it binds or you will have a hard time releasing the lift handle when it's locked in the up position. 

 

You could also add spacers ( washers, piece of flat bar, etc ) in the rear hitch mount between the trans to lower the rear of the plow frame which raises the blade

 

[Alrashid2 442]

Thanks @wallfish! I have played around with that eye bolt adjustment and I think I've gotten it as close as possible, but going to try again this weekend. My frame has I think about a half inch of space between it and the axle, but obviously I need some space to be able to pull the arm upward to lock it in place. I think before if I went any higher it wouldn't have enough clearance to lock, but we'll see!

 

I also have some spare spacers around. When I installed my plow, it actually sat very cockeyed. One side of the plow was 5.5" off the ground, the other was 4"! I used a 3/8" spacer on one side and that made the plow pretty close to even. So not sure if that actually makes sense, but seems like a 3/8" spacer on the rear brings the plow up 4x (1.5"). If that's the case, putting another spacer on each side would bring my plow up another 1.5"... that plus getting a bit more out of the eye bolt adjustment might be just enough to give me clearance going into the shed but we'll have to play around. Will report back Fri!

[wallfish 19,101]

13 hours ago, Alrashid2 said:

I'm thinking of putting on my cargo rack and and throwing about 160 lbs worth of sand bags in the back, and trying again Fri!

 

Picture of my rack

Wheel weights and or filling the tires would serve you much better. The weight located behind the rear wheels will counter weight the front tires. Or use what you got and weight the front down too.

[wallfish 19,101]

3 minutes ago, Alrashid2 said:

Thanks @wallfish! I have played around with that eye bolt adjustment and I think I've gotten it as close as possible, but going to try again this weekend. My frame has I think about a half inch of space between it and the axle, but obviously I need some space to be able to pull the arm upward to lock it in place. I think before if I went any higher it wouldn't have enough clearance to lock, but we'll see!

 

I also have some spare spacers around. When I installed my plow, it actually sat very cockeyed. One side of the plow was 5.5" off the ground, the other was 4"! I used a 3/8" spacer on one side and that made the plow pretty close to even. So not sure if that actually makes sense, but seems like a 3/8" spacer on the rear brings the plow up 4x (1.5"). If that's the case, putting another spacer on each side would bring my plow up another 1.5"... that plus getting a bit more out of the eye bolt adjustment might be just enough to give me clearance going into the shed but we'll have to play around. Will report back Fri!

 

 

Pretty sure you can flip the index part on the front of the frame too.

 

 

 

[Alrashid2 442]

@wallfish already got big old 50 on cast iron wheel weights on!

 

And regarding that part, wow I had never heard of that before! I'll have to take a look and see if I can figure that out, thanks!

 

Edit: can't tell for certain but looks like that part might already be flipped on mine?

Edited 58 minutes ago by Alrashid2

[wallfish 19,101]

1 minute ago, Alrashid2 said:

@wallfish already got big old 50 on cast iron wheel weights on!

 

And regarding that part, wow I had never heard of that before! I'll have to take a look and see if I can figure that out, thanks!

The factory location of the blade's attach point is at the bottom and to an offset hole from the center. By flipping it over it raises that attach point from the bottom to the top. The only thing I can't remember is if I drilled a new hole for the index rod linkage connector or if it was already there. Thinking you might need to drill a new hole for that rod to connect. All of the other stuff is on centered holes so all of that will stay the same.

[Alrashid2 442]

Awesome idea, I had not seen that discussed anywhere else! I'll look into it and report back 

[wallfish 19,101]

41 minutes ago, Alrashid2 said:

 

Edit: can't tell for certain but looks like that part might already be flipped on mine?

Can't tell from that pic.

Bigger front tires is another option to raise it. Adding some more front tire air pressure could get some too but don't go overboard on that.

I'm just spit balling ideas out there so hopefully something sticks and works for ya

[Alrashid2 442]

Appreciate all the ideas. I'm currently running 12 PSI on front tires. Think 15 PSI would be too high? 

 

I wish I had thought about getting bigger tires but I literally just bought these tires and paid nearly $100, hate to waste that lol. Also, it looks like there arent any common sized tires that are bigger for a 6 in rim...