[AT] O.T. -- Tires; Turf VS Lug

Larry D Goss rlgoss at evansville.net
Tue Jul 24 20:07:17 PDT 2007


Herb, I've been mowing a 6-acre tract with turf tires for 10 years.  I 
changed them out about two months ago for low-profile high-flotation lug 
tires and I WILL NEVER GO BACK.  Turf tires burn the turf -- all the time. 
As soon as I converted to lug tires, the mowing time for this plot was 
decreased by 25%.  Mowing time went from four hours down to three hours. 
There are some slopes on this property that are absolutely bare after all 
these years of using turf tires.

I suspected from the experience I had while working in a local dealership, 
that something of this nature would happen, but I didn't have first-hand 
knowledge of it until a couple of months ago.  The experience I had was that 
on brand new ZTR mowers, owners were complaining about not having good 
control of the mower while mowing across slopes.  They were loosing all 
traction on the upslope wheel.  We would bring the mowers in, change out the 
turf tires for low-lug high-flotation style, and the owners seemed to be 
content.

Around April of this year, I serviced a tractor that was being troublesome 
for the owner.  I fixed his problem with an on-site service call and I 
noticed that he had the "super size" versions of the high-flotation, 
low-profile lugs on the rear of his equipment.  I asked him about it and he 
said that for mowing the slope on his earthen dam (close to 1/4 mile long) 
he couldn't operate without them.  He mowed the dam once (just once) with 
turf tires and got tired really quickly of not being able to track anywhere 
close to a straight line across the dam.  He's been mowing the dam for 
better than 15 years with the lug tires and the grass looks perfect.

You can moan and groan all you want to about lug tires tearing up the grass, 
but my experience is showing otherwise.

YMMV.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

FWIW, I'm running 29X12.5-15's.  They cost around $450 per pair, including 
wheels.  At the dealership, we typically not only changed out the tires but 
also sent the new ones back loaded with calcium-chloride.

Let the flames begin.

Larry

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <D8RMAN at aol.com>
To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 7:54 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] O.T. -- Tires; Turf VS Lug


>
> Herb, It sounds like the turf tires will work just fine for a just mowing
> job. The lugs can damage the turf much easier than a turf tire. If the 
> tractor
> was going to be used in some other application just remember that most 
> turf
> tires are a lower profile and thus gives you less ground clearance making 
> the
> tractor easier to get high centered, I've been there and done that. 
> Willard
> Smith, Tacoma, WA.
>
> O.T.   ---   This information is for a good friend  who plans buying a new
> tractor.
> This discussion concern is turf tiresVS lug  tires for a new J.D. 2305 
> with
> 54" belly mower that will be used primarily for  maintaining five acres of 
> GA
> soil that is sloped (average slope is  3/12).     The lug tires have a 
> 3/4"
> wide x 3/4" high bar with  1 1/4" between bars; bars are perpendicular to 
> travel
> in center of tire and  approx 45 degrees to travel at outer 1/3 of tire. 
> I
> am not  sure of the kind of grass, but it appears native in that  tthe 
> only
> maintenance is mowing.    Ground is just north GA soil, mostly red  clay; 
> and
> normally very hard.
> Will these lugs (rear tires are  approx 20" high x 8" wide) on a J.D. 2305
> tractor tear up the grass and/or  soil?
> The. 2305 has front wheel assist with useage  optional.(front tires are
> approx 14" x 8').
> Should one be concerned about  slippage of turf tires on wet grass on such 
> a
> slope?
> Is wear on front end  less when using only rear wheel traction?
> Herb
>
>
>
>
>
>
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