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Which wheels to use when?


Alpha8D

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Have 1965 Landlord 101 #990350. Use it to mow 2 hilly lawns, one mine one at an earth burm church that's creepy steep. Also will be using tractor with snow blower on driveway part gravel part cement. I have 2 sets of rear wheels. One set Terra Tire 23x1050x12 which measure full 23" high (from a Soverign I scrapped out) and one set turf tires 23x850x12 measure 22" high that were original on the 65 Landlord. The smaller tires are newer with no surface cracks in sidewalls but less tread left. The bigger ones don't tear up the lawns and I'd like to fill them with washer fluid to lower my CG for the steep mowing but are these the best for snow work? Would I get better traction from the narrower and smaller tires by putting washer fluid in them and chains? The bigger ones would be heavier with fluid but would the wider footprint cause them to slide around on the snow? How much hassle to change wheels once they are filled with fluid? Should I change then seasonally, narrow for winter, wide for summer? The fronts were narrow 480x8 but I changed them to fat 16x650x8 doughnuts. Good for lawn but will they steer on snow?
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I have the big wheels on my 7117 and don't have any problems on snow. I do not have the tires loaded, but do use 2 link chains. The snowblower will limit your steering when down ask the skies do like to go straight. When up it is just a bit harder to steer with that extra blower weight hanging out front. I do not have any experience with narrow tires as they were not on the newer tractors.
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If the rear tires are bar treads, then wider is better. If they are turf tread then the narrow ones tend to do better in snow. I have the 3.50x8 tri-rib tires on my AC716H. I like them much better in all situations than the 16x6.50x8 tires. Tri-ribs have much better side traction than any other tire I have tried. They beat knobbys and turfs by a mile. I also have the 3.50x6 tri-ribs on my 61 Wards tractor. My AC713S still has the 16x6.50x8 tires on it, so I have the direct comparison between my tractors. As far as rear tires, I currently have one set of 23x10.50x12 bar tread tires, one set of 26x12x12 bar tread tires, two sets of 23x8.50x12 turf tires, one set of 23x10.50x12 turf tires, and a set of 26x12x12 turf tires. For the rear tires, usually bigger is better for use on sand and dirt, and smaller is better for snow when using turf tires and chains. I still like the larger bar lugs for use in snow.
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Thanks for the advise Rod. How does this sound...in the front I'll put my narrower 480x8 wheels back on in favor of those big fat 16x650x8 doughnuts for lawn and snow and gravel grading work. In the rear since diameters of my 2 sets are within 5% (22 vs 23) I'll fill both sets with fluid and use the narrower ones with chains for winter and the larger for summer and gravel. It looks like the chains will fit under the fenders better with the 22" wheels anyway. I only have the 2 sets and they are all turf tires. If I was to spend $ (I'm a tightwad) getting a set of the 350x8 tri-rib for front would be the best value for better steering in all situations. I'm guessing these are smooth tires with grooves or ribs running around the outside not across the tire? Are these the ones seen on the narrow front end of old row crop farm tractors? I'll snoop around the farm supply store. Thanks again for your time, Jim
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Jim, You will not likely find the 3.50x8 tri-ribs in a local store. You will most likely have to order them from some place like Tucker Tire or one of the larger dealers who caters to garden tractors. I got mine from Rustybore's Tire Shop on ebay. They run about $20 each. They are made in both 3.50 and 4.00 and for wheel sizes of both 6 inch and 8 inch. They have three solid ribs around the tire and no cross ribs. This is designed to give only sideways (steering) traction. They look the same as those on the older farm tractors. I don't have a good picture of mine that I could post for you. If you would like, I can take a picture and post it for you. The easiest would be for you too scan through the gallery. There are several tractors pictured in there with tri-rib tires, especially the pulling tractors. There are several people on this site who have tried various tires on the front. Some swear by using small bar lug tires on the front with the direction of the lugs mounted opposite to those used on the rear. Most people who have the tri-ribs swear by them as being the best. Since I have them on two tractors, I can say that they beat the turfs and knobbys hands down for steering traction in snow and mud. Of course that is what they were designed for on the farm tractors.
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Thanks Rod, No need to post pics, I can picture them in my mind. I do have a local farm tractor tire dealer and I'll start there but $20 each on the ebay doesn't sound bad. I'll give my local guy a shot at it and go from there. Once again, thanks for the infomation. Jim
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