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vintage ag tires on 18hp Sovereign


TimJr

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OK, long story short, plus pics are better anyway. These are a set of Firestone 26x12-12 All Traction Field and Road tires from about 1987. I have had them since 2000. They were part of a package deal of more wheels and tires I bought when I got into pulling. This set of tires was pretty chewed up around the bead - must have been on and off wheels with screwdrivers/prybars for tire tools. Actually broke some wire cords in the beads. They had already been cut/trimmed for pulling, but had some deep cuts in them from the hot knife slipping. I have another pair that was in much better shape, and those are still on my pulling tractor. I got a pair of 10.5" wide Cub Cadet compact wheels for $20 over the winter. The beads were a little dinged, but nothing I couldn't fix. I flipped the centers and rewelded them for a Simplicity backspacing to fit my Sovereign. I wish I would have left them a little deeper. They are 1.75" backspacing now - could have gone as deep as 2.5" and still cleared the PTO clutch. I just matched them to the stock wheels. A little OEM paint, and good as new. To freshen up the old tires, I washed them and then repeatedly wiped them down with a product from NAPA called RuGlyde - it's used by tire shops to lube the beads when R&Ring tires from wheels. It works well as a rubber protectant too. I am currently cleaning and wiping down a few other sets of old tires to help preserve them too. If I get time, I would like to trim these up with my tire cutting disc. The beads are in too bad of shape to use them for pulling - wheel would likely spin inside the tire(they are tubed). What do you think? wheels


tires - one washed, one dirty. The left one temporarily mounted on an 8.5" wide wheel


cleaned and wiped down - detail of cut bars


the 26x12-12 mounted on the 10.5" wheel compared to the stock 23x10.5-12 tire








compared to the same tire mounted on a 13" wide wheel as used on the pulling tractor


Look at the area between the bars - I removed about 1/4" of rubber off the RH tire between the bars when I trimmed those years ago - added up to about 5 pounds of rubber per tire! The main intent was to lower the profile of the tire between the cut bars so the round tire wouldn't contact the ground as much. The weight loss was a nice side benefit.
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The ag tires will mark the lawn in spots. I have few places where there are short hills I need to turn up to. It climbs without spinning - the turfs would sometimes just spin. The ags go right up, but leave marks from the bars. Granted, these are cut/sharpened ex-pulling tires so they have more forward bite than an uncut ag tire that most people would have. If an ag tire ever actually spun on the lawn, it would likely tear grass out, where a turf usually just spins on top of the lawn. The biggest reason I put those on my tractor was because I could.dOd
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I like the tires and wheels. Big plus on the Sovereigns for stability when set up like that. PS Nice yard!
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  • 2 weeks later...
Thanks for the comments. It's taken a few years to get the yard in shape. No sprinkling, so in a few weeks it will not look quite that nice...
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