[hankvc]

I need some advice on tires before buying any.

Currently, I have a 318 and a 330 tractor sitting side-by-side. Both have 50" mower decks. I also have chain sets for both tractors.

The 318, in winter, works with a 47 snowblower. It has the weight bracket for six suitcase weights which mounts over the standard rockshaft.

The 330, has a 30 tiller on a 3-pt rockshaft, and no weights.

Both tractors currently have Goodyear Softrac 23-10.50-12 rear tires. One has a slow leak, and I do not know if it is a sidewall leak or not.

Both tractors have 16-6.50-8 front tires. Three are the Goodyear Softrac, and one is a Carlisle.
All tires are turfs with significant tread left.

My objective is to have at least one tractor with a 50" mower available to allow overlap through snow season and tilling season.

My thinking has been in terms of getting a pair of Carlisle All-Trails and a pair of Vredestein V-61's for the 318, primarily to give me some better traction and steering with the snowblower.
However, I want to be able to mow with the tractor, so do not want to mount lug tires on the rear.

The Vredesteins are available in 16-6.50-8 and 18-8.50-8 sizes, both 6-ply. I'm thinking of the snowblower weight, plus the possible addition of front wheel weights to improve steering in snow.
Is the larger size practical on stock rims? It looks to me as though they won't interfere with the mower deck. The Vredesteins (either size) should improve steering mowing next to my irrigation ditches, where getting too close with turfs risks sliding the nose into the ditch.

Will the All-Trails give me enough improvement over the Softracs to be worth doing the switch?

Hank

 

[ddogg]

Hank, the larger V61s will balloon on smaller rims. Also, you will raise the front of the tractor an inch with the 18" tires. Finally, the wider taller tires could interfere with the deck, but you should measure to make sure.

 

[chuckv]

Hank,

I have 18 inch diameter front tires on the 1992 322 with 26 inch rears. That combination keeps things level but can interfere with even a 46 inch deck's front edge at full steering lock. All the tire treads are Carlisle Milti-trac C/S style and have decent traction...but rear HDAP tread patterns like the All-Trails should be a further improvement in traction without much risk to the turf.

I have never had a 50 inch deck so I can't give any experience-based advice on tire SIZE. In the picture below, the 26 rear 18 front combination is on 1992 322 on the right, and the stock 23 turf rear 16 Carlisle ribbed front tire combination is on the other...notice that the mower deck is on the 1988 tractor with the smaller tires.

 

[coalminer16]

Add an H2 kit from Ron at aux-hyd.com and put a dual brake on the 330 as well from any of the other models (332,322,318,420,430) and you can put that blower on the 330. Then you can have a coolant feed heater on a cab for it vs the 318. Just a thought.

As for bar rear tires - I mowed for a while with bar tires without issue. But I figured mowing with fluid filled bar tires wasn't going to help things. Brother mows all year with bar tires on his 330. I found cheap enough turf tires on rims I use them mowing/tilling and use fluid filled bar tires for when I need traction. Only need to worry about the bar tires really when mowing with soft/wet group. Myself living in WY for a few years-I don't see that happening often since most need to water there lawn to even have something to mow. But-you might be in a spot that is more wet then where I lived (Rocksprings-one summer, Gillette one summer, Sheridan 3 years).

 

[minisub]

Hank,
I have the 18" v61 on a 318 with a 50" deck with no deck interference. I do have a spacer on the axle to keep the tire off the steering ram however. Mine are 4 ply as they have a higher weight rating than the 6 ply 16s and I figured they would be easier to mount.

For rears, I use ATV tires on both of my mowers. I find them good in winter and kind to the lawn.

 

[jeff_kluewer]

Tom, do you have the original front rims or are you using the wider rims from a 400 series? Also do you have a picture of the spacer you used for the steering ram to keep it off the tire?

 

[hundojoe]

Tom what size rear tires are you running if you have the 18" v61's up front? Do you have a picture of your tire set up?

 

[ab318]

I put the Carlisle Turf Master on my 318 few years ago because I like the thread more aggressive.
Since last year I have tubes all around because all of them began to leak.
Very poor quality, all of them look very old already and have a lot of crack on the side.
Also the rear tires look like low profile compared with the Good Year.
Andre

 

[hankvc]

It never rains but it pours, the old adage goes.
One of my old routers conked out this morning, and while I have another available, it isn't configured to plug 'n play. And configuring a Fortinet router is no picnic.

All of a sudden, the slow-leaking rear tire on the rear of the 318 is leaking much faster. I've got it off, have given it the dose of soapsuds, and no bubbles/no joy. Don't see any leaks at the valve stem or core, either. I've filched one of the rears off the 330 to get the 318 going, as the 330 is down waiting for parts, and won't be up for another week. The 318 has had its rears mounted in the wide position, and the 330 came to me in the narrow position. I may switch the other tire on the 318 to narrow, as I don't have any real slopes to consider.

My thinking is to stick with the 16-6.50-8 size for the Vredesteins. Clearance between the left tire and the mower deck is a bit close. I didn't check the dimension to the steering linkage.

Travis, Rock Springs, Gillette, and Sheridan give you the general idea of "sagebrush country." Here in Fremont County we get a little less rain.
The big factor for me, in addition to local microgeology, is the availability of irrigation water. I have two ditches, one on the north end of the property; the other at the south end, which supply enough water to drown the place. The south ditch is below grade, so I have to pump from it. Right now I have six sprinklers wetting down the 1/2 acre front lawn. The soil on my place has reasonable drainage, so I don't get much Wyoming gumbo after a serious rain. To me, it seems a toss-up between the All-Trails or lug tires.

Andre, last year I got a pair of Carlisle Turf-Masters for the LT133 from Miller Tire, and they are good tires.

 

[minisub]

Jeff,
I am on original rims. No picture of the spacer, but it is just an 1/8" pipe nipple held to the axle with a hose clamp. One of these days something more proper may be in order.

Joe,
I am running 25-12.5-12 Kenda Bearclaws in the rear. I have them on 10" rims that John Lang made available here many, many years ago. Here are a couple of pictures I have handy, nothing of the whole tractor:

 

[minisub]

Joe,
Found this on my phone of the 318 with 18s up front, 25s in the rear and full leaf-battle regalia in place.

 

[425and300jd]

Jeff,
I used a big nut and a hose clamp to keep the 18" V61 away from the steering cylinder.
Very similar to Tom's method.

 

[425and300jd]

My 26x12-12 Carlisle turfs on 8.5" wheels in the narrow position clear the 50" deck with ease.

 

[chuckv]

Jeff,

Like Doug, I clamped a thick piece of metal strap at that location on the axle to limit steering travel to keep the 18 inch tires off the steering cylinder and rod (it still was not enough to keep the tires off the front edge of the 46 deck when fully lifted...)

Chuck

 

[bandaman]

Carlisle All Trails out back and X-tracs in the front year round for me on the 318. Stock sizes. 50 lb cast weights on each side and washer fluid in the tires. Hasn't damaged my turf and I pushed a lot of snow all winter with no chains. I do have a level concrete driveway though. Not mowing much anymore since I bought a zero turn, but the weight and tires did not concern me when using in the summer. I'm impressed with the setup.

 

[ddogg]

Mike M., I was wondering how that exact combination would look, and now I know. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[trav1s]

I am very happy with the narrow version of the All Trails on my 120. I have not added weight or used the snowblower at this point. They work great on the hills in my back yard and do not tear up grass.

 

[knottyrope]

47 blower is a refrigerator and requires a lot of weight on the rear. are you using wheel weights? I don't think 6 suitcase weights is enough.

I have a 420 with a thrower (which is smaller than the Blower) and use wheel weights 200 total and 4 suitcase weights which is almost 200 lbs total. I don't get stuck backing up a hill anymore.

 

[hankvc]

To bring things up to date, I haven't bought any tires. The leak problem with the Softrac rear tire turned out to be the valve stem. So here I am with two tractors and four mounted rear Softracs, all with plenty of tread and in good condition, on rims that will interchange between the two tractors.

I ran into some posts on another forum which suggest that V61 tires clog up in snow and aren't the way to go with a snowblower.

Knotty, yes, a 47 blower on a 318 is a monster, and it takes some skill to manage one. Six 40 lb. weights on the back counterbalances the blower adequately when it is lifted, but with it on the ground, there is very little weight on the fronts for steering. I'm looking for some front rim weights, which might improve that.

For the rears, I have two sets of chains, and need them for traction with the Softracs. If that is not ideal, at least I can use the blower.

Right now, I'm over-budget on other projects, and have to replace a 23-8.50-12 tire on a CC100. It would be nice to put 23-10.50-12's on that tractor, and some All-Trails on the 318, but I don't think the wider tires will work on the CC100's 7-inch rims.

Travis, yes, I can convert the 330 to 2-spool hydraulics. But it is manual steering, and has a 3-point on it for the tiller, which won't take the standard rockshaft rear weight bracket. And there's the small matter of getting a diesel started in 0F. I'm sticking with the 318 for the blower, the 330 for the tiller, and 50" mower decks available for both.

Hank

 

[coalminer16]

I can tell you my V61's havent' clogged with snow on my 44 loader nor my 47 blower and I doubt I would ever use any other tire again.