Go BottomJD 790 stability and wheel spacing
 | ksfarmboy
Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 7 Salina, KS 
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2003-09-26 64914
An earlier post discussed 790 stability and reversing the wheels to increase wheel spacing. It was not clear whether this was referring to the rear or front wheels. The manual (page 66) mentions mounting the rear wheels in the "wide tread" position for better stability, but doesn't say anything about the front wheels. My MFWD 790 already has the rear wheels in the "wide" position, and in fact I can't imagine reversing them to make it narrower. The front wheels appear to be in the "narrow" position, so reversing them would make sense for stability's sake. It would probably increase the wheel spacing by a few inches.
The dealer (salesman) discouraged me from reversing the wheels, saying that it might put more strain on the front end of the tractor. Do any of you folks have any comments about that or can you share your experience with the 790 in "wide front" mode? What about steering performance, turning radius, etc.? The tires are R4 type.
Yes, in reference to the earlier posting, if I do this I will certainly use sturdy jackstands and a heavy duty floor jack to do this job. I don't intend to add another injury report to the list!
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 | AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144 
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2003-09-26 64916
The real increase in stability is going to be gained from setting the rear wheels out. The front axle moves a limited degree, so slight widening of the front will only improve things marginally and will increase forces on bearings and steering linkage. Stick with doing the rears only as the dealer suggests. ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada 
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2003-09-26 64937
The other factor with widening the front wheels is that the front axle PIVOTS.
It doesn't matter how far apart the front wheels get, the front axle will not add much in the way of sideways stability if the machine is still free to pivot on the axis of the front axle pivot joint.
Best of luck. ....
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 | F350Lawman
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 411 Goshen, NY
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2003-09-26 64947
I had my JD 790 for about a month before setting the front wheel to the wide stance. It does help. I didn't think it was 'tippy" before but it is noticeably more stable now. It also gives more a wider stance to stradle them nasty groundhog holes that almost swallow the front tires!
I have not noticed increaed scuffing of the lawn or much if any difference in turning radius.
As far as the axle pivoting my front axle has hit the stop while pivoting(it's scuffed) so even though it does pivot the wider wheels would still help. The 'tipover" point is somewhere past where all the pivot has been used up. I don't intend to find out just what that point is. :)
I just lifted the tractor with the FEL and changed them NASCAR style but yes, good jackstands are the safer way to go.
Why don't you drive the tractor over your worst most hilly area with the wheels set to narrow and then try it again with the wheels set to wide. I think you will agree it helps and if not you've wasted less than 15 minutes and can swap them back.
My dealer said it was OK and others have inquired and gotten similar responses from JD. People set axles and tires to wide on all types of tractors so why should the JD 790 be any different? I look at my tractors light weight and moderate hydraulic lift capabilities vs. the beefy axles and frame and I don't think it's going to hurt itself. :) ....
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| glalonde
Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 18 near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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2003-09-29 65091
I did see the manual about the 'wide tread' on page 66 but can't figure out how it's done.
How can I tell if the tractor is in wide position for rear wheel and if not, how do you do it ?
I know how to do it for the front wheel but not the rear.
Guillaume ....
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| F350Lawman
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 411 Goshen, NY
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2003-09-29 65111
You can tell by looking at the front rims. If you 'flipped' them ( so the valve stems now faced in towards the tractor)would the wheels be set out wider or narrower?
Just jack up the tractor and switch them if you want. If you have R-4 Industrial tires they are directional and you will need to switch the rights to the left as well as 'flipping' them so that they still rotate the right way when you are going fowards. You will see arrows on the sidewall.
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2003-09-30 65120
Some wheels do have adjustable rims. There'd be a series of lugs at different positions around the rim. I think these would be found mostly on the rear wheels of larger tractors. ....
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 | plots1
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 563 mo 
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2003-09-30 65159
The 790 has the type of rim's that Tom is talking about when the tractor is bought with R-1's. ....
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| F350Lawman
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 411 Goshen, NY
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2003-09-30 65169
The 790 rims wiht the R-4 s are not type that are on some of the big farm tractor rims where the outside of the rim can be removed and reattached but instead they are "dished". So if you have the dish facing out you are in the wide stance and if the dish facing in you are in the narrow stance.
They are almost like the wheels on most of our dually pickups, you run them "dished in" in the front and "dished out" in the rear. This way you only need one type of spare.
Also if you look at the rear wheels on a dually the outside wheels on either side are dished out and the inside wheels are dished in. ....
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 | itsgottobegreen
Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 329 Mt. Airy, MD
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2003-10-07 65785
I remeber a long time ago when i use to work at a golf course we had a jd 1070 with a loader and backhoe. the rear wheels were in the wide setting. These were turf tires the rear end was almost 8 feet wide. The bucket was only 6.5ft. I when a flipped them back one day the boss wasn't around. So the rear end was a little lest than 7ft. It was easyer to drive to drive in and out of the shop. All i remember was the front tires were the same width as the bucket. I don't think you can flip them. I may be wrong. ....
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