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Turf tires vs R4 s

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AlbertaDan
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 23 Alberta
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2009-03-10          160957


Iam new to tractors and am talking with a dealers about it. One dealer recommends R4's as he prefers them to turf tires. What is the difference between them? what are the Pros and cons of each?



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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2009-03-10          160958


In my opinion R4s are pretty much useless for work anywhere except on very hard surfaces. They are ridiculously stiff - they can be nearly out of air and you can't tell by looking at them. That makes the ride very stiff. In the clay soil here they get terrible traction both when the soil is powder dry (they slip and slide) and when the soil is muddy (the lugs plug up and they aren't self-cleaning like R1s). I hated them but had a good dealer that traded them out for R1 ag tires.

If you need to work on turf then turf tires are the way to go. By all accounts they may be the best tire in the snow, and they are certainly the best on turf.

If you work in a lot of raw soil, or muddy conditions, then R1 AG tires are probably best but they will leave heavy tracks behind. ....


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AlbertaDan
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 23 Alberta
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2009-03-10          160959


Thanks for the input. I will be doing mostly mowing and moving snow to start, but th ewife is looking at putting in a garden of some sort. i will need the tractor to pull a few stumps(pine and fir) and then build a small path through the trees to work the garden. If the tractor can't do it i will have my truck to pull with. if that's not enough a friend has a backhoe. ....


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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2009-03-10          160960


I'm a bit of a rebel here when it comes to R-4's vs. Turf. I personally like the firm feel of the R-4's. The first compact I ever drove had turfs, it was stuck on wet grass, and in mud it was totally helpless. I'm on my third baby Deere with R-4's and wouldn't even consider turfs. Your dealer is right. Frank. ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2009-03-10          160961


As far as R4's go, you need to understand their lineage: they were develped for skid steers and construction equipment in general. Just like car or truck tires, you have to pick the right tread for the situation. ANd there are always tradeoffs too. I personally won't use turfs. My buddy had a tractor twice the size of mine with turfs and constantly got stuck in 4-inch deep mud. Mine withe Ags danced around him. However that particular tractor was a genuine farm tractor (1947 Fordson 9N). My new tractors and skid steers all use R4's. ....


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bvance
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 280 The Great Pacific NorthWet, Olympia, WA
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2009-03-10          160964


AD,

As was previously said, there are always trade-off and never does one tire fit all situations. For what you have described I would go with turf. You will be surprised what turfs can do in most situations most homeowners will use the CUTS for.

Sure there might be one or two times you might want a more aggressive tire, but if you are going to mow with your tractor, you will want turfs because an ag tire will leave large, ugly marks if the lawn is the least bit soft. And when you think how many times you will mow with your tractor during it's lifetime, it will likely be far more times than the few times you will actually need ag tires.

Brian ....


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harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY
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2009-03-11          160972


There have been many posts about this subject.

My opnion is turfs are the best all around for any type of lawn work and snow removal. I also use mine in the woods. In the muddy conditions turfs and R4's are about the same helpless I throw on chains and can do about anything a tractor with ag's can do except go fast.

When plowing a garden for planting turfs work fine. When I have plowed old sod and it was damp I did put on a set of chains. But that no different than chaining up large farm tractors to protect tires from rock cuts in the furrow. ....


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AnnBrush
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 463 Troy OH
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2009-03-11          160980


Any work on turf / lawn = turf tires. The use of anything else will tear the $%^&* up out of the lawn. ....


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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2009-03-12          161002


Have never used turf tires on any tractor and have had three from a B2710 in it's light weight up to about 8,000 lbs on lawn with finishing mower. The two heaviest both had ag tires. None left the marks warned about here. Now if my lawn was wet they did not go on it. But if muddy my lawn mower with turf tires could not climb the grade in my MIL yard but my CUT tractor with R4 did. Sure you can find some CUT here with turf tires and some on golf course have even been shaved. But was told years ago most damage with ag tires is due to the front tires and turning so sharp they dig in, proved true for me.

Now haveing said all that..reading these post noticed something had not picked up on before and that is where the turf tire recommendations are coming from, COLD country. No doubt there is wide variance in soils and moisture content but your soil also freezes which very seldom happens here. I do know frozen soil is very mushy when it begins to melt but for us that is normally at most about 3 days. Also snow here is very seldom (hey 2 times this year, all since Jan 1). FYI Dixie Chopper an ZTR built in Indiana or that area has at least an option here of drive tires more like ag tires than turf tires. Local dealership I think totally went to those over the turf tires.

No sure now who said the air could be low in the R4 and you not realize it due to how stiff, had a tire come off rim due to how low air was and with no air it still looked aired up. ....


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