Bx1880 Upgraded Tires

[xrocketengineer]

Hi everybody from rainy and swampy Florida. I have a BX1880 that I bought new last year with a 48 in. belly mower and FEL/grapple. It came with R1 tires that worked sort of OK during our "dry season" for mowing and also for other chores like hauling out cut down trees and limbs. But the rains came in around May and they are still here. The soil gets so soft that that the front tires sink in all the low spots around the yard and create incredible ruts. Forget about using the FEL there. In the other areas, what has happened is that the tire lugs appear to put so much pressure on the soil, that not only that creates indentation as you mow but also the mower cuts lower as the tractor settles and has messed up the grass.
So, my conclusion is that the tires are too small and the R1 pattern is way to aggressive for my use. I have just bought a set of "all terrain tires" with wheels from The Mowers Parts Group for the BX2380/Bx2680. I have not tried them yet, I do not expect miracles but I hope that my lawn will improve eventually.
To not make the story drag on much longer, the bottom line is that the bigger tires will fit perfectly the BX1880 with the 48 in. deck with no modifications or adjustments needed with almost an inch of clearance to the closest point being the left rear anti scalp roller on the deck with it all the way up.
Now, these tires have a rounded shoulder unlike the R1's and R4's. I would assume that the roller would be a lot closer to the tire shoulder with those.
What I also believe is that since the frame and mechanicals are the same on the BX1880 as the BX2380/BX2680, is that the 48 inch mower would fit those models too with the possible R1/R4 tire clearance limitations on the deck roller.
I hope this helps to shed some light on the tire upgrade path for the BX1880.

 

[armylifer]

I have a BX1860, which is the same size as your BX1880. I upgraded the tires on my tractor some time ago and I am very happy with the upgrade. I went with the turf tires though.

I have the 54"mower on my BX1860 though. I have about 1.5 inch clearance between the right rear tire and the roller on the mower with the mower raised all the way to the top position. The turf tires have a rounded shoulder like what you talked about and I have never had any rubbing between the mower deck and the rear tires. The only issue I experienced with the front tires is that they rubbed my 54" mower deck when making a left turn. I solved that issue by adjusting the wheel stop on that side to where the tire no longer rubs the mower deck when turning left. I have a little loss of turning radius to the left but the right tire does not rub the deck so turning right is not affected at all.

 

[xrocketengineer]

I have a BX1860, which is the same size as your BX1880. I upgraded the tires on my tractor some time ago and I am very happy with the upgrade. I went with the turf tires though.

I have the 54"mower on my BX1860 though. I have about 1.5 inch clearance between the right rear tire and the roller on the mower with the mower raised all the way to the top position. The turf tires have a rounded shoulder like what you talked about and I have never had any rubbing between the mower deck and the rear tires. The only issue I experienced with the front tires is that they rubbed my 54" mower deck when making a left turn. I solved that issue by adjusting the wheel stop on that side to where the tire no longer rubs the mower deck when turning left. I have a little loss of turning radius to the left but the right tire does not rub the deck so turning right is not affected at all.

I read your previous post which helped me a lot to make my decision. However, what I found out was that as the tractor models progressed from the BX1860 to the BX1880, the wheel base increased from 52.8 in. to 55.1 in. The BX2360/BX2660 wheelbase is 55.1 in., the same as the all the BX23xx/BX26xx. Apparently for cost reasons when the 80 series came out, Kubota decided to use the same chassis and transmission on the lower cost BX1880 as on the other more expensive models. My transmission has a BX2380 part number sticker and the front differential gears part numbers are the same for all the bx80's per the Messick's website.
So it appears that upgrading to the larger wheels and tires is more straightforward on the newer model.
Sorry about all the verbiage, but I tend to over analyze this kind of stuff before making a decision and in the end sometimes I will screw it up anyway.
Cheers!

 

[armylifer]

I read your previous post which helped me a lot to make my decision. However, what I found out was that as the tractor models progressed from the BX1860 to the BX1880, the wheel base increased from 52.8 in. to 55.1 in. The BX2360/BX2660 wheelbase is 55.1 in., the same as the all the BX23xx/BX26xx. Apparently for cost reasons when the 80 series came out, Kubota decided to use the same chassis and transmission on the lower cost BX1880 as on the other more expensive models. My transmission has a BX2380 part number sticker and the front differential gears part numbers are the same for all the bx80's per the Messick's website.
So it appears that upgrading to the larger wheels and tires is more straightforward on the newer model.
Sorry about all the verbiage, but I tend to over analyze this kind of stuff before making a decision and in the end sometimes I will screw it up anyway.
Cheers!

I am glad that something I wrote helped you to make your decision. I saw on this site a few years ago that someone else upgraded their BX18xx to the larger wheels and that helped me make my decision to upgrade. I am glad that I did and my only regret is that I did not do it sooner.

So we all benefit from others experiences both good and otherwise. That's what this site is all about and one of the best reasons to visit daily.