Do, or Do not Deflate?

[Kendrix]

This will be my first winter with the BX23s with the front end snow blower attachment. I have the industrial tires. Any input on deflating the tires some in order to gain better traction a good, or bad idea?

 

[Ike]

I would not deflate them. Are they loaded. I have R4 on my L 3301 and we have on the average 2 to 3 foot of snow on the ground and I have no problem. They do not grip good on ice but they work and it is easier than a shovel

 

[jkcolo22]

I would not deflate them. Are they loaded. I have R4 on my L 3301 and we have on the average 2 to 3 foot of snow on the ground and I have no problem. They do not grip good on ice but they work and it is easier than a shovel

I second. The cold will lower your psi enough naturally. You deflate in warmer temps and then get out in the cold and pop a tire off the rim, and you have a bigger problem. Those are small tires. Not much air to work with.


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[rjcorazza]

X3 on do not deflate. R4's generally have stiff sidewalls, and the footprint will likely not change much (if at all) with lower pressures. The risk of spinning a tire on the rim or rolling off the rim are real. At the beginning of a rare 35" blizzard in my area I rolled a front tire off the rim due to a slow leak and subsequent lower pressure. I was not happy.


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[skeets]

Nope like everyone else said run them at pressure and you will be just fine, remember look at what you are going to do think it through, then sit back and think it through a second time. A little planing with your machine and your good to go

 

[Oliver]

R4's generally have stiff sidewalls, and the footprint will likely not change much (if at all) with lower pressures.

Tire footprint will indeed grow as pressure is decreased. I deflated the R4 tires on my tractor(s) soon after they were delivered. In both cases they came inflated at about what the manual calls for R4's (which is way higher than it calls for R1's and R3's?) but the contact patch was really small. Basically on a smooth surface (looking at the tires from the rear) the tires only touched in the center. I lowered pressure just until the entire width of the tires were making contact and the improvement in traction and ride quality was immediately apparent. As I recall the pressure I ended up at was pretty close to what they spec for R3 tires.

 

[Kendrix]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I appreciate it.

 

[dlundblad]

If anything, it'll put unnecessary wear on your tires.

 

[Oliver]

If anything, it'll put unnecessary wear on your tires.

You're probably correct, not deflating to the point the entire tread is working would wear out the center prematurely.

 

[Poohbear]

If anything, it'll put unnecessary wear on your tires.

Does the lower pressures also weaken the sidewall like it does on rv tires ?

 

[CO Hal]

How much is considered too deflated? I'm hauling heavy green 10' logs on my MX4800 w/ LA1065 loader & pallet tines. I have rear wheel weights and ballast box. It was recommended to me that I keep the fronts at recommended R4 pressure but run the rear R4s at 15-20 psi.

Good advice or bad?

Thanks in advance. Hal

 

[Oliver]

15 is probably about right for the rear. I had to lower my fronts as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7ashQU0RYU

 

[dlundblad]

Does the lower pressures also weaken the sidewall like it does on rv tires ?

It may weaken them overtime because of the unnecessary stress. I’m not sure.

As said, industrials have thick sidewalls. Not a good idea to deflate them IMO.

 

[CO Hal]

Thanks for the replies, especially 'Oliver'. I thought I had watched every Tractor Mike video, but somehow missed this one. I'm going to start at lower range of 'acceptable' in the rears and see how the ride and stability are. RTR

 

[Oliver]

You're more than welcome Hal. Some years back a farmer neighbor pointed out that my tires looked a little overinflated because the edges of the tires were not making contact at all. I said I know they're about correct because I check pressure regularly. He said forget what's on the sidewall or in the manual and explained, inflate one rear tire the pressure is correct when the edge just barely starts to rise off the pavement and make the other tire the same. Same on the fronts. Since then I've read many tractor operators say basically the same thing.
In my case I adjusted pressure with the ballast box on because I either have an implement or the ballast box on the rear. I did fronts with the bucket full of dirt which is probably about average between empty or filled with stone.

The extra traction is really apparent (and needed) in snow where R4's aren't that great to begin with.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I'm on my 2nd set of R4s on my BX23S with less than 220hrs ( 16 mths). Maybe a bad batch of rubber, but sidewalls had 19 'blisters'. Kubota still can't give me a true allowable 'payload' for the tractor(3000# gross). They 'say' I can have 750# on the loader(- bucket) BUT the tires are only rated for 860# each @ 22PSI.
If you let air out, say to 19 PSI, for a flatter tire that WILL affect load capability , though WHERE you find out the 'numbers' is anyone's guess. It'd be interesting to KNOW what your snowblower setup weighs in at.
I'm currently building my own selfpowered SSQA snowblower and IF I have traction problems, I'll toss on some chains.

Jay