Running tractor tires on a zero turn

[mikester]

I just put on a set of WT300 turf bar tires and the difference in control is day and night. I'm a convert!

Here's a link to my blog post about them with photos.

Quest for a better Zero Turn kubota ZD326-6P Modifications Divergent Stuff

 

[85Hokie]

Looks good Mike,
question, when you do a quick 180 -those gonna bite more grass? I can see the advantages with those R4's - but I could imagine the grass too if hard spins are used.

 

[D2Cat]

Some zero turns come with similar tires.

And Hokie, once you learn how to use a zero turn effectively they do not leave any divots. I don't use it, but my wife had her own salon and one of her customers was a guy who owned his landscaping/mowing business. She would ask him the techniques and he would tell her what to do, and why to do it that way. She'd come home and practice. She tells me she'd like to go to a 0-turn Rodeo and compete.

I remember her explaining how you don't just stop the inside wheel, but slightly nudge it as the outside is swing around the radius.

 

[85Hokie]

Some zero turns come with similar tires.

And Hokie, once you learn how to use a zero turn effectively they do not leave any divots. I don't use it, but my wife had her own salon and one of her customers was a guy who owned his landscaping/mowing business. She would ask him the techniques and he would tell her what to do, and why to do it that way. She'd come home and practice. She tells me she'd like to go to a 0-turn Rodeo and compete.

I remember her explaining how you don't just stop the inside wheel, but slightly nudge it as the outside is swing around the radius.

And we have seen those that think they are driving NASCAR too.....most commercial guys with zero turns drive it like .......Dale Earnhardt

 

[sdk1968]

YES they do make a huge difference on slopes & banks.

YES they do tear the crap out of the yard if you try to do a zero turn at speed vs the terfs...


even worse are 4 wheeler tires on a zero.. they totally destroy a yard.
made that mistake & went back to the tractor tires.

 

[mikester]

Looks good Mike,
question, when you do a quick 180 -those gonna bite more grass? I can see the advantages with those R4's - but I could imagine the grass too if hard spins are used.

They definitely bite more grass and give more traction. If you run it like toggle switches you will tear up your ground quick.

The biggest difference is I now have fine tuned speed control that the turf tires don't give. I can stop and turn and do 180's on these without any wheel spin. The turf tires are just spin city in comparison and difficult to control especially on wet grass and slopes.

I've got very hilly ground. On the turfs I'm constantly sliding down hill. Trying to turn on slope leaves major skid marks. On the new bar tires slip and slide is gone and I'm actually able to make turns on the slopes for going around trees.

The edges of these tires are rounded and less aggressive than the R4 style.

 

[sdk1968]

Mike,


since you have "hilly"... like me... you understand zero's on hills... the space in between the bars actually helps you turn without tearing once you get the hang of it.

just be glad you didnt do 4 wheeler tires. Those destroy now matter what you do.

heres my old baby: ATZ Hustler with a 6' deck.

my new ones got a 5' deck(much less scalping on angles)


did write up over at the lawn care site when we did the engine swap up to a 37hp..

 

[mikester]

Mike,


since you have "hilly"... like me... you understand zero's on hills... the space in between the bars actually helps you turn without tearing once you get the hang of it.

just be glad you didnt do 4 wheeler tires. Those destroy now matter what you do.

heres my old baby: ATZ Hustler with a 6' deck.

my new ones got a 5' deck(much less scalping on angles)


did write up over at the lawn care site when we did the engine swap up to a 37hp..

I like the roll bars! Hopefully you haven't needed them yet

 

[sdk1968]

I like the roll bars! Hopefully you haven't needed them yet

Mike,

my place was pretty steep (picture below) the front was the good part. the sides were steeper.

came factory on the ATZs along with all the weights...

they used a little stronger wheel motor(less speed) & extended the frame on the machine so that it had better balance. the selling "talk" was that they were good for 20* slopes. they would actually do steeper.

drawback(in my mind) was they didnt have enough motor. biggest motor they had was a 27hp. so first winter i had it we swapped the 27hp for a 37hp Kawasaki.

THAT made it into an awesome machine for the rest of the time we lived there.

we sold it with the house & i got the Super Z HD for our new location... made the mistake of those 4 wheeler tires. ugh.

 

[SRG]

Thanks for this thread. I had been looking at upgrading from the spinning turfs on my 797 to ATV tires. Sounds like that would have been a mistake. It's almost hard to understand how ATV tires would do more damage.
I was going to put some like this on....
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCKXHF9/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_8?smid=A19P5C5D14NV96&psc=1

Where did you get those bar lug tires from? Are they available in 24-12-12?

Edit; answered my own question. Carlisle has a model AT101 Chevron in 24x12.00-12.

 

[mikester]

Thanks for this thread. I had been looking at upgrading from the spinning turfs on my 797 to ATV tires. Sounds like that would have been a mistake. It's almost hard to understand how ATV tires would do more damage.
I was going to put some like this on....
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCKXHF9/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_8?smid=A19P5C5D14NV96&psc=1

Where did you get those bar lug tires from? Are they available in 24-12-12?

Edit; answered my own question. Carlisle has a model AT101 Chevron in 24x12.00-12.

The WT300 only come in 2 sizes from what I’ve seen on their web site, 26-12-12 and 18-8.5-10.

I got mine from a local AG tire guy - I like to buy local where I can. You can also order online
http://www.carlisletirestore.com/store/carlisle-wt300-turf-tires.html

The interesting thing I just noticed was this website was advertising $80/tire +$85 shipping when I ordered mine and the price is now $104/tire “on sale”.

 

[sdk1968]

Thanks for this thread. I had been looking at upgrading from the spinning turfs on my 797 to ATV tires. Sounds like that would have been a mistake. It's almost hard to understand how ATV tires would do more damage.
I was going to put some like this on....
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCKXHF9/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_8?smid=A19P5C5D14NV96&psc=1

Where did you get those bar lug tires from? Are they available in 24-12-12?

Edit; answered my own question. Carlisle has a model AT101 Chevron in 24x12.00-12.

Mikester is right.... he got a good price on those tires.. mine were also 24 x12x12's....


now how come 4 wheeler tires tear the yard up worse?

it seems to be that the tractor bars are spaced far enough apart to have the smooth between them & the bars have a "gentler" edge on them than 4 wheeler tires.

every edge of every lug on the 4 wheeler tires "bites" & then cleans out..

so if you do a Zeroturn... you get a swirly of torn up grass & bare dirt vs spinning around inbetween the bars on the tractor lugs... likewise the original terfs would also spin ON TOP of the surface.


this means if you are a yard Nazi...or a striper/checkerboarder.... you aint gonna like it.

if you just mow grass because it needs it? then its not a big deal. im mowing about 5 acres of rolling, rough surface & in this weather its about every 4-5 days, so its getting cut & not sliding off to my death is all the main concern.

sure i want it to look "good"! but good just means freshly cut & even vs a golf course finish. & i mow at 3".

 

[mikester]

Mikester is right.... he got a good price on those tires.. mine were also 24 x12x12's....


now how come 4 wheeler tires tear the yard up worse?

it seems to be that the tractor bars are spaced far enough apart to have the smooth between them & the bars have a "gentler" edge on them than 4 wheeler tires.

every edge of every lug on the 4 wheeler tires "bites" & then cleans out..

so if you do a Zeroturn... you get a swirly of torn up grass & bare dirt vs spinning around inbetween the bars on the tractor lugs... likewise the original terfs would also spin ON TOP of the surface.


this means if you are a yard Nazi...or a striper/checkerboarder.... you aint gonna like it.

if you just mow grass because it needs it? then its not a big deal. im mowing about 5 acres of rolling, rough surface & in this weather its about every 4-5 days, so its getting cut & not sliding off to my death is all the main concern.

sure i want it to look "good"! but good just means freshly cut & even vs a golf course finish. & i mow at 3".

I totally agree - if you are looking for perfect golf green a zero turn probably isn't for you. If you are trying to minimize mow times then zero turns are where it's at.

I think there is a balance needed between traction and floatation. Turf tires tend to be heavy on floatation where ATV tires are all about traction. From my experience the zero turns need a bit of both to work well. Unfortunately ZT tires are expensive to find out what works based on trial and error. I do know that turfs haven't worked well for me and I'm happy with the R4's on my tractors.

At 1,700 lbs the ZD326 is a heavy beast. These WT300's seem to have have hit the sweet spot for me and I'm thrilled. It's like I'm driving a brand new machine.

Generally I think the Kubota's are very well built machines. I've found that sometimes they've dropped the ball on a few items like tractor seating and throwing run-of-the-mill turf tires on everything just because that's what people expect to see. When I see the new machines with low profile turf tires I cringe to think how harsh the ride will be on them with no sidewall give for cushioning.

 

[sdk1968]

^^^ excellent info & input.

im with you on the ride aspect & the seats/tires for sure!

just by chance what do you run in those tires of yours?
(guessing you went 4 or 6ply.)

 

[mikester]

^^^ excellent info & input.

im with you on the ride aspect & the seats/tires for sure!

just by chance what do you run in those tires of yours?
(guessing you went 4 or 6ply.)

4ply was the only option

I’m running them at 14psi which seems to work well so far for comfort and traction. I want to try 12psi next to see how it affects traction.

What are you running for tire pressure?

 

[SRG]

I'm in the camp of my yard looks good, when its cut. I mow 5acres and the speed and width of the cut is what i was after. It takes 2hrs to cut without bogging or working the little 29hp Kawasaki motor too hard.
When i first bought this place, it came with a 54" Cub Cadet big box store special zero turn and it took 5hrs to mow.. That thing was sold immediately.

After reading the info in here, I got excited and ordered the Carlisle AT101 Chevrons. Can't wait to get them installed. I hate when all i get is spinning tires in a turn.

 

[SRG]

I had the local farm and barn install the Carlisle AT101's today.
Huge difference in traction, undeniably as expected. However, they will tear up the grass if you aren't mindful of how you're turning. Especially if it's soft turf like after a rain, which is what i have been testing it in today. Either way, i'm happy with them so far. I can pull the front tires 6-8" off the ground from a dead stop Couldn't do that with the old turf tires.

 

[prof.fate]

my concern would be if the turfs are slipping you're driving too hard.

now the tractor tires don't slip..so that 'relief' isn't htere - the stresses are being transferred to the trans/hst units or frame.

Something is gonna give.

I'd rather have my tires slip than the hst units break.

YMMV

 

[sdk1968]

4ply was the only option

I***8217;m running them at 14psi which seems to work well so far for comfort and traction. I want to try 12psi next to see how it affects traction.

What are you running for tire pressure?

at 10psi on 6ply's... any more than that & it makes it ride stiff.

guessing thats probably the same kinda feel you are getting on the 4ply's at 12-14.

try it & let me know~!




& OMG... he's on a GREEN zero.

 

[SRG]

& OMG... he's on a GREEN zero.

HAHA. One of these days i'll have a ZD331 72" but for the time being i'm green.