Wheel Swap Around

[1coolbanana]

Hi all
Been thinking about how narrow the width of my tractor is and being a newbie to all this and feeling like Ive been close to roll over a couple times already, Id like to widen it and make it as stable as I can.

Apart from the logistics of doing it myself (being full of water as well) and the valves being then positioned on the inside, is it possible to swap rear wheels from one side to the other?

Ive given it a quick measure and I could gain about 5-6" (2.5-3" per side) in width by swapping them around.

Is this a cool thing to do?

The tractor is an L1-22, 9.5 x 24 if that makes any difference

And what about the front, could they be swapped sides?

Cheers
Marc

 

[ctmike]

Rear's can be swapped. Fronts on 4 wheel drive shouldn't be, something about extra stress on the components.

 

[76_Bronco]

Good looking tractor! For extra stability after swapping the tires around, you should always have a heavy implement attached to the 3pt lift when using the loader. And never travel with a loaded bucket lifted above the hood.

 

[1coolbanana]

Thanks.
Yep, Im always carrying a 5ft box blade and keep the loader as low as possible.

So if I swap the rears around, that will give me a 5 inch overall width increase.

That will make it still narrower than the 5ft box blade but wider than the bucket.

Is that a worthwhile "feelable" improvement?

 

[Dan_R_42]

Marc, if it were my rig, I would swap the rears. Very simple & worthwhile mod for stability.

Very sharp looking rig. Good luck with it

 

[gpreuss]

Yes, you will really notice the stability improvement! Don't do the front though - it is murder on the steering mechanism.
Depending on what you are doing, having the rear tires wider than the FEL bucket can be a problem. But easy enough to swap back when you need to.
Nice looking tractor! Is that a 4-way bucket on the front?
Pics, more pics!

 

[1coolbanana]

Thanks guys
Yes, 4 way bucket
Now I just have to work out how to swap them around single handed!

Here she is

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Swapping the front wheels is not going to help stability at all, it will only cause you mechanical problems.
The front pivots the back doesn't, so all the ground hugging comes out of keeping the rear tires planted on the ground.
For stability on hills and uneven ground:
Widen the rear wheel stance, load the tires with ballast (the heavier the better), Rear wheel weights help too, Put 500+lbs on the three point. if your box blade is as light as most you need to add weight to it to get better ballast out of it.

 

[1coolbanana]

Thanks for tha help everyone
I swapped the rears around today, not a huge diference, about 5 inches, but better than nothing

Would someone have the torque spec for the wheel nuts?

Ive used 120ft/lbs for the rear and 70 ft/lbs for the front but Im just guessing.

Before at about 4'1" overall

After 4"6" overall

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

My tractor is essentially the same just a tad larger, If you want excellent stability on hills and excellent traction on rocks, these kind of tire are the way to go.
They are 13.50-16.1



They add a lot of width, traction and bottom weight (ballasted they add about 1000lbs or 453KG of weight over the stock tires).
Just something to keep an eye out for, for the future.

 

[Dan_R_42]

Marc, that 5" really looks like it makes a big difference when viewing the after photo. Get the tires loaded too. Great looking rig. Good Luck with it...

 

[1coolbanana]

My tractor is essentially the same just a tad larger, If you want excellent stability on hills and excellent traction on rocks, these kind of tire are the way to go.
They are 13.50-16.1

View attachment 10296

They add a lot of width, traction and bottom weight (ballasted they add about 1000lbs or 453KG of weight over the stock tires).
Just something to keep an eye out for, for the future.

Thats an awesome setup , Ill have to save the pennies and keep an eye out.
Overall diameter the same as 9.5 x 24?
Are the stud patterns fairly common?

What torque do you use on wheel nuts?
Cheers
Marc

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I just tighten the lug nuts up till the veins in my forehead almost pop!

Just measure bolt centers and size of the center hole, and use that as a guide, most Kubota, and subcompacts use the same size rims.
The RC of the tires should match up to work on yours.

 

[1coolbanana]

Re: Wheel Swap Around and spacers?

Dont fancy my chances finding another set of rims and wider wheels here in Oz unless I buy new and I found these spacers on ebay today and just wondering if they are a good or bad thing.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/121260515487?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 

[olthumpa]

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[1coolbanana]

But he might if I asked nice

 

[Rob]

There is a very obvious answer to this which no one has mentioned yet, and its very straight forward and will give you a much better offset distance without spacer etc, or replacement wheel combo, if you ask me nicely i'll tell you what the answer is, no charge at all

it's been staring you all in the face from day 1.

rob

 

[Rob]

Well , here you go anyway.
since you are getting a bit short on options why not consider this plan.
You have the one peice rims on you cracking machine, whereas you really need the split rims versions.
the one piece wheels only have two possible offsets, unless you use spacers.
On the other hand the split rims option has 5 possible offset combinations.
This is obtained by the use of 4 small doglegged lugs welded to the rims and with 4 holes in the centre hub plate as the hub centre section is either dished of reccessed aswell.
As the dogleg lugs are just that and have two sets of mounting holes , you can then, mount the rim in 5 posible offset positions per left and right side of the tractor.
Similar setups found on differing tractors and wheel manafcaturers.
All you need do or get a machine shop to do is cut the centres out carefully,( not difficult on your rims) and then weld the new lugs to the rim and drill the centre plate accordingly, goes without saying that it would all need measuring and lining up correctly before the lugs were welded, but its pretty straight forward really.
I suspect that yours would need a small extra plate welded to the centre boss as they look slighlty dished and they need to be flat where bolted to the rim, but not a problem.
According to my L225 manual the rear wheel track can be set from approx 38" wide to 52" wide by using various combinations of the 5 posistions, probably more with differing wheel/hub combo's. 38" to 52" may not sound alot, but in realterms, it does make a lot of difference and the extra width is really noticable.
I'd do it for you if you were closer, but hey , you are just a bit to far to be honest
pic of my L225 wheel (white) and a generic two peice kubota 24" rim, you can see the lugs on the rims etc.
anyway, if in your shoes i know which route i'd go down...
cheers
rob

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Re: Wheel Swap Around and spacers?

Dont fancy my chances finding another set of rims and wider wheels here in Oz unless I buy new and I found these spacers on ebay today and just wondering if they are a good or bad thing.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/121260515487?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

If they won't ship it strait to you give me a shout I'll ship them out to you.

 

[kubseki]

But he might if I asked nice

I got a pair of spacers for my BX sent to Aus from that company .. no probs