New Tires Solved Compaction Problem

New Tires Solved Compaction Problem TIRES/WHEELS Miscellaneous The Goodyear Low Sidewall LSW tires that I installed on my planter tractor this year eliminated the pinch row compaction I’d experienced with rear duals I replaced the R20/8046 rear duals on my Deere 8220 with single LSW 900/50R46 tires and the single 320/85R34 fronts with single LSW 710/60R30’s This setup provides 80 percent more flotation for the front of the tractor and about 20 percent more for the rear A row of corn or beans is planted directly into the center of each rear tractor tire track but I couldn’t detect any emergence issues with either crop I used a penetrometer to check the compaction 2 in from the center of the planted rows behind the new tires The reading was about 10 to 15 percent less than what I had when planting between the dual wheels The new tires raised the tractor profile about 4 in so I had to adjust the planter hitch to make it level The tractor weighed 22 450 lbs with the LSW’s installed with 65 percent of the weight on the rears and 35 percent on the fronts Air pressure was set at 9 lbs for all 4 tires Driving with the super-sized tires is easy and the guidance system had no problem maintaining perfectly straight rows The tire lugs are 2 2 inches high on the rears and 2 44 inches high on the fronts so there’s plenty of traction I also noticed that the ride was smoother at road speed and there wasn’t any tire hop The 4 new LSW tires cost about the same as 4 sets of duals That cost included custom color-matched rims to fit the tractor’s bolt patterns and installation by the local dealer The used tires and rims were traded in as part of the deal Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Lorn Manthey Northfield Minn 55057 redoakridge@mac com

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