aircraft tires? farm impliment?

As someone who grew up on a farm, pulled implements thousands of miles with a pickup, the answer is yes.

You'll notice a lot of new farm equipment that can be pulled to a new owners place with a pickup are not sold with implement tires anymore.

 

tires are not that complex. they are fabric and rubber donuts. don't over think the wheel, its round and has been with us for millennium.

if you can tell me exactly what manufacturing procedures are not done in a tire meant for a tractor, over a modern (normally priced, normal speed rated) run of the mill tire, than I will believe the hype.

The only thing so far that I have seen that has any modi*** of truth to it, is the tread pattern and ***ociated traction/handling characteristics.

the laws of thermodynamics would tell me that a tractor tire, with the same amount of air pressure in it, will gain or lose heat at approximately the same rate as any other similarly sized tire at the same speeds.

my guess is that tractor tires are actually quite robustly built, meant to handle quite heavy loads. with tougher sidewalls etc. they need to be to prevent blow outs from cut dry straw gr***. which is essentially like those things that cops use to deflate the tires on cars.

its funny because mostly I see road tires on farm stuff, and its usually bald as can be.

then again, maybe Im just a FNG stirrin S***.

 

I've the three ribbed ones on my tractor...16inch, in front. IIRC theyare 6 ply and run with a tube.

Thing is, the sidewalls do flex alot, and the tread composition is much softer that a new radial tire.

I'm sure folks have a zillion miles on them in cars, but personally I'd use then for no more than rollers on any vehicle I own.

 

The rate of heat loss may certainly be the same, but the rate of internal heat generation may be vastly different.

Underneath the rubber exterior are layers of some woven material. I am sure you are familiar with the term "four ply" "six ply" and "radial ply", "cross ply" and so on.

In the bad old days natural cotton was used, then some of the (then) modern plastics such as rayon, nylon, polyester and aramid, and finally super materials like kevlar, and even steel belts on most modern radials.

Tire technology is far from simple, it is cutting edge technology.

How the internal fibres in the various plies move around and chafe each other, how strong they are, how much internal heat from friction and hysteresis (of the rubber) is generated, are all factors that can effect the heat buildup, and ultimate fatigue life to failure.

 

This is from my friend At Les Schwab.....


Implement tires "flex" in the side wall because most pieces of machinery DON"T have suspension. The tires are designed to ABSORB the irregularities of the road. The faster you spin a tire and the longer you use it at high speeds the shorter it's life span. Implement tires do not have a high standard of quality control. They are not designed for extended high rates of speed. They aren't even designed to take a corner at speed. They also use cheaper materials in the construction....Because a blow out isn't very serious at 15mph. Change that 75 and it is.

The fact of the matter is. If you use a non highway rated tire on your hot rod and you have an accident. Even if not your fault. You had better hope someone doesn't inspect your car and find those tires. They are not rated for highway use and my lawyer will have a field day with you in court.

 

I believe in heeding the information posted on the sidewalls! I used to drive a Travelift, (used for hauling or launching large boats) that could go a blinding 2-3 mph! The tire sidewalls clearly stated: DO NOT EXCEED 225 MPH! Of course I was careful not to. (Travelifts run 'used' bomber or airliner tires!)

 

Actually tires are way more complext then you would expect. ASnd they haven't been around for a millenium as stated. Yes the wheel has been around a very long time but the rubber tire as you know it hasn't been around that long at all.

Thye speed rating on a tire is based on the sustained speed it can maintain prior to being thrown off the rim. It wasn't until the l;ater 40s or 50s for example that a tire was developed that would go 200 mph without throwing off and that was a big deterent to the fellas trying to go 200 MPH at B-Ville. That is only a 5 mile run BTW.

An implement tire is not DOT approved because they are not designed to travel for any distance at a sustained highway speed. They do get hot the bead expands and they throw themselves off the rim. But they look cool and everyone knows that looks always outweighs performance.

 

That sounds like the perfect use for old aircraft tires.
But even aircraft tires with all their enormous speed and load ratings still have a weakness, and that is sidewall protection.
Exactly the same problem Formula One and racing slicks have. If you were to regularly spike them up against gutters while parking, those fantastic quality high speed tires might just fail in the sidewall one day.

If the tire manufacturer says max speed 25 MPH, not for road use, he probably has a very good reason.

 

It is cheaper to move off road machinery by truck instead of roading it down paved surface. The loader and s****er type tires will crack behind the lugs and they will eventually fail. They are designed for dirt surfaces. The replacement cost of the tires is a lot more than hiring a truck for transporting the equipment.

 

Johnny, I have the tires you are talking about on the T I'm building. Everything is the same as the Firestone ribbed dirt-track, but without the squares on the side. These are 5.00-16.
I bought them from an online tire clearing house in Tennessee. The only pair they had. I have only ever seen others like them in old b&w pictures.
They aren't farm tires. Implement tires have 3 or 5 ribs, and say "farm tire" on the side. Firestone racing tires have 4 ribs, like these.

 

Coker sells some ribbed racing tires. They are Firestone. Labeled as Firestone dirt track tires. They are 5.00 16's. A person would want to call and see if they are street legal. They are shown on a street rod.

 

I don't know why we worry about implement tires when we got pages of threads on recaps? ya I know you ran them all the time!

 

god dammit. those tires are amazing! lucky!

 

yeah but they have those ugly/useless squares on the sides. also, the "rear" ones they sell i have never seen in old pictures. if you look at the rear tires they are always straight across cut. like little squares, need to find me some of those too!

 

Thanks, and they look so great on these 3.5x16 wheels. Absolutely perfect.

I'll probably never see another new pair of tires like these ever again.