It's important to familiarize yourself with the basic anatomy of agricultural tires including each of the tire’s components to understand how tire construction impacts tire performance. Using this information, you can have a better understanding of the role each tire component plays in ensuring your farm’s tires are achieving top performance when you head into the field for soil prep, planting, spraying and harvest.
Beads Anchor the tire to the rim and allow the tire to stay "seated" on the wheel.
Bead Fillers stabilize the lower sidewall by enveloping the bead and extending up tin the sidewall to maximize stability, steering response, and case durability.
Liners protect the cord body by insulating the tubes from the cords. Liners are essential for resisting air and moisture permeation.
Belts determin the shape, or footprint, of the tire. Belts work in conjunctio with the cords to add stability and stregnth.
Treads serve to interact with the soil or paved surface and provide traction. Tread design varies between tires to maximize traction and resist wear and tear.
Sidewalls are made of flexible rubber and provide lateral stability. The sidewalls keep the body plies and innerliner of the tire protected from stubble and debris. Sidwall flex is a big factor in deciding what tire is right for what job and what peice of equipiment.
Lug depth is important for traction. together with the lug buttress, this component provides tread stability.
Cords run radially from bead to bead and determine the strength of the tire, determine its load capacity and provide lateral stability.
Armed with this information, the next decisions you will need to make is whether to purchase radial or bias tires, and what size should your tractor tires be?
Bias ply tires engineered with multiple plies of rubber criss-crossed over one another.
Thus, the sidewall and tread are connected. Conversely, radial tires are made of two separate parts. The body plies run perpendicular to the bead and the undertread hugs the tires circumference with steel belts. This way, sidewall movement isn't transferred into the tread so radials offer reduced soil compaction. To sum up the debate, bias tires are great for forestry, or non-tillage equipment and they cost less than radials. Radials have a larger footprint for better traction and reduced soil compaction. Plus they're more fuel efficient. A certified Firestone Ag Dealer can help to determine the correct type of tire for your needs.
Cost-sensitive solutions
Bias tires are perfect for smaller, lightweight production equipment that requires extra stability for non-tillage work.
SEE BIAS FARM TIRES
SEE RADIAL FARM TIRESDependable fuel economy
Increased traction helps with fuel economy and allows you to cover more ground.
Radial tires can last up to 30% longer than bias tires. Radial tires with AD2 technology allow you to carry more load at lower inflation pressure.
SEE RADIAL FARM TIRES
AD2 tires have a larger footprint that can help improve the productivity of today's heavier equipment with less time in the field and reduced fuel consumption.
LEARN ABOUT AD2
When choosing the right tire size for your tractor and your farm’s traction needs, you will be looking at a set of numbers on the sidewall of your tire for guidance.
For additional help understanding each of these measurements and choosing your tires you can read our How to Read a Tire Guide
Firestone tractor tires with AD2 technology are specifically engineered for today's high-horsepower equipment.
SEE TRACTOR TIRES
Destination Farm radial implements can outperform equivalent sized bias and radial-ply truck tires commonly used to carry heavy implements.
SEE IMPLEMENT TIRES
Firestone sprayer tires with AD2 technology may help solve many of the load and compaction problems of today's larger equipment.
SEE SPRAYER TIRES
Cyclical Field Operation (CFO) harvest tires are specifically built for the exceptional demands of combines and grain carts.
SEE HARVEST TIRES
Regular Agriculture
Radial All Traction 23°
Radial All Traction FWD
Super All Traction 23°
Super All Traction FWD
Radial 9100
Super All Traction HD
Premium Tread Agriculture
Radial All Traction DT
Radial Deep Tread 23°
Radial All Traction RC
Radial 9000
Performer Series
Radial 4000
Wet Farming Applications
Radial Champion Spade Grip
Champion Spade Grip
Shallow Industrial
Construction and Light Industrial
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It’s when it comes to renewing your tractor tyres that you are faced with the choice between a discount tyre and a quality tyre.
The price is generally a reflection of the level of quality of the materials used. Choosing a top-of-the-range model will allow you to work with heavy loads and increase your productivity, at very low inflation pressure to preserve your soil for much longer periods, because the tyre will be more resistant to wear. But where does the difference in quality lie?
In this article, we will look at the details and manufacturing techniques which will allow you to choose a top-of-the-range tyre and to understand all the advantages it brings.
The tyre’s basic material is rubber, and it is here that the differences begin between a top-quality and a lessor quality tyre.
Natural rubber (latex) comes from Hevea tree sap and has irreplaceable qualities: it is resistant, elastic, impermeable and reacts excellently to vulcanisation.
It’s the quantity of natural rubber used which will give the tyre is characteristics, such as resistance or elasticity.
Discount tyres tend to be made of synthetic rubber which is much less resistant and durable than the original version.
Companies like Bridgestone have their own plantations in Liberia so as to be able to incorporate a larger share of this pure latex in their tyres and to ensure the ecological and sustainable management of natural rubber.
The quality of a tyre is directly linked to the preparation of the tyre’s basic rubber compound, the manufacture of the rubber being the first step in this process.
The proportion of the elements comprising this rubber compound and the quality of the mixture make it possible to obtain an excellent uniform texture.
This rubber must contain the best ingredients so that it has the properties required by the future tyre: suppleness, grip, performance and resistance.
Research and development make it possible to improve the compounds and materials and to obtain an optimal result: more elasticity, better resistance and in the end tyres that are much more solid and long-lasting.
The role of the research laboratory is crucial, it is at the heart of technological developments involving tyres.
When you choose a Bridgestone brand tyre, the black rubber is not exactly the same as the rubber used by a competitor, within its core is the result of thousands of hours of research to obtain optimal efficiency and durability.
A tyre is not just the result of a rubber compound, it also contains fiberglass, nylon, polyester or cotton reinforcement layers overlapping the rubber.
This stacking of multifibre layers as well as the steel hoops make it possible to structure the tyre and give it its mechanical qualities and suppleness, increasing its resistance so that it can bear heavy loads.
These basic components and reinforcements are now in the form of sheets, they are cut based on the size of the tyre and assembled using a rotating cylinder in a very precise order.
For very large tyres, this operation is usually carried out by hand.
Once this structure has been set in place, it is installed in a tyre curing mould to allow the rubber to transform from a plastic state to an elastic state and to give it its end form.
The curing process will make it possible to bind the molecule chains, it makes the rubber, which is an elastomer, deformable and more solid while preserving all its natural elasticity.
After the manufacturing process, the tyres face numerous automatic control procedures to ensure that the vulcanisation process has been perfectly completed and that all the steps in the operation have been performed smoothly, such as laser trackers to detect any out-of-roundness of the tyre.
For more upmarket productions, an additional human inspection guarantees the superior quality, this allows any minor fault to be detected and perfect products to be placed on the market.
It’s no secret and in general everyone agrees that quality comes at a cost.
In the case of a tool used for professional purposes, this quality will allow you:
Now you know that the black rubber, which appears to be the same for all tyre brands, may be very different on the inside and allow you to work in a more serene and productive manner for a long period of time without problems.
The Bridgestone-agriculture.eu blog is written and administered by tractor tyre experts who are available to provide you with the advice you need on the subject of your agricultural tyres. They allow you to maximise your productivity with information on all subjects linked to tyres: Technical data for agricultural tyres – Agricultural tyre performance – Air pressure advice, Solutions to avoid soil compaction – Sprayer tyre pressure – Why and how to ballast your tractor tyres – etc….
To take it one step further and increase the profitability of your farm, les Experts du pneu provide a free, highly detailed eBook which explains the essential role of the agricultural tyre in your productivity.
Most people who read this article have also read some of the following articles which are listed by order of popularity:
Tractor wheels and tires
Tractor wheels consist of a rim (Fig.
83, a), on which pneumatic tires are put on, tightly connected to the disk, and a hub, with which the disk is bolted. Sometimes the disk (see Fig. 83, b) is connected to the rim not tightly, but with the help of bolts passed through the racks welded to the rim. In addition, the wheels of some tractors do not have hubs.
The wheel size for general-purpose tractors, both rear and front, is the same, while for universal row-crop tractors, the diameter and width of the rear wheels are larger than the diameter and width of the front wheels.
Drive wheels with a hub are connected to the ends of the axle shafts in different tractors in different ways. For some, the hub is made detachable and fixed to the axle shaft with coupling screws, and a key is installed so that the hub does not rotate on the axle shaft.
Fig. 83. Tractor wheels:
a, b - leading; in - guide; g - fastening the wheel on the axle shaft; d - wheel width; 1 - axle shaft; 2 - key; 3 - coupling screw; 4 - hub; 5 - worm; 6 - disk; 7 - rim; 8 - tire; 9- stand; 10 - nut; 11 - trunnion; 12 - insert.
In other tractors, the hub is fixed on the splines of the axle shaft (see Fig. 83, d) with the help of conical inserts 12, which are pulled together with the hub by screws and, tightly compressing the axle shaft, ensure a fixed fit of the wheel on the axle shaft.
This connection also allows, if necessary, to move the hub along the axle shaft and fix it in any place, which is necessary when setting a given track.
Drive wheels that do not have a hub are bolted to the flanges of the final drive axle shafts (see Fig. 83, b) or to the body (see Fig. 73) of the final drive reduction gear using studs.
The guide wheels are mounted with a hub on the trunnion axle (see Fig. 83, c) on roller bearings and reinforced with a nut.
The hubs are sealed and filled to lubricate the bearings with liquid gear oil or grease.
Pneumatic tires fitted on the rim of tractor wheels consist of two main parts - a tire and a tube.
The tire consists of a carcass (fig.
84, a-c), cushion layer (breaker), tread, two beads.
Carcass - the main part of the tire. It is made from several superimposed layers of durable rubberized cord on both sides - a special type of fabric made from twisted threads of cotton, viscose, nylon, etc.
In some tires, called diagonal, the cord threads are placed at an angle to each other (see Fig. 84, b), in others, called radial, the threads are arranged in parallel (see Fig. 84, c).
The number of cord layers in the carcass is made from 4 to 18, depending on the load for which the pneumatic tire is calculated.
Pillow layer (breaker) consists of rubber or rubber cord and is designed to protect the carcass from shocks and shocks.
The tread serves to grip the tire with the road. The tread rubber is made durable, with high abrasion resistance.
To create a good grip of the drive wheel with the road, the tread pattern of tractor tires is made with massive lugs separated by wide and deep grooves.
Fig. 84. Pneumatic tire:
a - general view; b - cross-section of a diagonal tire; in — section of the radial tire; g - valve; e - air pressure in tires; 1 - frame; 2 - cushion layer; 3 - protector; 4 - board; 5 - wire rings; 6 - cap; 7 - spool; I - normal pressure; II - high pressure; III - low pressure.
Idler wheel treads are patterned with longitudinal ribs with wide grooves.
Beads are rigid parts of a tire designed to secure the tire to the wheel rim. Rigidity is created by wire rings made of twisted steel wire or hard rubber cords wrapped with rubberized fabric.
The tube is a closed ring tube made of highly elastic rubber with a thickness of 1.5 to 5 mm, depending on the size of the tire. A valve is installed in the chamber, with the help of which compressed air can be pumped into or released into it. The chamber is made slightly smaller than the inner profile of the tire, and therefore, after filling it with compressed air, it fits snugly against the inner surface of the tire, giving it the appropriate shape and elasticity.
The valve consists of a body and a spool installed inside it. The body is capped at the top. To fill the chamber with liquid to increase the traction of the wheel, use a special tool with a locking screw. This device is installed on the valve, having previously removed the cap and spool from it.
The air pressure in a pneumatic tire has a significant effect on tire life. The spring action of a pneumatic tire depends on the load on it and the internal air pressure.
Normal pressure - pressure recommended by the manufacturer, provides the most favorable deformation of the tire during operation of the tractor, reduces fatigue failure of the carcass threads and provides good wheel adhesion to the soil.
Increased tire pressure makes the tire more susceptible to bumps and cuts when hitting obstacles, accelerates the process of “fatigue” of the carcass, which leads to its premature rupture. The grip of the wheel with the soil is deteriorating.
Reduced pressure increases the spring-loading and deformation of the tire, as a result of which the carcass quickly fails (fracture, delamination, the appearance of through cracks), wheel grip on hard ground deteriorates.
Therefore, depending on the work performed by the tractor and the machines (implements) used, the values of the internal pressures in the tires must change. For example, tires size 15.5-38 are designed for a load of 14,270 to 20,210 N and must have an internal air pressure of 0.098 to 0.176 MPa. And the tires of the guide wheels 9.00-20 can carry a load from 6820 to 9710 N, while the internal air pressure should be in the range from 0.118 to 0.216 MPa.
Consider the designation of pneumatic tires using the example of the tire shown in Figure 84, a.
The tire says 15.5 R 38, which means: tire profile width b = 15.5 inches *, tire diameter on the wheel rim D = 38 inches, R - radial tire (from the word Radial).
The second inscription on the tire YAH—8132565 means that the tire was manufactured at the Yaroslavl Tire Plant (Y) in October (X) 1981 years old (81). 32565 is the serial number of the tire.
Since July 1981, a new size designation for pneumatic tires has been introduced, for example: regular profile - 15.
5-38, low-profile 18.4LX30, 16.5 / 70-18, radial - 16.9R30 (where 15.5; 18, 4; 16.5; 16.9 - symbol of the profile width; 38; 30; 18; 30 - symbol of the landing diameter of the tire; 70 - the ratio of the profile height to its width). The second inscription remained unchanged.
Tires for agricultural machinery are presented in such a wide variety that the world of automotive rubber has never dreamed of. How to choose the right tires for tractors, combines, trailers and trailers?
Agricultural tires are such complex products that for the first half century of their history, tractors managed with iron wheels, without a hint of a tire and a tube. But over time, the advantages of pneumatic wheels have become undeniable: high grip on different surfaces, low rolling resistance, strength and shock absorption from bumps. However, all these advantages will be realized only if the tire is correctly selected for agricultural machinery.
Unlike tires for passenger cars, agricultural tires are divided according to the types of loads:
Quite often, agricultural tires for carrying wheels are also allowed to be used as guide wheels on a tractor. Although there are purely “bearing” models, for example, Rosava-Agro has VF-242 4.50-10 66 or, say, S-1 6.50 / 88-16 92.
Regarding the size and load index, the most important thing is the recommendations of the manufacturer of agricultural machinery. Remember that a combine harvester is usually heavier than a tractor and has less traction on the wheels. When choosing a tread, take into account the type of soil on which your combine usually works: for example, sticky and wet soil will clog between the lugs, in which case you need to select a model with effective self-cleaning. A radial tire is always softer than a diagonal tire, and the “radial” allows you to work with lower pressure. And due to this, it is possible to increase the depreciation properties of the wheels, which positively affects the resource of some combine units.
Tractor drive wheels are more responsible, the main thing for tires here is to ensure the transmission of high traction force, for which the sidewall frame and tread are made tougher and stronger. Increased requirements for strength and wear resistance in regions with rocky soils and roads.
Some tractors are not only a soil tillage tool, but also a transport machine, also for asphalt roads. Therefore, when purchasing tractor wheels for such conditions, it is advisable to choose products with a high speed index (at least 40 km / h) and increased tread resistance to abrasion. Interestingly, tractor and combine tires are the most common in the Rosava-Agro model line. There are pure tractor tires, for example 15.5 R38 TR-07 and 13/6R38 TR-07.
The selection of tires for a mini-tractor is somewhat simpler, first of all, it is the size and tread.
Developed lugs are of great importance, their number and height affect the work on soils with different properties. The larger the lug pitch, the more confident the traction will be on wet ground, but the sooner the tires will wear out, especially with frequent trips to asphalt.
Despite the possibility of using automobile tires, they should not be used on a mini-tractor (as well as on motor cultivators, mowers), especially on drive axles: with the slightest soil moisture, the tread of such a wheel on the tractor will turn into a slick, and the unit will slip. Yes, and on the guide wheels of trailers for walk-behind tractors on wet ground, deep and wide grooves are important, which you will not find on car tires.
Since the power of many models of mini agricultural equipment is limited, remember that large and heavy wheels reduce the traction of the machine.
Consider the type of road your trailer will travel on most.
If it is predominantly asphalt, choose options with a fine tread pattern, because they have a longer resource and lower rolling resistance. For equipment (even trailed!), working on fields and primers, especially wet ones, tires with large checkers and wide tread grooves are better suited. This also applies to trailed agricultural implements - seeders, harrows, plows, etc. By the way, just for farm technological units, an economical tire VF-242 4.50-10 66 or an unusual type of model C-1 6.50 / 88-16 92.
When choosing agricultural tires, keep in mind some features:
