Rear Tire Investment Decision

I've got a rear tractor tire question.
My old M has 14.9 rears on her...they are worn out and dry rotter badly.....so its time for a new set.
I want too go with Firestones as I like they're tires.....and I've heard alot of praise on the 23* lugs they offer. When I checked at the dealer the other day, they didnt offer 14.9's in 23*. He said he had "Field and Road" in that size though for 545.00 a piece.
I use this tractor for too farm 3 acres, pull firewood for our heating, and attend shows and hook too an occasional sled just for fun.
What are you guys reccomendations....should I change tire size too stay with the 23* or is there another better tire?

I have two sets of 13.6/38 firestone field and roads /151 .They are 23 degree tires. Check on them a gain or look at Me Miller tire web sight at a tread picture of them.

I am going to try a set of Good Year Dura Torques on my 1070 case, I also like firestones but the GY tires are around $200.00/ea. cheaper. The GY's are long/long bar and are probably lighter than Firestones but my 10 gets used for light /med. work, haying, planting, hauling loads ect.

If the Field & Road aren't a 23 degree, they're very close to it. The main difference is that the actual '23 Degree' tire has a flatter plate... and I think are really only available in radial now.
The Field & Road is an excellent bias tire. If you want Firestone, and that's what they have, go for it. I'd be surprised if you were disapointed.

Rod

If you are talking bias tires the Field and Road is or was the 23* tire and a 14.9 in that would have been equal in size to a 13.6 in any other make. I have had them on one tractor and Firestone 45* on a second tractor and where working round for round the 45* would run clean the 23* were all ways filled with dirt, would not clean. And running both at same pressure the Field and Road busted the sidewall between every lug, ended up putting reliners in to get some extra life out of them as they were just 2 years old at the time and Firestone would do nothing. I have told the enginers at the Firestone tire proving ground the Field And Road was nothing but junk. Having them on a tractor would be a deal breaker for me, would not buy that tractor. Worst tire I ever had Other Firestones were good. and being 66 years old have had a lot of tires.

Sounds like you didn't have enough air in them if they busted between every lug...

By comparison you can go to another board and read of the problems with the GoodYear metric flotation tires used on the new combines. I believe a couple of guys on that board had a couple blow over the weekend... and one posted several pictures of the ROWS of blown GoodYears that the ONE dealer had. I say pictures because it took several pictures at a wide angle to capture all the tires. I'm guessing there were well over 100 tires at this one location... THIS YEAR. At 2500 a pop...
Warranty don't mean squat when you're at that every season, not to mention the damage they do when they blow.

Rod

M.E.Miller has tires that size a little cheaper.Keep looking though Firestones should not be hard to find new or used in that size and probably for less money.Some of these places really jacked up their tire prices but they seem to have come down on car tires so if they can come down on car tire prices they can come down on tractor tire prices too.

traction f&r was the old bias design, still available in some sizes, check the Firestone website, they are an excellent tire and I wish they had kept them in production as an economical replacement tire, one of the few tires that you can wear the tread off and the casing is still good, they also made a f&r which was a cheaper tire, shorter bars and less of them as well as the deap tread, these are all 23 degree tread, Firestone now has the super all traction, radial all traction and the sat2 which most say for the extra $100.00 your better off with sat's, sat2 is smaller, shorter bars and less of them they are all of the 23 degree long/long bar style

The 23 deg designation is only for radial tires. All 13.6, 14.9 and 15.5 I've seen have been field and road. I replaced my 15.5 tires on my all stock MTAD with 14.9 because I liked the taller look better. I used to be able to put up a good fight on the pulling track, even against the suped up guys. Not any more. Lost 10 ft probably. The old girl would spin the 15.5's. The taller 14.9 will lug her down too soon to spin. In my area a 15.5 is a more standard issue tire than a 14.9 and usually cheaper. My tire dealer told me a 14.9 has a taller sidewall and actually has more material per tire then the wider, shorter 15.5. That and the somewhat small demand for them make the 14.9 more expensive.

We've put several sets of Titan tires on our bigger tractors. Good tires and best price among them, GY and Firestone. I also read that they are the ONLY ag tires made in the USA.

Be sure to let us know what you think of those US made Titan's after you've had the last one blow out from under you...
I'm in the fortunate position of saying I've had the last one blow out from under me.

Rod

We always ran more air than was recemonded as as the recemond pressure they were actually flat.

Firestone Tires are made about three miles from my place. Just outside yhe city limits of Des Moines. Titans are made at a plant about six miles as the crow flies in south east Des Moines-inside the city, so they might not be as good.

Hey Bob,

Just someone wanting to learn about pulling here.

You sounded like you liked some spin that you got out of the 15.5's vs. the early lugging with the 14.9's? That's opposite of what I would of thought. From what I've been gathering, it seems like HP almost isn't as important as traction when pulling. Is it that it's pulling your rpm's down sooner that makes it not good?

Appreciate any advice.

Thanks, Bri

For farm use I don't think you would notice it but at the antique pulls around here I don't see any advantage to the 23* design. They don't seem to bite as well as the older 45* lug angles. The diference is small but a couple of us agree that over the last few years that we have been noticeing that 23* is at best equal, and mostly we think the 45* pulls beter most of the time.

they are also made in Freeport,IL

Hey Red, I haven't done alot of pulling myself, but I've done best with just alittle amount of slip. More of a slip, I guess, than a spin. You're right, if you get a good spin going, you're done. I start out kind of low on the throttle, then watch my tire tracks as I advance done the track. If the track is just right (not to dry or too wet) I get just a little ripple of earth off the treads. A spin will wipe the track clean. Clean track behind the tires, ease up on the throttle, a crisp sharp lug print, give 'er a little more. Pulling is about torque. Think of your tire like a lever, with the track being the resistance end, effort distance is kind of the radius of your axle, and the fulcrum being the center of the axle. You can't change the center line or radius of the axle, but a taller tire increases the resistance distance, thus requiring more HP to "lift the load" or advance down the track. You kind of dance this dance until the sled weight advances closer to the tractor, then you give 'er all she's got. My tractor is a diesel, so once she lugs down, there is no govenor to bring her back like a gasser. The early Farmall diesels didn't have the hp their gas relatives had, so its all in the operator's throttle hand, IMHO.

Alot of physics go into pulling. We need JimN to chime in on this

Or ChadS. Thanks for the info, sounds like you know your stuff. Hope I'm not bothering you, but since I've got you I just thought of another question. I always assumed everyone pulled in 1st gear in stock, low mph classes, but it seems that may not be the case. Do you change gears depending on track/conditions?

Thanks, Bri