(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Rubber vs Steel Tires

D

Drake Pa

Member
I always wondered why in older tire ads for rubber tires they say the have more traction than steel. Wouldn't steel have better traction because of the weight and the lugs?
Could someone please explain this.
Thanks,
Drake
 
easy to figure out if Ya think about it a bit ...The steel Lugs Dug out the ground , breaking traction .. While ,The Rubber Used the weight of the tractor to Transfer over a larger area therefore giving farbetter traction ,... HOWEVER , If a Steel Lugged tractor were pulling on wooden planks it would have more bite than a rubber tire....
 
I have to disagree, if you take the exact same tractor and put on dual band steel wheels so they are as wide as the rubber tires, the steel wheeled tractor will never break tread or dig out. I saw a JD 830 on steel pull at the local county fair this summer that proved it. There is just no way rubber tires can grip like a bunch of 5 inch lugs.
 
Thats interesting. I have seen the occasional steel wheeled tractor come along at the pulls that I have gone to over the last eleven years and they never do half of what the equivalent rubber tired tractors do. It appears that they tend to break up the dirt surface instead of pressing it down like rubber does.
 
I think the difference is what I had mentioned, the 830 had dual band steel wheels so it was as wide as the 18.4's it would have had on rubber tires. When he got to the end of the track the front wheels were 2 foot off the ground so all the beasts weight was resting on 5 inch lugs sunk firmly into the track. The tractor never spun out, it was moving till it ran out of engine. At the end it was pulling the engine down so much you could say a word between every time the piston hit, and kept going like that for 30 foot.
 
That is because they tend to be narrower and a LOT lighter than the rubber, that steel wheel is only about the weight for the rubber rim, then add the couple of hundred pounds for the tire and if an out of field class the rubber may have fluid in them.
 
At all of the pulls I have been to the tractors are weighed and they pull against tractors of pretty much the same weight.
 
This was proved LOOOOONG age when Allis did test on steel wheeled and rubber tired WC. The WC could pull the same plow in the same ground one gear higher with rubber tires than on steel. The rubber tires used less fuel than the tractor on steel and there was less driver fatigue.

Kent
 
I have been told that it takes alot of power not only to stick the lugs in the ground but to pull them back out of the ground. Rubeer tires you dont have that to factor in.
 
Drake,
My father had two JD R's on steel. This was in black gumbo rice country southeast of Houston. The first thing he did was add a three inch extention to the outside lug. In 1955, he put one on rubber and gained a full gear pulling a plow. You could tell the difference with an empty tractor in the upper gears too, on normal ground. The engine had less load on it. It made a believer out of me. C. L.
 
The classes are usually about a thousand pounds and the one on steel could be at the low end of the class and the one on rubber could be at the high end, they never tell you the weight, only say that it is say in a class of 5,500# to 6,500# or the like, can be 975# difference and still be in that class but only 30# from a class either smaller or larger.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Why was it? Wheel sizes.
Replies
18
Views
1K
INCase
I
A
Steel wheels to rubber
Replies
8
Views
1K
agonair
A
D
Combining Clover Seed for Own Use - Scarify?
Replies
9
Views
445
Leroy
L
T
Independent Float on 3 Point
Replies
15
Views
512
r.w.b.
R
L
"Ford Guy" Just 1 more question, Rear Wheel We
Replies
2
Views
677
jvin248
J
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top