Tread direction

[Ole Gal]

Nige,
I am sure these tires are bias ply, although I could not find any indication on the tire. They are nylon Mohawk Chief, and and they show very little bulge as might be typical of radials. They certainly have very stiff sidewalls which may be due partly to being old (like me).
Mitch,
Since you mentioned the arrows, I also looked for arrows on my tires indicating the direction of travel. I thought I understood the proper orientation of tires. Only one thing is clear to me now, I do not understand tire technology!! The pictures are of the tire on the left hand side of my grader which I thought was on correctly, but would you look at the arrow!! I can not believe what I am seeing. The arrow indicates that this tire is turning in the wrong direction! So as you should be able to see in the photo, the chevron angle is pointing in one direction and the arrow on the sidewall is pointing in the opposite direction. So I check on the tire on the right side of the grader. The arrow indicates that it is turning in the correct direction for the driving wheel! I do know one thing for sure, one of these tires is on correctly!
Both of these photos are of the tire on the left hand side of the grader.

 

[Nige]

TBH those tyres look well past their sell by date. The rubber looks really hard and cracked, the carcass is probably about the consistency of a kidney stone..... A distinct lack of flexibility there, could be the root cause of your traction problems.

Ref bias vs radial, is the size marked on the tyre sidewall in the format 12.00x24 or 12.00R24....? First is a bias ply, the second is radial.

Others may disagree but to me the arrow on the left side tyre can say what it wants but judging by the tread orientation from your earlier photos that tyre is installed correctly, it's the right side tyre that's on backwards.

 

[cuttin edge]

Is it possible that the tire has been re-capped. When you look along the edge of the tread it has that appearance.

 

[Nige]

Is it possible that the tire has been re-capped. When you look along the edge of the tread it has that appearance.

Good spot, that tyre looks very much like a re-cap.

 

[Ole Gal]

Nige,
The format is the first you list as 13.00x24 so that is the bias ply. Thanks. I did look for a date on the tire which I could not find like would be on a car or truck tire. Do the newer tires have a date stamped on them?

 

[cuttin edge]

Perhaps the tire was installed according to the arrow, and not the tread design.

 

[Delmer]

Nige,
The format is the first you list as 13.00x24 so that is the bias ply. Thanks. I did look for a date on the tire which I could not find like would be on a car or truck tire. Do the newer tires have a date stamped on them?

Yes, newer tires have a date code on them. That one has a 3090xxx number on it but who knows what it means. The old date code didn't specify the decade, for car tires at least. That tire is from the 70's at the latest, maybe original to the grader, 50's?

 

[cuttin edge]

You're only going to get so much traction. A lot of it comes down to how you feel and handle the machine. A skilled operator on your Ole Gal can do more than someone without a clue on a 24 Cat. Mind you, newer machines make blade adjustment easier and quicker for that moment when you can feel that she is going to break traction. I can honestly say that besides our little Puckett, Alitec, and Mauldin, I have never driven a 4 wheel grader. I have no idea how they feel. I would suspect that you would lose some stability without the rear tandem wheels, as well as traction. As far as tires, and tread design. I always found Bias tires are out of round after sitting, and are more prone to flats. I ran a grader for 6 years with a truck tread, or highway tread, and besides muddy conditions, I still managed to get by.

 

[.RC.]

Don't they put the tyres on backwards on french machines?

 

[Nige]

AFAIK earthmoving tyres don't have a date on them as such that you can decipher. All manufacturers (at least the ones I've dealt with anyway) use a code within the Serial Number to date tyres, but unless you have the code it's just a number.

As for those rear tyres I would seriously consider replacing them with new, radial for preference but anything new is going to be better than what you have on there right now.

 

[cuttin edge]

Don't they put the tyres on backwards on french machines?

Pretty funny for a guy who's toilet spins the wrong way when you flush. LOL Being from a province where the minority french seem to have all the say over us english. I will admit that I have my beef with them, but they are not all bad. We have a mechanic here that will be sadly missed when he retires this fall. If he laid a bolt down 40 years ago he knows where. If he can't get the parts, he can make them, and he is not one of these guys that rolls his eyes when you tell him what you think the problem is. One of the things I like best about him, if you are the only english person among a group of french, and one of them speak to him in french, he always answers in english. I think he puts his tyres on the right way.

 

[Ole Gal]

Just wondering about the date being on the tire. I need to search for tires at a good price so I would like to avoid getting "old" new tires at a bargain price because they have been sitting around for years. I hesitate to buy on eBay even though they were a good price (2 for $841.00) and free shipping. I have read some negative and positive views on tires made in China so am steering clear of them. Anyone have suggestions on brands and online purchasing? I need to local search also since a good price might be included in an installation.

 

[cuttin edge]

https://www.kenjones.com/Scripts/XListSearch.aspx?XGID=OTR_1300x24

 

[cuttin edge]

https://www.kenjones.com/Scripts/XListSearch.aspx?XGID=OTR_1300x24

Sorry, my geography is off. I thought Delaware was closer.

 

[Ole Gal]

Ha! That,s ok about Delaware. . It is surprising how many people in USA do not know DE exists! Even though DE is considered the first state. I did check the website and called them. They do not have radials so I could not get a price for them. He said $125.00 to ship to me.

 

[cuttin edge]

I can imagine that radials would be pretty pricy, but if you spend the money, then you have something. Other people get by with Bias ply tires, and that is all they had for years. Another option, if you want radials, would be recapped tires. A couple of our loaders run recaps, and my old 730 champion had recaps for years.

 

[old-iron-habit]

Exactly, unless getting unstuck (backwards) is more important than going forward. Combine tires are typically mounted backwards (like the right tire if that's the rear view)

Two wheel drive combines have the back smaller steering tires mounted backwards. The 4 wheel drive models have all four wheels mounted in the traction forward mode.

 

[mitch504]

Two wheel drive combines have the back smaller steering tires mounted backwards. The 4 wheel drive models have all four wheels mounted in the traction forward mode.

It is very common around here for the owners of 2wd combines to turn the front (drive) tires backwards. Then, if it starts to slip or sink, you can sometimes back out. Also, it is much easier to rig to pull a combine backwards, so it can help more when pulling out backwards.

 

[Ole Gal]

Big tire the right direction!!

 

[Ole Gal]

I checked the local tire shop today. The price for a bias tire mounted was $460.00 mounted and $800.00 more for radial. I think I will check out recaps before I buy anything.