I'm ready for 4 new tires for my Gradall and have been planning to buy a set on EBay and have them mounted and foamed. I pretty well had the costs chiseled down to as low as I could, but when I went to buy them, I saw many adds for solid tires with wheels and free shipping that beat my earlier estimates by more than a grand. Has anyone had any experience with them? They seem like a great idea, and are definately a super deal...if they work!
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Any experience with Solid tires
- Thread starter Philosaw
- Start date
Killbox Alpha
Well-Known Member
Solids are a great option to foam. With foam you still have to worry about side wall cuts. Solids also last longer as long as you are not going with the super cheap. Its like anything else, you get what you pay for. The solids JLG sells will get you twice the life of a standard tire with foam. It all comes down to the quality of the rubber. Most of your major rental companies run solids due to lower cost of ownership and less flat tire customer complaints.
alskdjfhg
Senior Member
Disclaimer; I'm just a gobber that likes big iron and not and should not be taken as the voice of experience.
I have a 25,000lb capacity Hyster and it needed tires for the front axle (4 tires). I started looking around for new tires, the higher price was a consideration against solids, but I went with inflatables because of the way the old solid tires failed. What happened is that they had separated from the rims allowing the tires to stay stationary when the rim was spinning so wearing the ID of the tire. I Was talking with a tire dealer and he mentioned that the tire probably failed that way because either someone was going from forward to reverse very quickly or trying to use the machine as a bulldozer.
So that got me thinking, the reason the tire separated from the rim was that the machine got stuck, and operator was trying to extricate himself.
Granted you could solve this problem (and it's been done by other in the past) by either driving wedges between the rim and tire, or welding flat "lugs" on the rim and then pressing the solids on so you've got more grip.
If I were running in a warehouse or in a good yard (haven't made one yet), the solids would have been ok, because the weight of the machine/load, you'd get some traction. But I'm not, so that's why I went with inflatables, better traction and I'm not going to worry about ruining a $1,000 tire because I got stuck.
Your experience may vary and I'm far from an expert.
I have a 25,000lb capacity Hyster and it needed tires for the front axle (4 tires). I started looking around for new tires, the higher price was a consideration against solids, but I went with inflatables because of the way the old solid tires failed. What happened is that they had separated from the rims allowing the tires to stay stationary when the rim was spinning so wearing the ID of the tire. I Was talking with a tire dealer and he mentioned that the tire probably failed that way because either someone was going from forward to reverse very quickly or trying to use the machine as a bulldozer.
So that got me thinking, the reason the tire separated from the rim was that the machine got stuck, and operator was trying to extricate himself.
Granted you could solve this problem (and it's been done by other in the past) by either driving wedges between the rim and tire, or welding flat "lugs" on the rim and then pressing the solids on so you've got more grip.
If I were running in a warehouse or in a good yard (haven't made one yet), the solids would have been ok, because the weight of the machine/load, you'd get some traction. But I'm not, so that's why I went with inflatables, better traction and I'm not going to worry about ruining a $1,000 tire because I got stuck.
Your experience may vary and I'm far from an expert.
Your point about rotating tires is a good one and also one I hadn't considered. I don't think my gradall has the guts to ever spin a tire unless it's submerged in mud, so I think I'm safe there. I found the cheapest standard tires I could and figured in the cost of tire removal, mounting and foaming and without considering that I'd have to spend a day driving to and from the foamer, I still came out a little more that 500 bucks higher for them than solids. The only other problem I can see with the solids right now, is what to do with the 4 tires and wheels that I take off!
if you get loader style tires, the tread will last a lot longer than the typical telehandler tread. have over 3000 hours on my solid filled tires and they still look great.
Great tip. How do they do in muddy ground? We use ours at typical job sites where the ground is firm but can get a bit muddy.
Great tip. How do they do in muddy ground? We use ours at typical job sites where the ground is firm but can get a bit muddy.
the only time i'd have traction issues, is if the mud was really wet. but the machine would still power through. only had to use the boom a handful of times to unstuck the machine, and that was on wet muddy slopes.