Cutting edges and tires..........

[Silveroddo]

Hey there,
looking for any words of wisdom on grader tires and cutting edges.
I've got 14.00x24 tires on a cat 120. Right now I've got the typical "tractor tire" type tread,but i see the municiple blades tend to run a tire pattern that looks like somthing I've seen on dump trucks and was wondering if this "road pattern" really lasts longer or has other advantages?

Also I've been using a standard 6" cutting edge (7 footer, standard cat part #) I can get a pretty good deal on them (last 4 individual cutting edges I was able to get for about $520.00), and have been getting about 300 miles to a set, does that sound about right? talking to the guys at the county they really like their carbide tips but I havn't really looked into them because the roads I've been doing are forestry roads and pretty rocky which I'm told is hard on the carbide cutting edges.

I'm new to this and just trying to avoid wasting time and money when possible, its time for tires, I've got 2 new recaps of the tractor tread and it looks like about 450-500 apiece for the other 4 I need to round out the set (mounted, not installed) is this the way to go or should I look into other options? I priced some radials and they were in the 800-900 range.

 

[Grader4me]

Hi Silveroddo, if your getting that much out of normal cutting edges, then I would just continue with that. I've run both types of tires and prefer the radials. They seem to have good traction..especially plowing snow. They seem smoother when roading as well. Another advantage is when you have to wear chains the cross chains stay on top of the tire..opposed to going in between the lugs on that type. I'm not really sure which type will actually last longer though.
I guess it just depends on the work that you'll be doing with your grader.
I used to use the sandvic blades once in awhile..they are the kind that have the rollers with carbide tips..mainly used them when the roads got really hard to cut with normal blades..it would chew the material up pretty good. This was the only time that I would use them though.

 

[Diagonal Brace]

Cuttin to the edge

Just my 2 cents but I prefer wider edges as the throw away part is always the same and when you factor in labour for the change....
Well can you smell what Im cookin? Regarding tires its a matter of preference but if you do any amount of snow or ice removal than a dedicated sno tire is a definite plus.

 

[ovrszd]

I agree with Diagonal on the edges.

I rotate mine a lot. Trying to wear them down uniformly and get the most out of them. At best I will throw away 3-4" of edge material. If I use 6" I am throwing away 50-66%. If I use 8" I am throwing away 38-50%. That's significant to me. But as I said, I'm anal about rotating. If I'm grading extremely hard surfaces, late summer, hard packed gravel, I carry tools and rotate mid-day.

For tires, I've ran Radials since 1995. The last time I had a flat tire was 1995.

Bias ply 14.00 tires gave me 1000-1200 hours of service before replacement. They would also average three flats per tire in that time.

Radials in the 14.00 size would be 50-60% tread at the same amount of service. As I said earlier, I've never had a flat on radials.

I now run 17.50" Micheln radials. I'm at 1300 hours now and still have 60-70% tread. No flats.

Beyond flats, radials offer a steadier ride with less bounce. They also offer equal traction forward/backward. And again, the flat factor is big to me, especially if you have to hire it fixed.

As to Grader4me's comment about chains. I find just the opposite to be true. I have problems with my chains getting down between the lugs on the radials worse than bias ply. I don't think it's quite as bad if you run the snow radials.

I'd never go back to bias ply. But then, I'd also never go back to 14.00 either. A township next to me runs a new Deere similar to ours but he runs 14.00 bias ply tires. He tells everyone that will listen that I don't know what I'm doing and can't possibly run at the speeds I run. He's right,,,,, if I ran 14.00 bias ply tires.

 

[michael james]

Just a conformation on what ovrszd has said, l have always had radials on our grader and have never had a flat tyre through the tread area, did drive a stick through the wall once, hour wise, l got 2200 hours out of a set of double coin tyres which was good because our work involves lots of hard surface work; shoulder grading and gravel road maintenance.
Could any one tell me the pro's and con's of running 17.50 tyres compared to14.00 tyres.
cheers, mick.

 

[Grader4me]

As to Grader4me's comment about chains. I find just the opposite to be true. I have problems with my chains getting down between the lugs on the radials worse than bias ply. I don't think it's quite as bad if you run the snow radials.

Well..thats what I found so we will just have to disagree.

 

[JDOFMEMI]

Seems to me the chain issue has more to do with tread pattern than bias or radial tires.

For me, I would use a radial for most work, though I was on a blade with radials once doing slope work, and they were not as stable as the bias I had on the other blade. I think it was the specific tire rather than all radials in general, since I have been pleased with the stability of some radials.

I agree the bias does not last as long, and they get worse flat spots from sitting, and get more flats, and...

 

[Silveroddo]

Thanks for the replies, its great to be able to get some other input on this stuff, I hate getting it from the salesman.
I'll have to look into the radials a little bit, I had 3 flats this summer and at an average of 150-175 bucks to get them fixed and the down time involved I'm really looking at spending the money and getting rid of a few head aches.

 

[biggrader]

Greetings grader dudes, I agree with most all of the comments that have been posted. Silveroddo, I would seriously look at radials. You can get between 2 and 3 times the treadwear out of radials. I have tried recapped bias tires and they just dont last. The casings will fail before the caps wear out. As far as edges go, I would get about 100 hrs (roughly 500 lane miles) out of a set of 8" edges. I have gone to carbides and love them, although they DO NOT like rocks,IMO. The last carbides I bought were $118/ft.

 

[ovrszd]

Could any one tell me the pro's and con's of running 17.50 tyres compared to14.00 tyres.
cheers, mick.

Better stability on side slopes. Less rutting of gravel roads when doing spring maintenance. Better flotation when working soft ground. Wayyyy better traction. Wayyyy better winter traction when running chains. Longer service, but haven't figured in the cost difference so don't know if that pays out.

I've attached three pictures. The first shows the difference in chain crossbar size of my old 14.00 chains versus my current 17.50 chains. the second isn't a great picture but shows the difference in tire size between the two. the third picture shows what I'm talking about as far as the chains setting between the tire lugs. The crossbars that are running at an angle are completely down between the lugs.

 

[michael james]

OVRSZD, thanks heaps for that info on the tyres, much appreciated, nice pics.
mick.

 

[biggrader]

nice pics overszd, in that second pic, are you pushin the cat or is he pullin you?lol

 

[ovrszd]

nice pics overszd, in that second pic, are you pushin the cat or is he pullin you?lol

I don't wanna talk about it............. Okay, I'll admit it,,,,,, the CAT pulled me home.....

Ice built up on the transmission case and disconnected a shifter solenoid. The computer put it in neutral. Wouldn't move. Bummer. Colder than all get out. I threw a large tarp over the engine assembly and stuck a blast furnace under it and let it run for 8 hours to melt enough ice that I could get at the wiring to fix it.

After that embarrassment I built these.

 

[biggrader]

Hmmmm .... ice build up plowing snow? who woulda thunk it! I run a deere so I just figured you were pushing the Cat:bouncegri

 

[sdPete]

Chains?

Better stability on side slopes. Less rutting of gravel roads when doing spring maintenance. Better flotation when working soft ground. Wayyyy better traction. Wayyyy better winter traction when running chains. Longer service, but haven't figured in the cost difference so don't know if that pays out.

I've attached three pictures. The first shows the difference in chain crossbar size of my old 14.00 chains versus my current 17.50 chains. the second isn't a great picture but shows the difference in tire size between the two. the third picture shows what I'm talking about as far as the chains setting between the tire lugs. The crossbars that are running at an angle are completely down between the lugs.

Question about the 17.5 tires....we just went with those on a 140AWD, with intent to eliminate use of chains. Some drivers would not consider running without chains. For most of what goes on around here I get along fine without chains, some of the credit for that goes to better tires, experience helps a bit too I suppose. Wondering if you find the bigger tires reduce need for chains in your situation?

 

[mg140h]

We run Michelin M/S radials and love them. I have yet to put a set of chains on, yes i have gotten stuck, but haveing to back up and hit it again, or the two times my partner had to help not having the extra noise and rougher ride is worth it. We would get apx 2000hrs on the steers, they would have alittle left but would change them out for winter. My rears on my grader have 3200hrs and i guess would say maybe alittle less then half. And personaly i like the 17.5 over the 14.
Cutting edges, if i could run them all the time i would pick the rotating carbide tips. I had the opertunity to test out a set of these for our local dealer that there company just came out with their own and loved them. I have also used carbide straight cutting edges and liked them better then reg ones..

 

[CAT140H]

Here in Saskatchewan, Canada we run 2 140H Cat's. On them we run 17.5 x 25 tires. We use Michelin Snow Plus. We find them to be very good in snow and on ice. The last set had over 6000 hrs on them before being changed. Mine is a 2007 model and it came with Bridgestone Vtech. Not even 4000 hrs on them and we just changed them to Sno Plus. The Bridgestone tires don't seem to last as long and very poor traction in the snow.

 

[Queenslander]

Iam currently pricing tyres for our 12G but can't decide which way to go.
We do a lot of pioneering work as well as some maintenance grading for council.
We're running a standard 12 ply bias tyre at the moment but as they get down we're getting a lot of flats.
I can get , say, a Double Coin radial, or a 24 ply bias tyre with a hard rock lug for about the same money.
What's the best option?
Cheers, Greg

 

[1970Cat16]

I was wondering if anybody is running a set of 18x25 tires on the rear and gone to some kind of flaotations on the front tires, i have a 16 and it is so heavy i could use the wider tires on the front but there are no 18x25 radials for sale where i buy tires, i have been thinking about getting 20,5 for the front but they are shorter than the 62 inch tall 18x25s??

 

[1970Cat16]

Iam currently pricing tyres for our 12G but can't decide which way to go.
We do a lot of pioneering work as well as some maintenance grading for council.
We're running a standard 12 ply bias tyre at the moment but as they get down we're getting a lot of flats.
I can get , say, a Double Coin radial, or a 24 ply bias tyre with a hard rock lug for about the same money.
What's the best option?
Cheers, Greg

What kind of hard rock lug exactly are you talking about and how much cost vs the other tire???