Better Farming - October 2016

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Better Farming October 2016 Farm News First > 55
MACHINERYAT WORK
All radial tire manufacturers have
tire guides, and most equipment
manufacturers have this information
in their operator’s manuals as well.
The tire guide will show you what
your tire size is capable of doing, and
what weight it can carry at what
pressure and at what speed. Better
tire guides will give you two or more
tire pressures for the same weight.
These pressures depend on what
speed you travel. A substantially
higher pressure is needed to prevent
too much flexing of the tire at higher
speeds. At a lower speed, in contrast,
not as much heat will be generated
and a lower pressure will suffice for
carrying the weight. If you do a lot of
hauling of weight (like spreading
manure), you would want to use the
higher pressure scale for the weight.
This way, you will not do damage to
your tire by traveling at higher
speeds.
But this means you need to do
some homework and know the
weight of the equipment (and any
loads) on the tire. In cases where the
weight can vary (like the rear axle of
your tractor, depending on the
implement hooked up), you might
need to know multiple equipment
weights and the necessary
corresponding tire pressures. Take the
time to set the tire pressure right!
The use of an on-the-go tire
pressure regulating system is another
option.
You might think that this process
sounds like a lot of work and one
pressure will do for all of your farm
and field work. Well, let me give you
something to think about. While
working as a technician I was ap-
proached by one of our sales associ-
ates. He needed to demonstrate a
tractor against a competitive brand
tractor with a higher horse power. We
did not have the equivalently rated
HP in stock and had to go with a
tractor with 30 HP less. This was not
an ideal situation and was a cause for
anxiety on the sales side. We ballasted
our tractor the best we could and set
the tire pressures accordingly. We ran
circles around the competition
pulling the same implements.
How, do you ask? Well, we put
traction to the ground and pulled.
The tires on the competitor’s tractor
still had high tire pressure from
shipping. (This high pressure allows
for a more solid tie down on the
truck so the load is more secure.) The
competitor’s representative did not
adjust the tire pressure for the
fieldwork, and consequently the
tractor did a lot of tire spinning –
even though it had lots of HP on-
board. We sold our tractor while the
competition, who had been sure of an
easy sale, had to take its tractor home
again!
Moral of the story: know your tire
pressures and set them right.
Proper tire pressure saves fuel and
saves your soil. Both are money in
your pocket in the long run. BF
Jaap Kroondijk is a farm boy mechanic who
lives near Woodstock.
This is an example of an on-the-go tire pressure regulating system.