Tractor Tires Not Just for Tractors
I get a lot of ideas for my blog posts from my daily phone conversations with customers. It helps to be in the trenches, providing input and solving problems. It’s a lot of fun talking to people all over the US and Canada. You would be amazed with the ideas people come up with. Some work great, others not so much.
Today I got a call from a guy down south that uses 31×1550x15 high flotation lug tires on his old pick up truck. He needs the flotation and extra traction to spread hay on the wet fields at his farm. Now three things immediately pop into my mind: Maximum load capacity of the tires, maximum vehicle speed used to do the work and available clearance between the mounted tire and the truck body and fenders.
This guy had been successfully using this setup for years, but now he’s facing a problem. He wants to buy a new truck for the same use. However new trucks come with 18″ diameter wheels. He called me to find him the same type of farm lug tire to fit the new wheels. He said he had called a few local places with no luck and it was time to call Ken Jones Tires, the specialty tire experts.
After listening to his story I told him he was looking for something that simply isn’t made. A wide farm lug flotation tire to fit 18″ diameter wheels just wasn’t going to happen. I advised him to check out the off-road truck enthusiast magazines for help sourcing a private brand tire made to fit late model trucks. Who knows, anything seems possible nowadays. I’ve seen many off-road truck enthusiasts use 8×16 farm lug tires on their Jeeps. It’s crazy, but it looks like a lot of fun too! I told him it’s probably cheaper to buy another old truck versus paying for the custom tire and wheel set up to fit a new truck. He laughed, “You’re probably right”.
Check out this video…there are no limits if you set your mind to it!
So the call ended with no solution…yet. But he thanked me for helping him with some advice and direction in his decision making process. Hopefully that call saved him some time and money as well.
If you have a great idea or use concerning any thing to do with specialty tires, please post a comment and keep this conversation going. Everybody wins because everybody learns something new!
Have a great week!
Brian
www.kenjones.com
I have a jeep that never sees road use and is primarily used on our farm as a kick around rig. hauls wagon into woods for firewood. which can get rather muddy at times. Its primary uses include mostly muddy conditions as well as many tree roots. Not to worried about flotation as much as I am about traction.I am wanting to find a set of tractor tires to run on my jeep. I would like it to be a 15 inch rim. I would like the tire height to be around 33 inches tall. I have been searching the internet and not comeing up with much in the way of sizea for this. A deeper lug tread would be great.
Any help in my search would be greatly apreciated
Hey Andrew,
15″ rims are not going to cut it for a farm lug tire.
16″ rim more likely. They make a 8×16 lug tire, but it’s only 30.5″ tall.
A 9.5×16 is 33.3″ tall. It carries 1,390lbs per tire at 30psi and max load speed = 20 mph.
Rim width required is 8″ wide.