We are looking to put some new tires on our skid loader and was wondering what you folks have had the best luck with. The tire size is 14x17.5 and we are curently running Carlile's (sp?). They are really soft and have chunked out in spots and now with 50% tread left we are getting gravel punching wholes through the tread. Cann't plug a hole that takes 5 plugs just to get the air coming out to slow down. So we end up cleaning out the sealant patching and putting in a tube. What i'm looking for is a lug tire with good chunk out resistance. I just can not figure out why we are getting driveway gravel punching holes in our tires. it waste a lot of time having to repair and just plain tick you off when it happens. I would like to find a good set of tires for one last try and if this doesn't work we are going to switch to a Airboss or similar type. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Haulmaster K601 Tyres They are a ROCKGRIP type tread. 10 bobcats, Average 1000-1700 Hours no problem. We have an S650 that has done 1200 Hours and they have half left still.
I'll bring this thread back up as my S250 needs a new set of shoes. This will be it's second set, so I am curious as well what other folks are running for skid tires - the good and the bad. Also how hard is it to remove the old tires if they are foam filled? Never done it myself, always sent it to the tire shop.
My 248 came with the standard Chevron construction tread Galaxy tires and lasted about 800 hours before they were smooth. The majority of my work was off pavement, unloading pallets of pavers from trucks was the only pavement exposure I had. The time on actual pavement while doing this task was minimal, just a brief distance on the customer's driveway before leaving the pavement. I replaced those tires with Solideal LifeMasters which is similar to a rear axle truck tread and I feel these are much better suited for the work I do. The machine doesn't jerk as much when turning on pavement, turf damage is less, snow traction is much better and at 500 hours tread wear is less than 25%. The only down side is extreme mud conditions, the treads will load up and the tire becomes a slick. For my operation it's a good choice. I don't have much exposure to rock conditions so I can't say how they would hold up as far as chunking goes. I don't have any chunks missing on these.
I use the same tires, lifemasters have treated me well, plenty of other guys in my area use these as well after their stockers wear out
The patch, if properly installed, not only repairs the tire structurally but also seals the inner liner making the tire air tight. Adding a tube is not only redundant, but a waste of money as well as a cause of future headaches(i.e. not being able to plug a nail hole,tires running hotter, etc.)
Foam filled tires on single piece wheel have to be cut off. No big deal, just need a reciprocating saw to cut the tire open so the material can be removed then the remnants of the carcass are removed normally.
I don't want to sound like I'm towing the company line, but we have a lot of happy customers with bobcat brand tires. Depending on if the dealer buys in bulk, they can be very competitive price. We buy over 300 10 x16.5 at a time and can sell them cheaper then the 8 ply verson for $155. We also carry soildeal tires which dependingon the grade are also very good tires. Soildeal, hope I'm spelling that right is large indrustral tire company that a lot of people never heard.
Ive had good experiences with the Bobcat brand tires in the past. Also the Cat brand tires, except for they chunk out driving over broken concrete. I have no idea who actually makes either of them?? I have solideals on a telehandler and they have been very good, but i wonder if the treads will stay attached in the long run.
I've had good look w/ 12- 16.5 Denmans, but now I see they are out of business, so I'm really just wasting everybody's time w/ this post.
The more natural rubber in a tire the lesser the chance of tire chunking out. We have had several of our "value" tires chunk when used in harsher enveriorments. Not that it hasn't happen somewhere, but I have never seen a bobcat brand tire chunk out.
x2 on the Cats from the factory. Ours are all wearing very well. Looks like they will go 700-800hrs on the barn skid, maybe a little less on the feeding one. The first 262c we had, the tires were worn worse and looked like they would only make it to 600-700hrs but it was used for snow removal for 200hrs before we got it. The back tires naturally were the worst. They do seem to chunk out easier on bad concrete, however their bead gaurd seems to work very well as we only have bent one rim to this date. usually our guys are bending them left and right. We uses to run cheap recaps but the traction sucked as did the life. Switched to Firestone Duraforce DT's and they were much better on traction and lasted slightly longer. Life on them really depended on the skid steer though. Some would get 300hrs others would go 700hrs. Most of our work is on concrete mixing feed and cleaning yards. The rest is on gravel. Thought about trying a hard surface tire but weren't sure about it yet as we need very good traction whenever not in the barn. May try a set on the feeding one since it mostly sits on a warehouse finish floor all day. Our next sets will be Michelin Bibsteels. We use a lot of their tires on everything else around the farm and they really are impressive. Always expensive, but they do always deliver in long wear and good traction (except their all terrain pickup tires, poor traction but they do last forever). Like everything else they make their Skid steer tires are Radials. To my knowledge they are the only radials. In theory, like every other tire, radials should last longer and perform better. It will be interesting to see how they hold up. The one thing I really want to see if they improve on is the rocking back and forth when turning on pavement and such. The show this in the video below. IIRC 305/70R16.5's were in the mid 300s for pricing, expensive like the rest of their tires, but I haven't had a Michelin not impress us with tread wear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW-IT009nU0 http://www.michelinag.com/Agricultural-tires/Compact-line/MICHELIN-BIBSTEEL-ALL-TERRAIN