Skid Steer Tires

Reach

Reach

Been here much more than a while
Location
Atglen, PA
It’s tire shopping time again, and I’m looking for opinions. This machine is a Cat 246, a standard rubber tire skid steer, with normal sized tires. We have always run Michelin tires, with the standard R4 tread pattern, but we are thinking of running something less aggressive.

Clearly we don’t need great tread depth for traction, as right now the tires have less than 1/4” at the deepest point, and are 2/3 smooth and are still working for the most part. Getting a little slippery the past couple days, but that’s it.

So what do you run on your regular skid steer, that doesn’t cause too much turf damage?
 
Reach said:
It’s tire shopping time again, and I’m looking for opinions. This machine is a Cat 246, a standard rubber tire skid steer, with normal sized tires. We have always run Michelin tires, with the standard R4 tread pattern, but we are thinking of running something less aggressive.

Clearly we don’t need great tread depth for traction, as right now the tires have less than 1/4” at the deepest point, and are 2/3 smooth and are still working for the most part. Getting a little slippery the past couple days, but that’s it.

So what do you run on your regular skid steer, that doesn’t cause too much turf damage?
Click to expand...
If you’re not worried about traction try foam filling your old tires they last forever
 
VenasNursery said:
If you’re not worried about traction try foam filling your old tires they last forever
Click to expand...
Thought about that, but these are truly wearing out - they’re wearing into the inner rubber now, which is pretty soft, so it’s chunking out on the pavement. They’ll be falling apart before too much longer.
 
My buddies dad use to run with full tread on the rear tires and near bald on the front tires. He barely left a mark on turf and still had reasonable traction. It also cut down on the cost of purchasing 4 tires, just two at a time and rotate position.
 
flushcut said:
My buddies dad use to run with full tread on the rear tires and near bald on the front tires. He barely left a mark on turf and still had reasonable traction. It also cut down on the cost of purchasing 4 tires, just two at a time and rotate position.
Click to expand...

Interesting thought. I'm due for new tires on my mini. I run them as bald as possible for as long as possible. To the point where you can see the foam filling on one of my rear tires.

Just curious for you guys that run full size skid steers. How often is all of the weight on the front tires vs on all 4? With the mini it's not uncommon for the back tires to be hovering when carrying a larger piece of wood, negating any traction advantage from tread on rear wheels. Obviously a different animal than you are working with, just curious if the tire replacement plan would work as well on mine.
 
Jehinten said:
Interesting thought. I'm due for new tires on my mini. I run them as bald as possible for as long as possible. To the point where you can see the foam filling on one of my rear tires.

Just curious for you guys that run full size skid steers. How often is all of the weight on the front tires vs on all 4? With the mini it's not uncommon for the back tires to be hovering when carrying a larger piece of wood, negating any traction advantage from tread on rear wheels. Obviously a different animal than you are working with, just curious if the tire replacement plan would work as well on mine.
Click to expand...
We run on the front tires only a lot; I am the primary operator on this particular loader, and I’ve learned that I can push the load limits to nearly twice the rated capacity of the loader by running around with a foot of air under the rear tires.
 
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