Skidder tires

[dustyhat]

Just bought a 225 timberjack havent even picked it up yet , but the guy has put tractor tires on it , the machine was prices right so i bought it , but im not excited about the tires ,i will use it till i have to switch tires , so im looking for the cheapest places to order from im thinking there 16.9-30s not Shure. i know you guys are gona laugh ,but are there cheap places for tires?

[barbender]

Forestry tires, no.😊

[teakwood]

you better sit down when you price forestry tires, lots of knowledge here about the tires and prices.

i priced 23.1-26 tires once, like 1800 for BKT and around 2500 for Firestone. 

If you are a owner operator and isn't using the machine for commercial all-day use them you can make a good high ply ag tire work. i'm doing it for years now on 25 years old ag/ forestry tire combo on my 540A  

[dustyhat]

Yes ,it will be used heavily , its been twenty years since we bought tires ,im scared to price any now days , but i may have to.

[BargeMonkey]

 Forestry tires ironically havent jumped up, I priced 2x 24.5s the other day and it was within 50 bucks of what I paid 3yrs ago. 

 Depends where your at, you can find decent used tires around, I would price new and run the ag till they won't take anymore. I had ag tires on the front of my 440D yrs, they lived for a while till I caught a rock one day way down over the bank a mile in, no fun getting a small skidder out with a front tire flopping. 

[grabber green]

I have known a couple  of guys that bought another older or broken  skidder that had good rubber just to get the tires . Tractor tires on a log skidder just don't  work if your logging for a living.

[Kodiakmac]

It all comes down to what kind of abuse your tires are going to take.  My buddy did thinning operations on softwood plantations on Crown Land and ran with 10 or 12 ply ag tires on his JD 540.  That worked out just fine for him.   

[barbender]

Not everyone operates the same, that's for sure. I've never ran ag tires, and I haven't ran enough cable skidder to make a comparison anyways. But I have seen guys run a piece of equipment and not be able to make it through a day without ending up in a puddle of hydraulic oil from ripping something off, and other guys never have a problem with the same piece of equipment. I'm sure the ag tires don't stand up to punctures as well, but I would think if a guy wasn't being a dummy and scrubbing them into stumps on turns and stuff, they'd probably hold up ok. Steer around the obstacles, friends😑😊

[Gary Davis]

couldn,t find forestry for my garrett 15 so i have 12 ply vs the 6 ply that came on it I try to be careful and they are holding up fine  

[Brian_Rhoad]

The first JD 440's came with 12Ply ag tires.

[mike_belben]

Agreed barbender.  The nut behind the wheel has a lot to do with equipment longevity.  Seen a lot of that in trucking.  Mister been there done hauled that supertrucker is always the one that slings a driveshaft on flat ground with a light load and sub 500hp truck.  

[Southside]

There is always this.....



 

Sometimes you are the bug.  Just ask Walt.  :D

[barbender]

Like I said, steer around the obstacles. You don't have to aim for the antlers, Southside😂😂 I have to dig up the picture sometime of the scene I had to tend to one day. Truck driver radios me, he needs a push out on the problem spot hill. Ok, I'll be out in a minute...did you just power out again? "No, my transmission fell off." "Ummm, come on back?" "My transmission fell off." "I'm on my way." So I ran the mile or so out with the forwarder to the hill he was on, and indeed he had some severe transmission issues. It took me a second to figure out what I was even looking at. Transmission was rotated 180°, the shift tower was pointed down at the ground. PTO shaft ripped off with hydraulic lines tore off. Best of all, I can't even go home because he is blocking my only way out. He had the personality where I wouldn't have minded just driving by and leaving him there if I could😁 All I can do is guess what he did, I assume he powered out, stabbed the clutch and started rolling backwards. Grabbed a lower gear and dumped the clutch. I'm surprised it didn't just twist the driveshaft off, that it a u-joint would be the usual weak link. Anyways, tore everything loose that I needed to (while he stood there and watched) so I could push him out of the way, trailer brakes are set because the trailer had an air leak. Thankfully I had thrown half a load on the forwarder for traction for pushing. I wasn't sure if it would push the loaded rig with the trailer brakes set but the BuffaloKing made me proud😊 You guys are probably sick of reading that one, but "my transmission fell off". Come on!😂 Next time I'll share a story about how you watch a truck driver do something, and think to yourself, "I can't believe he isn't taking out a differential!" and then, he does take out a differential. And once again you are pushing a loaded truck out of the woods🤦🏻‍♂️

[mike_belben]

So you pushed it beyond the environment?   :D

[moodnacreek]

And then there are tire protection chains. $

[grabber green]

barbender , I thought like you do in the 80s until a friend thought it would be cool to put tractor tires on his 170 franklin because they cost less. Come to east tennessee or east kentucky on a logging job in the mountains and try your don't be a dummy and steer around the obstacles plan ,after several flats a week  you will be telling everybody to run forestry tires. They make skidder tires for a reason. 
the same reason you have them on your forwarder.

[BargeMonkey]

 Just throwing it out there because alot of guys don't think about it. There was a fatality in northern VT a couple weeks ago, guy checking tires on his 440, rim was bad an he didn't know it, aired tire up and it popped the tube, blew half the rim out and killed him. A guy I know up there had to go deal with moving the skidder and saw the scene. Just something to think about. 

[mike_belben]

Always a tragedy when that happens.  Tires have claimed a lot of good men.

[barbender]

GG, I get what you're saying and I sure wouldn't want farm tires on my forwarder😂 Some extreme conditions will never allow you to baby anything and demand the most durable running gear. But there are those guys out there that can "break a steel ball" as I've heard it said😁