White 2-70 Rear Tire Choices

Thanks everyone for the thoughts on the cracking rear tires earlier. I did some checking on replacement 16.9-34 rears and the local dealers have Good Year and Alliance tires readily available. Looks like the Good Year is a 6 ply tire and the Alliance is 8 ply. Not really sure what I should get. They are almost the same price. Does anyone have any recommendations? The old White had a hard life before I got it but it is still a functional and reliable old tractor. I really enjoy using it and don't see any reason to get rid of it any time soon.

Here are a few pictures from this morning raking alfalfa. The New Holland 216 rake is new to my operation this year. I have been wanting one of these for a long time, and finally found one that wasn't beat to death. It's a pretty nice piece of gear.



<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto712.jpg"/>

<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto713.jpg"/>

<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto714.jpg"/>

I have a Oliver 1655 which is about the same tractor. The best thing I ever did was ditch the 16.9 x 34 tires and go to 18.4 x 34 tires. The extra height and width real made it work much better. Also 18.4 x 34 tires are much more common. So you can get better pricing on them.

Keep looking until you find some Firestone's...

Rod

I was wondering about that. I had to put new tires on the front a couple of years ago and upsized them to 14L-16. I thought the bigger tires would be better for the front end loader and that part seems good, but the nose is higher by quite a bit. It's more noticeable than I thought it would be. The extra height in the back would probably level things out a bit. Thanks for the advice.

I agree with going to the 18.4 X 34 I have them on my Oliver 1650 but as far as height the 16.9 X 38 that were on a 2-70 parts tractor I bought were taller than the 18.4 X 34 tires.

20 years ago, Firestone made good tires. Today's are junk. They are really soft, and if you are doing any kind of road work the treads will be gone in 18 months. Been there and done that. Even put a new Firestone on one side of a tractor, and a had half worn Titan on the other side. The half worn Titan lasted longer in road duty than the new Firestone! The tire guy had a hard time swallowing that!

Today I buy Michelin or BKT. Michelin will out last Firestone by a factor of 2 to 3. BKT will last as long or longer than firestone, and be a lower price.

I never did se any Firestone tires that was much good,farm or car either.The tractor tires you could just about see them melt from day to day.A set of Goodyears or Goodrich's would out wear two sets of firestones.Goodyears was the best.

Don't know that the brand really makes a difference anymore, as long as it is U.S.A. I would buy from the dealer who has been in business the longest, and plans to stay in business.

30+ years ago and bad Firestone and the way Firestone treated us I would not buy anouther Firestone new, used probably but not a new one, same for the car or truck. Sidewalls busted between every lug and ended up putting reliners in them. Claimed it was abuse running too low yet the recomended pressure is 2/3 of what we were running because we knew their recemonded was too low because tire was half flat at that pressure. I tols the guys at the Firestone tractor tire proving ground the tires they were so proud of were junk.

I would have to say an answer to your question is, it depends. I might open up a can of worms here, but you are likely to get a variety of answers. The tires made in the last 15 to 20 years seem to be softer and more prone to stubble wear, versus those made earlier. This might be a factor in your decision. I can only offer comments based upon our experiences with radial ply tires, as our farm tractors are mostly equipped with radial ply tires. The tractors that do not spend much time in the field and our collector tractors all have bias ply tires. Cornstalks and soybean stubble seem to be causing more wear in the face of our farm tires than before. It might also have something to do with the genetics of our corn and soybeans, with the larger and tougher stalks and stems, too. For pulling in the field, the Firestone 23 degree radial farm tires appear to have more lugs in their foot print versus others. Not sure about bias ply tires. I had a set of Firestone radial tires with the 23 degree angled bar lugs. They were worn out in a very short period of time, since this tractor was used for hauling grain in the fall. The tires were about junk after only 500 to 600 hours. Every tire dealer I talked with indicated the 23 degree lug angle is too flat and more prone to wear. Those same tire dealers recommended the Michelin Agri-Bib radial tire. Those have a steeper angled lug and I would tend to believe they are on the order of a 41 degree angle. So far, so good. We had good luck with Goodyear Dyna Torque II radials over the years, too, for both road and field use. In my own operation, my leanings are to use the Michelins for the tractor that gets a lot of road time, and probably Firestones with the 23 degree bar angle for the tractors used for pulling in the field. Ask around some and talk about what you are going to be using the tractor for before making a decision. Find a local tire dealer you can work with, too. I sorry, but I don't know much about the brands outside Goodyear/Titan, Firestone, and Michelin.

I spent 22 years in the farm tire business and would loudly disagree with anyone that calls Firestone tires junk. You do not say how you are going to use this tractor. If I were recommending tires I would not recommend Goodyear's, why because the seams split. I have replaced way too many of them with Firestone. I also sold the alliance brand they are totally OK. I put a lot of them of chore tractors.

Bill FYI I just checked with one of my old suppliers, if I was still in the tire business 16.9x34 Carlisle 8 ply tires would cost you 534.00 each put on the tractor at my shop, + tube if needed, + 10.00 per tire to pump fluid both ways if you have it.
I no longer have access to Gdyr or Alliance tire prices.

Yes the 16.9 x 38 tires would be taller but he would have to change castings or use step up rims. He currently has 16.9 x 34s.

That probably depends on the tire model.... Like everyone else they make good and the make cheap. I've got a set of 23 deg radials here with over 4k hours of very hard service and 19 yrs on the rim. They're coming off some day when I get the initiative to mount the new ones... and then they're going on the duals. The casings on these tires are still sound and one is mounted tubeless...
I have a couple sets of Michelin's as well. They wear great. They pull good... but at 7-10 years of use the liners crack up in them. I've resorted to running tubes in them and blowout patches on the tire to try and wear the bars off them, which will take some time yet, even at 2-3k hours use.
I've also had several sets of the older Field & Road that have generally held up well. What the SAT II is like I don't know because I generally don't buy bias tires, but what I see of them locally is that they hold up OK but probably do wear faster than a Field & Road. The operative question I would probably ask is... am I going to wear these out in 3-5 years or 15-20 years. If they're going quick then I'd look at a Galaxy or something cheap like that because the casing is going to rot over the longer term. If it's going to be around a while I'd want a Firestone carcass...
Titan, so far as I'm concerned... is good for starting a fire and that's about it. I've never had a good one... other than to say they will wear quite a while on the road.


Rod

Best set of rear tractor tires I've ever seen were the old co-op Safe Mark tires. They were used, and were on a tractor we bought in 1975, we had to replace them 3 years ago.

Titan was probably the best I had. Radials were not yet popular. The older 45 degree Firestones were good but when they brought out the field and road they forget how to make a tire.

My experience with Titan is that the sides come out of them long before they're worn out. Not cracks or liner failures.... 6" blowouts. I will never buy a Titan tire, ever. They were no different than the Armstrong tires that preceded them.

Rod

And the Armstrong were the best tire.