5518 tires

[hunky57]

For all of you who are looking for new tires. I did some research and bought the back tires from Nebraska Tire (25-8.50-14) for 63.00 with shipping and the front tires were a bit more from speciality tire for 131.00 plus shipping and the size 21-8.50-12. This combo will give you the ratio you need for the ratio in the differentials. Sure beats the price of 200.00/tire from Honda scalpers. Ps These are all 4ply tires and not 2 ply like oem.

[bontai Joe]

:thanku: Great info for Honda owners. Thanks for the heads up on these tires!

[honda5518]

For everybody looking at having to replace tires, I have come up with several solutions. The first is I have started making wheel adapters to be able to mount different wheel and tire combos. The adapters are made out of aluminum with a bolt circle of 4x4 (can be any bolt circle as long as it is 4x). Shown below is my 5518 with the adapters, GBC wheels (12x7 rear & 10x7 front) and Carlisle tires (24x9.50- 12 rear & 20x8-10 front for a ratio of 1.194)

My next solution is making my own wheels. I have taken blank rims (no centers) and made my own centers to fit the Hondas. On my 5013 I have 10x6 front and 12x10.5 wheels (rear wheels still unpainted, waiting to get my power coating system). I mounted 27x12-12 Dirt Devil II tires in the rear and 22x8-10 Dirt Devil II in the front for a ratio of 1.228. I will try to post photos tomorrow.

I also have another set of wheels I have done (12x10.5 rear & 12x8 front) mounted with Carlisle 26x12-12 & 23x8.50-12 tires for a ratio of 1.174.

There are several other tire combos that will you a ratio between 1.174 – 1.26. Please remember that on the OEM turf tires had a ratio of 2.0 and the ag tires had a ratio of 1.26.

For more info on the wheel adapters, custom wheels, a front hitch and a rear 3-point hitch for the Honda tractors you can contact me (Charles) at aces_x_4@yahoo.com or 830-996-3463.

[Jim_WV]

That is one sharp machine you got there honda5518, love those wheels and tires both, plus you sure keep her clean :fing32:

[scrodamoon]

yup it definatly is a pretty machine. haha

[hunky57]

nice ride. do you cut grass with this or do you show it. you might want to recalculate the ratio for turf tires. front tires are 20-7.00-12 x 3.1416=62.832
Back tires are 24-850-14 x 3.1416 = 75.3984 or a ratio of 1.2:1 This is also the gear ratio difference between front and back.

[honda5518]

I made a mistake on the Honda OEM turf tires, the ratio should have been 1.2 and not 2.0.

I cut grass with it some times but I use it more for show. As far as the ratio goes the tires I have on the tractor now gives me a ratio of 1.1940 which is good. There are to many variables to acutely calculate the ratio. Not everybody inflates the tires to the proper inflation, air gauges will vary between each other, consider the tire wear but the one that gets me is Honda itself. With turf tires the ratio is 1.2:1 under perfect conditions and the for the ag tire it is 1.26:1 (Honda did not change any gear in the transmission to achieve this, just changed tires).

Your calculations are based on the tire being 20" tall for the front and 24" tall for the back when in fact they are 19.8" for the front and 24.1" for the back which gives a ratio of 1.212. It is easy to find out how tall the tires are by going to the manufacturer web site such as Carlisle which says that the tires on my tractor are 20.1" for the front and 24" for the rear which gives a ratio of 1.1940:1.