Can we talk tiller tires?
Is there such a thing as "flat free" or "worry free" bar tread chevron traction tires?
There appears to be a reason why tillers like the TroyBilt, Husqvarna, MTD, and Sears Craftsman came equipped with TUBELESS tiller tires, and I'm curious what that reason is.
If I had to guess, it is that tires with tubes slip on the rim, which disclocates and sometimes lacerates the tube's valve stem protruding through the valve stem hole of the steel wheel. With a tubless tire, the valve stem is fixed, regardless of any bead slippage of the tire.
But the downside of the tubeless tire is when it gets penetrated, it goes flat. Or when it loses air, it also slips away from the rim flange, and then becomes a chore to reseat, using ratchet straps or whatever. And if it goes flat during the off season, while the tiller is safely stored away in the shed, one can return 6 months later and find not only the tire is flat and unseated off the bead, it is also cracked, from having not stored the tiller elevated entirely off the tires.
That bell cannot be unrung, but going forward, I've been trying to find flat free worry free solid but still somewhat buoyant bar tread traction tires to replace the 16" outside diameter 4.80/4.00-8 tires that came stock with an early '80's TroyBilt Horse 3, and likewise came stock with a mid '90's Craftsman rear counter rotating tine tiller.
The Craftsman tire were branded "Sears", but the TroyBilt tires were branded Goodyear, made in the USA. I tried to find ANY Ag (agricultural) tire (either pneumatic or solid) that was made in the USA, or had a traditional USA tire company brand name, such as Goodyear, or Firestone, in the 4.80/4.00-800 size, without any luck.
The obvious idea to preserve the use of the original equipment Goodyear tubeless tires is to introduce a tube inside the punctured and now sidewall cracked tire casing. But that introduces all the faults of tube tires, and circumvents whatever the reasons were for the rototiller manufacturers to specify tubeless tires for this application in the first place.
So I turned to Carlisle, who appears to have two different part numbers... 510050 and 5109501. I don't understand the difference between these two tires, but the generic aftermarket (China?) tire industry appears to have two different part number equivalents also... 165-076 and 160-182. Depending on reseller, these same numbers are sometimes listed without the hyphen, as 165076 and 160182.
What is frustrating about buying online (which is required, since none of these tires are carried by the local hardware stores) is that the vendors advertise the "name brand", but are actually selling something that is a "replacement for" or "equivalent to" the name brand they list. So even while in my opinion Carlisle might be a step down from Goodyear, there is no guarantee that I would even receive a Carlisle, or a Kenda even (such as Kenda 22470009), were I to order from any given vendor online. I'd receive a bar tread tire that was "equivalent", or that "replaces", the tire I researched.
But even my research is flawed, or rather, incomplete. Carlisle offers three different bar treads, which they described as "Power Trac" (Good), "Super Lug" (Better), and "Tru Power" (Best). I've also seen Super Lug and Power Trac inversed in some literature as far as which is "Good", and which is "Better." But Carlisle does not explain the physical characteristics or reasons why one series of bar tread tire is better than the other. And it is unclear if the "Best" is even available in the 4.80/4.00-8 size.
For that matter, I'm not even clear about what 4.80 designates, vis a vis 4.00, as the original Goodyear tires that shipped with the TroyBilt only say 4.00-8, and make no mention of 4.80. Yet all of the TroyBilt parts catalogs identify the replacement tire as 4.80. I get that the -8 means 8" rim. I'm guessing that the 4.80 stands for section width, and that the 4.00 is the measured equivalent of aspect ratio... but I'm not certain. Can we talk?
At the end of the day, I'm looking for net 16" over all diameter bar tread traction tires that LAST, forever, under unforgivable conditions of neglect. A flat free alternative would be very enticing, but is glaringly absent of any offerings I've explored. There must be a reason... as it would otherwise be too obvious of a solution for the tire manufacturers to ignore.
Killer tiller tires... please discuss!
Is there such a thing as "flat free" or "worry free" bar tread chevron traction tires?
There appears to be a reason why tillers like the TroyBilt, Husqvarna, MTD, and Sears Craftsman came equipped with TUBELESS tiller tires, and I'm curious what that reason is.
If I had to guess, it is that tires with tubes slip on the rim, which disclocates and sometimes lacerates the tube's valve stem protruding through the valve stem hole of the steel wheel. With a tubless tire, the valve stem is fixed, regardless of any bead slippage of the tire.
But the downside of the tubeless tire is when it gets penetrated, it goes flat. Or when it loses air, it also slips away from the rim flange, and then becomes a chore to reseat, using ratchet straps or whatever. And if it goes flat during the off season, while the tiller is safely stored away in the shed, one can return 6 months later and find not only the tire is flat and unseated off the bead, it is also cracked, from having not stored the tiller elevated entirely off the tires.
That bell cannot be unrung, but going forward, I've been trying to find flat free worry free solid but still somewhat buoyant bar tread traction tires to replace the 16" outside diameter 4.80/4.00-8 tires that came stock with an early '80's TroyBilt Horse 3, and likewise came stock with a mid '90's Craftsman rear counter rotating tine tiller.
The Craftsman tire were branded "Sears", but the TroyBilt tires were branded Goodyear, made in the USA. I tried to find ANY Ag (agricultural) tire (either pneumatic or solid) that was made in the USA, or had a traditional USA tire company brand name, such as Goodyear, or Firestone, in the 4.80/4.00-800 size, without any luck.
The obvious idea to preserve the use of the original equipment Goodyear tubeless tires is to introduce a tube inside the punctured and now sidewall cracked tire casing. But that introduces all the faults of tube tires, and circumvents whatever the reasons were for the rototiller manufacturers to specify tubeless tires for this application in the first place.
So I turned to Carlisle, who appears to have two different part numbers... 510050 and 5109501. I don't understand the difference between these two tires, but the generic aftermarket (China?) tire industry appears to have two different part number equivalents also... 165-076 and 160-182. Depending on reseller, these same numbers are sometimes listed without the hyphen, as 165076 and 160182.
What is frustrating about buying online (which is required, since none of these tires are carried by the local hardware stores) is that the vendors advertise the "name brand", but are actually selling something that is a "replacement for" or "equivalent to" the name brand they list. So even while in my opinion Carlisle might be a step down from Goodyear, there is no guarantee that I would even receive a Carlisle, or a Kenda even (such as Kenda 22470009), were I to order from any given vendor online. I'd receive a bar tread tire that was "equivalent", or that "replaces", the tire I researched.
But even my research is flawed, or rather, incomplete. Carlisle offers three different bar treads, which they described as "Power Trac" (Good), "Super Lug" (Better), and "Tru Power" (Best). I've also seen Super Lug and Power Trac inversed in some literature as far as which is "Good", and which is "Better." But Carlisle does not explain the physical characteristics or reasons why one series of bar tread tire is better than the other. And it is unclear if the "Best" is even available in the 4.80/4.00-8 size.
For that matter, I'm not even clear about what 4.80 designates, vis a vis 4.00, as the original Goodyear tires that shipped with the TroyBilt only say 4.00-8, and make no mention of 4.80. Yet all of the TroyBilt parts catalogs identify the replacement tire as 4.80. I get that the -8 means 8" rim. I'm guessing that the 4.80 stands for section width, and that the 4.00 is the measured equivalent of aspect ratio... but I'm not certain. Can we talk?
At the end of the day, I'm looking for net 16" over all diameter bar tread traction tires that LAST, forever, under unforgivable conditions of neglect. A flat free alternative would be very enticing, but is glaringly absent of any offerings I've explored. There must be a reason... as it would otherwise be too obvious of a solution for the tire manufacturers to ignore.
Killer tiller tires... please discuss!
