L4701 Rear Wheel Adjustment

[NCL4701]

Rear wheels on my L4701 were left narrow due to a couple of clearance issues on our property. Dealer made it quite clear (and manual seems to agree) they are adjustable on the 4701 even with the R4’s. Those clearance issues have been addressed so I’m thinking about adjusting them out. Running the 17.5 -24 R4’s loaded. My brother has a 1500lb capacity wheel dolly mostly to deal with tractor and large truck tires that I can use to handle them. I’m aware they are probably around 700 to 800lb each loaded so I wouldn’t even think about doing this without the dolly. The rims clamp on the center and the manual makes it look like you just support the back of the tractor, remove the clamps, slide them out where you want them, and reinstall the clamps. I may be overthinking it but that just seems too easy. Only two pages in the manual that mention it should be below (or above). Am I missing something or is it really that simple?

 

[Roadworthy]

Yes, if you can handle the weight of the tires it's really that simple. If you look at the tractor and wheel it should be intuitive how to make it happen.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Whatever you do, just don't allow the wheel and tire assembly to get out of vertical (mounted position). If it stats to fall over get the hell away from it and fast and let it fall. You don't want your feet or your body in the fall zone, it will crush you immediately. Been there and did that and the least dangerous way in my view is to use a cherry picker portable shop crane with a nylon or chain choker around the wheel / tire at the top. A tire dolly works but with a dolly you have to constantly mind the vertical position of the assembly. The easiest is the shop crane which maintains the vertical alignment all the time.

Mine area lot bigger than yours and even unloaded weigh a ton (literally). With the truck tire dolly it is possible to 'horse the assembly around, just much easier with a cherry picker portable shop crane.

However you approach it, just be very careful. getting 'pinched' between the wheel / tire assembly and the ground or concrete will probably be quite painful and can cause death if pinched in the wrong place.,

 

[NCL4701]

Thanks for the responses and the concern (seriously). I guess I’m a worst case scenario person so with this fancy Tier 4 common rail HST blah, blah tractor concerned it might cause a fault in a computer somewhere if I loosened a wheel clamp and the headlights wouldn’t work any more.

I figure I have three options or combination of options to handle them: 1) the wheel dolly, which has chains with binders to clamp it to the upright part of the frame to prevent tipping (this type job seems to be what the thing is designed for); 2) the trip bucket loader on the old Farmall that isn’t very handy but will lift around 2000lb; 3) haul it to the dealer and get them to do it.

My brother has a similar size JD, I forget the number. He’s used the wheel dolly for the loaded rears on it to pull a wheel for access to run rear remotes (apparently the requisite manifold is right behind the wheel) so if I use the dolly the plan is for him to come with it. And now that I’m thinking about it maybe his JD would be a more reliable backup than the Farmall so maybe I should haul the Kubota and rigging to his place when he’s done with the chipper we co-own so I could haul the Kubota and chipper back when we’re done adjusting the wheels. A second person wouldn’t be bad to have around anyway. If we use the Farmall or JD at all it would be to strap it up as a secondary backup for the dolly.

Risking death or injury to make the tractor safer is pretty stupid so if it’s looking sketchy or my brother bails on me, I’ll just haul it to the dealer or leave it as is.

Again, thanks.

 

[whitetiger]

I figure I have three options or combination of options to handle them: 1) the wheel dolly, which has chains with binders to clamp it to the upright part of the frame to prevent tipping (this type job seems to be what the thing is designed for); 2) the trip bucket loader on the old Farmall that isn’t very handy but will lift around 2000lb; 3) haul it to the dealer and get them to do it.

The tire dolly is by far your best option, kind of why they are made. The problem with using a lifting strap on an overhead hoist or cherrypicker is there is a fender in the way. Kind of the reason we have tire dollys.

 

[freewheel3]

Depending on how your rim / center disc is set up now, and depending on what width you want to achieve, you might have to pull both wheels off at the same time to keep your tire orientation correct.

There are no clamps.

The center disc is dished and is reversible. The outer rim has the disc attachment points offset as well, so that it is also reversible. This is how you get the 5 different widths in the manual pic you posted. If you look real close at the pic, as well as your tractor, you'll see what I mean. The 6th setting in the pic is for different rims that use the turf tires.

 

[freewheel3]

After looking at the manual pic again, with R4s you only have 4 different width settings, not 5 as I mentioned.

 

[MSG H]

PLEASE, use the chains on the dolly and have help close bye if needed.

Ive used plywood with wheel bearing grease on the side of the road, in combat

 

[NCL4701]

PLEASE, use the chains on the dolly and have help close bye if needed.

Ive used plywood with wheel bearing grease on the side of the road, in combat

1) Thank you for your service. I am not familiar with combat but am familiar with doing things that would be otherwise unthinkable but for the dire nature of the circumstance.

2) Thankfully, I’m not in combat or any other dire circumstance so I have time to research, plan, gather appropriate equipment and personnel, hire it out, or even skip it altogether. If it can’t be done safely, it just won’t be done.

Closest actual experience I’ve had with this was many years ago pulling the loaded rears off the H. I don’t know what they weigh. They’re narrower but larger diameter. I don’t have it handy to look at the tire size. As best I recall the exact dimensions are shoulder high by as wide as my boot is long, but one was on a 10” rim and the other on a 12” because some story I forget. If one fell on you I would expect it to crush whatever part of you it hit. That was two guys and a boom pole on the 3 point of another tractor (the H didn’t come with fenders, but at least grandpa ordered the optional rubber tires so that’s nice). We put a 50 ton screw type house jack under the 3 point on the lifting tractor up to the point of driving off with it, so it was reasonably safe but I seem to recall getting it lined back up to reinstall was a bit challenging. The screw jack allowing fine adjustment was helpful. As whitetiger pointed out, the Kubota has a fender and I think with some planning we can do a little better this time.

Don’t necessarily plan to move to absolute max width, so have to consider how wide it really should be. Right now I’m thinking total width increase of around 6” to 8” +/-. If I end up doing it myself, will post some before, during, and after photos. Still have some planning to do and others involved so may be a while.