Michelin surprising remarks on tire ballast,

[armylifer]

I do mow with the extra weight on the tractor 3pt. It helps lower the COG when mowing along the drainage ditch along the road in front of my house. Without the extra weight the tractor tends to slip sidways into the ditch. The extra weight gives me just enough extra traction that prevents the sidways slip. Here is a picture of the weights.

 

[Freeheeler]

I do mow with the extra weight on the tractor 3pt. It helps lower the COG when mowing along the drainage ditch along the road in front of my house. Without the extra weight the tractor tends to slip sidways into the ditch. The extra weight gives me just enough extra traction that prevents the sidways slip. Here is a picture of the weights.

Looks like you've got that weight low enough to help for your situation, nicely done.

 

[Dennis.D]

I was under the impression that it was better for the tractor to have the weight in the tires rather than on the axles. Would the extra wear and tear on axle bearings be worth the marginal difference in foot print.

 

[armylifer]

I doubt that there is any undue wear on the wheel bearings due to 235 lbs on the 3pt. The tractor is rated to carry much more weight than that. If I thought that 235 lbs of weight on the 3pt would cause any excess wear on the wheel bearings of my Kubota I would sell it and buy a better tractor. Since I doubt that any other tractor is better than my Kubota, I will keep it and keep the extra weight on it.

 

[Dennis.D]

I was thinking a lot more weight than that. My loaded tires are about 1100 lbs. plus the weight box or implement.

 

[armylifer]

I don't think that ballast in the tire counts as weight on the axles. I could be wrong but even if I am the extra 50 lbs of ballast in each tire is not significant in my case.

 

[Freeheeler]

I can't buy the limited tire foot print with liquid ballast.

Fill a balloon with water and hang it by the nozzle. Where is the balloon the fattest?

At the bottom! The liquid weight acts as "head" with greatest pressure at the lowest level.

Yes, the liquid increases the footprint or contact patch just like in a balloon, but to a much lesser degree. The tire carcass does flex but not as much as a balloon. If the tire didn't flex (think solid wheel as in a wooded wagon wheel) then adding iron weights wouldn't increase the footprint either. The misleading part is that Michelin says 'compared to iron iron weights' then has a list of statements. The statement says liquid ballast has 'decreased' footprint, but that is compared to the same amount of iron weight. It actually has increased footprint, just less (or decreased) compared to iron weights because the liquid weight is not directly on the axle.