Swapping sides

[Squench]

My friend is after to me to swap the front wheels around on my 2500DT. I get how it makes the front wider and more stable but this will also make a small changes to the steering radius. Is there any harm in doing this?

 

[Russell King]

It won’t be any more stable. The front axle has a pin at the center so the front wheel can rise or fall like a see saw. Spreading the wheels further apart does not change that design feature.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

My friend is after to me to swap the front wheels around on my 2500DT. I get how it makes the front wider and more stable but this will also make a small changes to the steering radius. Is there any harm in doing this?

Is your friend going to pay for the repairs after it breaks parts, and it 100% will.
There is story after story about the damage that is done when you swap the front wheels around, they aren't pretty.

And fully agree with Russell, it doesn't make the tractor any more stable at all!
It's a floating front axle so it's not stopping it from tilting side to side at all.

 

[armylifer]

There is one main thing to consider here. Making a wider wheel stance on the front axle does not help stability at all. It puts much more strain on the center pin that your axle pivots on. This can, and more probably will cause premature wear on the bearing, and the seals for that bearing, that you axle pivots on.

If you want more stability for your tractor you can add spacers on the rear wheels. That is effective to some degree depending which model tractor you have and how you are using it. Check out the thread on wheel spacers and discover what spacers others are using and if they experienced any problems with them.

My tractor is much smaller than yours and I added 1 3/4" spacers to the rear of mine. I am very happy with the results. Others have added 2" or larger spacers and they are happy with those. You may feel the need for more stability but you will not achieve it by making your front wheel stance wider.

I tried putting 1 3/4 inch spacers on the front of my tractor but I ended up removing them after a few weeks of use. My property is very rocky, but flat. Since my property has a lot of rocks my front axle is often flexed to each side and the front wheels come off the ground frequently. With the spacers on the front, I was experiencing the front wheels coming off the ground more frequently than without the spacers. Since the front wheel that was still in contact with the ground had excess weight on it, more than would be with the narrower wheel stance without the spacer, that caused a fluid seep from the front axle pivot bolt. I was able to cure that by tightening the pivot bolt but I decided to remove the front wheel spacers and that problem never appeared again.

Take what you will from that experience but it is real, not anecdotal.

 

[Squench]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds to me like it’s best to leave it alone. I haven’t worked it with it much yet but it seems stable to my limited experience. I believe I’ll leave the engineering to the engineers. Once again thanks!

 

[armylifer]

I noticed that you are a relatively new member. I hope that you do not go away, as some people do. In case you have not been welcomed to the site, please let me welcome you. This is without any doubt the best site for all things relating to Kubota products. If you need any help or information about your Kubota product, you will certainly find the expertise to help you here. If you browse the Off Topic forum, you will often find information that is not Kubota related but still highly informative.

Again, welcome and enjoy this site!

 

[Squench]

I noticed that you are a relatively new member. I hope that you do not go away, as some people do. In case you have not been welcomed to the site, please let me welcome you. This is without any doubt the best site for all things relating to Kubota products. If you need any help or information about your Kubota product, you will certainly find the expertise to help you here. If you browse the Off Topic forum, you will often find information that is not Kubota related but still highly informative.

Again, welcome and enjoy this site!

Thanks so much. I’ve already found this forum very helpful. Thanks for your service.

 

[bird dogger]

My friend is after to me to swap the front wheels around on my 2500DT. I get how it makes the front wider and more stable but this will also make a small changes to the steering radius. Is there any harm in doing this?

I second armylifer's "Welcome to the OTT forum"!! Regarding the swapping of the front wheels, I can add this: I have a MF compact tractor also and I do swap the front wheels around for a wider stance. But only because I use it to pull a 4 row corn planter and the wider stance allows the front tires to straddle the 2 inside planter rows. There's no power steering on this old tractor and the extra effort it takes to make the turns at the end of the rows is considerable!! There's no comparison to the effort with the wheels in the normal position so it's got to put extra stress on those components. You might not notice it with power steering on the newer tractors but without it.....it confirms armylifer's experience and thoughts. When I'm done with the planter the wheels are put back to their normal position until the next planting season.

 

[Squench]

I second armylifer's "Welcome to the OTT forum"!! Regarding the swapping of the front wheels, I can add this: I have a MF compact tractor also and I do swap the front wheels around for a wider stance. But only because I use it to pull a 4 row corn planter and the wider stance allows the front tires to straddle the 2 inside planter rows. There's no power steering on this old tractor and the extra effort it takes to make the turns at the end of the rows is considerable!! There's no comparison to the effort with the wheels in the normal position so it's got to put extra stress on those components. You might not notice it with power steering on the newer tractors but without it.....it confirms armylifer's experience and thoughts. When I'm done with the planter the wheels are put back to their normal position until the next planting season.

The stress from changing the steering radius was my initial concern. Your experience confirms my thoughts. Add that to the things already mentioned, I think I’ll leave it alone. I do appreciate your input!

 

[Clint from Flint]

Welcome to the Kubota Forum Squench.




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