Which Tires To Keep

Last week I got a 1970 Ford 2000 3 cyl. diesel; 8/2 trans. which joins my 1965 2000; 3 cyl. gasser; 4/1 trans. I dearly love the diesel with its gearing that allows me to creep instead of jerk. The gasser has new tires all around. The diesel tires are in fairly good shape but with checking and cracks from sun exposure. However, the 'new' rears on the gasser (got them from a widow woman whose husband had bought them to go on his tractor but never mounted them and they lived 3 years inside his barn before I bought them) also have cracks. Is it normal that 3-5 year old new rear tires would be cracking so soon? These cracks were in them when I bought the tires. Both diesel and gasser rears have inner tubes and are filled with liquid ballast.

These new rear tires on the gasser are 'Vortex Hi-Traction' ag tires, 6 ply nylon, made in India. The rears on the diesel are 'Summit Rear Farm' ag tires, 4 ply nylon, made in USA (I'm guessing that these diesel ags are at least 20 years old).

I plan to swap the new front tires to the diesel but am wondering if I should do the same with the rear tires. Sage advice is welcome. Thanks.
 
I have no experience with either of those brands of tires, but
cracked in three years stored indoors out of the sun would not
impress me with them, even though they're a higher ply rating.
 

One of my Fords came with no name tires that were apparently nearly new, but were already cracking, They are cracked fairly deeply now.
 
If the one set of tires took 20 years to get checked as bad as they are, and they still appear serviceable, I would stick with them, as the 3 year old tires only took 3 years to get as bad as they are and will probably be twice as bad or worse in another 3 years, while the 20 year old tires should go another 20 years before getting twice as bad as they are now.
 
(quoted from post at 08:10:47 07/09/18) If the one set of tires took 20 years to get checked as bad as they are, and they still appear serviceable, I would stick with them, as the 3 year old tires only took 3 years to get as bad as they are and will probably be twice as bad or worse in another 3 years, while the 20 year old tires should go another 20 years before getting twice as bad as they are now.

My thoughts exactly.
 
I don't have any experience with either of those brands, but my experience with Chinese and Indian tires in general is that U.S.
made tires last considerably longer. When buying new tires, I'll pay the extra 10-20% that the U.S. tires cost and end up with a
lower cost per year over the tire's life. (this may not hold true with automotive tires, but it has for my ag tires)
 
Everyone's comments leads me to think that I'll keep the original tires on the diesel and sell the gasser with the new tires on the rear. Might bring a better price. Besides, the tires on the diesel, while older and somewhat cracked, still look like they have plenty of life left in them.

However, one thing I really like about the gasser tires is that the dish is set so that the tire/rim is pushed outward giving that tractor a wider stance in the back and better stability. Is it a big deal to move the diesel rims out on the dishes to get that same wide stance? I believe there are 6 bolts holding the rims to the center hub (dish). Because of the bracket locations on the rim it would actually mean swapping left and right rims/tires leaving the dishes attached to the axle. The tires are 12.4x28 and loaded with liquid ballast. Is this a big deal to do other than wrangling heavy tires/rims?

Thanks.
 

I can't tell you what you need to do to move them out because I can't see where they are now, but your manual will show you a number of different options. For some changes you need to swap sides but for some all you do is move them with respect to the centers or turn the centers around.
 
When the tires literally come apart then start contemplating replacements.

Tires come with "plasticizer" chemicals that lubricate the rubber (powder) and keep it pliable. This product works through the rubber as the rubber
flexes (per information from a popular brand tire commercial) and keeps it nice and smooth....no weather cracking. If you notice on ST rated tires the
outer surface feels slick. They have additional amounts because they are primarily a sit in one place for long periods, tire.....(opinion)

Tires that sit up a lot don't flex so the P doesn't get worked through the rubber on a regular basis......hence cracks occur. The cord holds the tire
together and today's cords resists moisture contamination (Nylon, Polyester, Rayon) so it doesn't matter that the outer rubber has cracked open
allowing moisture to the cord. What can work on the cord however is dirt and debris from soil contact and that plus flexing from low pressure, loss of
tread and covering due to usage, and high torque which cause the plies to unravel and tire failure.

Inside the plies is the sealing rubber layer and it's not all that important with a tube type tire since the tube holds the air.
 
Texasmark1...thanks for the detailed reply. I like learning stuff like that. When I bought the gas tractor 2-3 years ago, the rears were literally coming apart and had chunks peeling loose, and, although my cousin the farmer said to run them til they fell apart, I was happy to get the 'barn find' new tires (and the price was right $300 for the pair). Given your explanation, I may change my mind and move the new tires over to the diesel tractor since they are relatively new and, an added bonus, are already dished out so their stance is wider than the rears on the diesel tractor. Also, sounds like maybe I shouldn't worry too much about the unexpected cracking in the new tires. I keep about 18psi in the rears and they have never run low on air nor flat.
 
18 is where I like to run mine. If you want to see a picture of a bad tire I can show you one. I bought a JD 4010 once and I guarantee you, the tires were
worn out, one especially, but it held enough air (TT) to drive it 10 miles from his house to mine.

On a set of 13.9x28s I took off my '65 3000 when purchased, had maybe 10% tread, some cord showing, some rubber peeling, had the local buy-sell-
trade guy by the place one day and he saw them. Asked what I'd take for the pair....I said you can have them.....he scooped them up and put them to
use.
 
I don't remember the tractor but it may have been a MF 35, has about the same sized tire as the Fords. I was looking for a deal on a couple of tires one
day and went to the Good Year dealer in town. He said he had some old new tires in a trailer out back. It was summer, no vents in the trailer, sure nuf,
there sat a couple of Firestones (he had been a Firestone dealer many years back), cracked really bad....just from sitting in the hot trailer...plasticizer
baked out of them. the main cracking was right around the start of the lug (F1-ag tires) and there were half a dozen or so crack rings.

Had that tractor for maybe 10 years and tires never did notice the cracks increase and had no problems.
 

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