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Mixing tire sizes

J

jleonardwv

Member
I've got a Massey Ferguson 150. One rear tire is fine the other one is about to wear out. They are size 13.6 - 28. I found a good deal on a tire that is 12.4 - 28. Would it hurt to mix tire sizes? Would the tractor look wonky with two different size tires?
 
personal I would not do that just think what is going on in the rear end , like you trying to run with one short leg and one long one, causes pre mature wear in rear end
 
other than looks wont hurt a thing. thats what the spider gears are for in the diff. only time its hard on the diff is when one tire is spinning and one is stopped, with extended use like that.
 
Do it only if you want to spend a thousand dollars to rebuild the rear end of your tractor. Doing that will destroy the differential in a short time. Only do it for long enough to get the tractor where it can have correct tire mounted. And tires from one company to anouther will possibly be enough different in size to do it as well even if both marked with the same size.
 
Farmer ..... I like your reply ..... with regards to the "premature wear in the rear end" .... does that refer to the guy running with different leg lengths or to a tractor with different sized rear tires?
 
(quoted from post at 05:33:30 04/05/19) I've got a Massey Ferguson 150. One rear tire is fine the other one is about to wear out. They are size 13.6 - 28. I found a good deal on a tire that is 12.4 - 28. Would it hurt to mix tire sizes? Would the tractor look wonky with two different size tires?
Click to expand...

Yes! It will look wonky. Sell the GOOD tire. Buy 2 new 13.6x28s. Your tractor will thank you.
 
You would have to be an
awfully good driver to drive
straight enough to not had the
differential working one way
or the other. It would look
funny tho.
 
wellllll, if I ran with one leg longer than the other I bet my rear end would have some painful after effects lol
 
It'd look real wonky. I'd find a good used 13.6x28 tire. They are fairly common. Some guys must think differentials are made of glass. Any time you are not going in a straight line, the spider gears are spinning. In 40 years of watching dad farm on the contour never once has he had a differential go bad on a tractor.
AaronSEIA
 
Mixing tire sizes on a tractor is no different than mixing on a car. If you have a front wheel drive car with the compact spare it will tell you right in the owners manual if you have a flat on front do not put that compact on the front. take a rear tire off and put that spair on there and then put the removed rear tire to the front. And first girlfriends family found out not to mix sizes after they ruined the differential doing that. You are just luckey if you get by with it. And I have had the differential go out in tractor with matched rear tires. Not fun replacing the differential either but lucky for me it was a tractor that was designed so it was easyier to do than a lot of them would be.
 
I have Firestone field and road my M they
had been on there since the 60s i believe.
Except one sat flat for 15 yrs and was
cracked bad. Well they still have same
tread pattern now so i thought go by a new
would look fine. There was on about 1/4in
diff in tread wear, but on new side sat
about 4in higher than other, both 13.6 38.
Older ones just settled out that much or
slight size changes over yrs. Went bought
another. So i think age plays a role too.
 
(quoted from post at 10:59:05 04/05/19) Mixing tire sizes on a tractor is no different than mixing on a car. If you have a front wheel drive car with the compact spare it will tell you right in the owners manual if you have a flat on front do not put that compact on the front. take a rear tire off and put that spair on there and then put the removed rear tire to the front. And first girlfriends family found out not to mix sizes after they ruined the differential doing that. You are just luckey if you get by with it. And I have had the differential go out in tractor with matched rear tires. Not fun replacing the differential either but lucky for me it was a tractor that was designed so it was easyier to do than a lot of them would be.
Click to expand...
So your theory is that going 5mph is no different than going 70 mph. Interesting.
I wonder how many thousands upon thousands of tractor tires have been changed due to a flat, where only one side was changed.
 
Never heard of that Leroy, interesting, I'm sure my Honda's owners manual says something the same. Doing some web searching shows much the same advice, HOWEVER not for the reasons we are discussing here (ie differential or transaxle issues). Here's what most of them have to say .... keeping in mind that this is just someone else's opinion and just because the issue we are talking about isn't mentioned doesn't mean that it's not important.

If you get a flat tire on a front wheel on a front wheel drive vehicle and have to use the small "donut" wheel/tire, move a full-size wheel/tire from the back to the front and use the "donut" on the rear. Don't drive more than a few miles with the donut in the first place. It's only for Emergency use. But if you MUST use it, it's always a good idea to use the donut only on the REAR of your car. There's a couple reasons for that:

- Most cars weigh more in the front, so you'll be putting less stress on it by using it in the back.

- Your braking force comes mostly from the front. The donut tire has very little traction compared to your normal tires. You will not stop as straight or as quickly in an emergency if you have the donut on the front.

- Your front tires are used to turn the car, and a real tire will give you better turning than the donut, especially in an emergency avoidance situation.

- If your car is Front-wheel drive and it's snowy/icy, then all of the above plus you will get better traction for acceleration.

There's a possible exception to this rule: If your car is rear-wheel drive and it's snow/ice covered roads. You may not even be able to get acceleration traction if the donut is on the back - however if you put it on the front, you run into the same issues (1-3) above. But, if you have to get moving, and the only choice is to have the donut on the rear, then I guess that's the only choice you'll have.
 
No, if you were replying to me my post was meant to warn people that didnt know that even same sizes from same manufacturers may end up looking different and wonky. To me it made my M look absolutely ridiculous.the internals of a diff, can't help you.
 

As usual I'll weigh in with something a bit off topic. It does relate to tires, however. Was driving on a hi-speed expressway, got passed by an SUV, maybe older Chevy Blazer or similar. Looked funny. On second look I realized all four wheels were donut spares. They did appear to be matched.
 
For those worried about the
differential, you better not
out your tractor on a plow and work it because I've plowed a
lot and the furrow wheel most
always gets better traction so the top wheel slips some
which works the differential
all day long.
 
We have an old MD we ran a 15.5 rice tire against a regular 15.5 and that set off level for years till we had one blow out. Never had a problem with the rearend. Same gears are still in there today. It now has and has had for many years 14.9's on it now.
Now yes it will set tilted to one side. Will it ruin the rearend no like Jon said the diff runs all day long under load with a plow in the furrow and the left wheel slips more than the right. Put it on run it and find a matching set later. The worst problem, it might make the axle seal go to leaking some from oil being a bit higher on that low side.
 
I have plowed many a year and if that tire slips then thongs are not properly weighted. Properly weighted you will not have that slip.
 
Well then I've never had a properly weighted tractor. I did like when I had one with diff lock tho.
 
Back when dad was farming with the Farmall B , the left rear wheel would spin backwards when going down a big hill with the load pushing. I still have it & the rear end has never been open.
 

So far as hurting the tractor, as long as you keep it under 60MPH and limit your driving to 50 miles between stops to cool off, it won't hurt it a bit. Yes it will look a little bit wonky. The thing that really matters here is the rolling circumference. For the 12.4 it is 135 inches, while the13.6 is 139 inches. In order to be sure though you better keep track of your mileage and use a shortened change interval. Every 100,000 miles should be good. Oh yes, and you better get friction inhibiters in there too.
 
Yea its going to look sort of weird and it may not hurt anything mechanically but it will put more wear and tear on the differential whether it'll matter over the years who knows.
 
(quoted from post at 04:58:22 04/06/19) Yea its going to look sort of weird and it may not hurt anything mechanically but it will put more wear and tear on the differential whether it'll matter over the years who knows.
Click to expand...

Yes TF it will wear the differential. It could probably shorten the life by 10 hours out of 10,000, but with the use that 420 is going to be getting it would probably take about three hundred years to show up.
 
(quoted from post at 13:59:24 04/06/19)
(quoted from post at 20:13:46 04/05/19) I have plowed many a year and if that tire slips then thongs are not properly weighted. Properly weighted you will not have that slip.
Click to expand...

Weighted thongs??
Click to expand...
Yea, I've been waiting to see if an explanation for that shows up. New one on me.
 
Some of you guys are cracking me up....

How many of you have a tractor that, without a diff lock engaged, if one wheel starts spinning the other wheel will grab on it’s own and start pulling?

-Scott
 
Come on people, he said he has two different sized tires now.
Wore out tire is slipping more. Good tire will make it better.
 
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