Widening rims - Does 1-2" make a significant difference

[shawnm]

I'm changing out the rear tires on my tractor and I always thought through a rough measurement, I had 11" rims for my 12.4's.

With the tires off I can get a true measurement and I only have 10" rims. With the 12.4's I should ideally have 11" rims and when I eventually swap out to 13.6's I'll be needing 12".
I've been looking for a good set of 13.6's in my area for the past few years without any success. Unless I go new, I'm likely going to have to stick with the 12.4's.

If I go to 12" wide now, will that hurt my 12.4 tire performance? If I go to 11" now I'll satisfy the 12.4's but will the 11" rim work well enough for the 13.6's?

I only pull in the equivelant of farm stock class Div 1, 4-7000lb classes. Generally the tracks are soft where we pull.

 

[M.Genrich]

I doubt that you will see much if any difference, all states have different soils, some are hard as a rock some are soft and don't pack well. Here in north iowa a few years back we were running 14.9 tires on 14 inch rims, we gained a bunch of ground when we put the same tires on 12 inch rims. Im sure there will be those who disagree with that but that's the experience we had.

 

[mshultz]

Our experience has been that recomended manufacturer's rim width or slightly wider is good, but going extra wide actually makes things worse. Bought a set of rims once that were 22" wide and put them on 18.4's. Then narrowed them up to 16" and got much better traction.

 

[crew chief]

I run 12/4/38 on 10" wheel not a problem, most time we beat out a 15/5/38 on 14" lot of factors involved but we do well here in south-east.

 

[VicS]

Just yesterday a MF50 with 14.9's on 12 inch rims beat me in the 4500 4 mph. I did miss the front end weight by 1 weight from the rear, but he did get third against other tractors with 18.4's and 16.9's.

 

[770]

My opinion:
12" rim for 12.4 tires
13" rim for 13.6 tires
14" rim for 14.9 tires...

The tire will lay flatter and contact the track better...... just my opinion.

 

[shawnm]

Ok, looks like I'll leave well enough alone for now. tks