Widening the wheelbase

[Toora Stephen]

Hi,
I have been thinking about moving the rear wheels wider on my TEA20. I think they are currently set at 5 feet, but I would like to move them further out because I have quite hilly terrain and I think it would be quite a bit safer on the slopes.

I do not currently have a suitable jack to lift the rear of the tractor. Would a standard car jack do it, if I only have to lift one side at a time?

Should I also widen the front wheels at the same time?

Has anyone else done this before? Are there any gotchas I should be aware of?

Thanks, TS.

 

[CENTAUR]

Yes,you can do one side at a time and go out to 76inch tread width if you wish.You can also extend the tread width on only one side if you wish without disturbing the steering,as the toe in,ETC.Owners Manuel covers this. CENTAUR

 

[Richard L]

I am under the impression if you want to widen the rear wheel width you take the right wheel and install it on the left side turned 180 degrees as this will make it wider and have the tread going the correct direction. And do the same with the left wheel. If you only turn the wheels around on the side they are on now the tread won't be in the correct position.

 

[Toora Stephen]

Good point. According to my "Gregory's", whether or not to swap the wheels around depends on which width setting you want to go to. If I am doing only one wheel at a time I would choose a width that is appropriate for the tread direction.

 

[Bob (Aust)]

Undo and reverse the rear wheel disc centers only, thus widening the track whilst leaving the tires turning in the correct direction of rotation.

 

[Branlin]

Am I missing something here or what?

If you take the wheels off, turn them 180 degrees and mount on the opposite side of the tractor you will end up with the same width, but the treads will be backwards.

But if you just switch the wheels from one side to the other without rotating them, you will end up with the desired wider width, and the treads will remain correct.

 

[Bob (Aust)]

[b:2f244238c6]Branlin[/b:2f244238c6]. You are correct. Forget my last post!

 

[Richard L]

That is what I was trying to say however it didn't come out right. When growing up we did this all the time when we wanted to cultivate. Thanks for getting my mess cleared up.

 

[Branlin]

I kept re-reading all the posts looking for what I was missing.

Thanks for letting me know I'm (maybe) still sane!

 

[gshadel]

I don't know the exact weight on a TEA, but assume it is close to a TO, which is ~2200 lbs. I use one of those "farm jacks" that you can buy from a lot of places, it is basically a heavy duty bumper jack that can jack-up, or pull together, and has a nice flat jack toe that works great under the rear axle to lift up one side at a time. On the front it will do the whole front end if you get the balance point right, recommend jack stands under each wheel if you do that though.

The Operator manual ( not the service manual) has directions for adjusting all the different tire widths, which way to turn the center wheel disk, which side to bolt to the rim, etc. That manual is only ~20 pages or so and pretty cheap to find on Ebay, etc.

George

 

[Anonymous-0]

We all know what you mean, of course, but just a friendly point of correction: 'Wheelbase' is the distance from the (vertical) centerline of the front axle to that of the rear axle. 'Track', also known as 'wheel spacing' or 'tread width spacing,' is the distance from the (vertical) centerline of the tire on one side of an axle to that of the tire on the other side. Now that I got that off my chest, I can go back to correcting my wife....or maybe not!

 

[steveormary]

Toora;

Are your wheels dished in or out. At 5' I would think they ae dished in giving you a wider stance already. The front wheels should match the rear wheels for width.
A farm jack will lift the tractor but be careful.If you are going to rotate tires then you should have the tractor safely blocked up and the rear wheels just off the ground. Again,be careful.

steveormary

 

[Jeff-oh]

I use my car jack all the time. No problems. You might as well do one side at a time no big deal. Jack it up pull the wheel off. Make the rim/center disk configuration you want based on the owners manual and re-mount. Repeat on the other side.

 

[Toora Stephen]

(quoted from post at 15:59:20 12/05/07) We all know what you mean, of course, but just a friendly point of correction: 'Wheelbase' is the distance from the (vertical) centerline of the front axle to that of the rear axle. 'Track', also known as 'wheel spacing' or 'tread width spacing,' is the distance from the (vertical) centerline of the tire on one side of an axle to that of the tire on the other side.

Thanks.

Yes, it is the track width I am thinking of adjusting!

Thanks to all those who have contributed to this thread. I probably won't have time to do it this year (that means within the next 3 weeks!) but I will have a go at it early next year - and report back here.

- TS

 

[Gary Alford]

Does anyone know of a reaaly good high lift tractor jack??? I find these things very unstable and dangerous, I use them all the time but I am always ready to run!!