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How to Store OTR Tires and Lower TCO

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Tips for Properly Storing OTR Tires Whether it’s a farmer replacing the tires on their tractor or a construction company stocking up on skid steer tires, customers should consider a host of factors when selecting tires. For many, one of the most important criteria when buying new tires is the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a tire, or the overall cost of a tire to a customer from the time of purchase through resale or replacement. Maximizing the TCO of tires begins before they’re ever mounted to a machine, as proper storage plays a pivotal role in a tire achieving the lowest possible TCO. The Importance of Proper OTR Storage OTR tires are designed to work in some of the harshest, least-forgiving terrain imaginable—from stalk-filled far fields to debris-littered construction sites to rock-strewn mines. Tires are built tough, but rubber compounds are sensitive and susceptible to and can be subject to all sorts of physical and chemical damage. Ultimately, the failure to properly store OT
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Tips to Stay Safe While Inspecting Farm Tires in the Winter

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Best Practices for Safer Winter Ag Tire Inspection In order to ensure everything is ready to roll in the spring, it’s common to inspect the tires of tractors, implements, and other farm equipment in the winter. Farms are filled with potential hazards and winter only ups the ante of something going sideways. Factors like short dark days, bitter cold, slick snow, and treacherous ice all pose additional challenges to farmers, tire dealers, and other ag tire personnel. Ben Franklin famously said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Follow his sage advice and take a few simple steps to improve your safety while working or visiting the farm this winter. Cold-Weather Accidents According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , there were more than 20,000 ice, sleet, and snow-related injuries in 2017 in the U.S. Whether working in the field, yard, or outbuildings, jobs on the farm are more exposed to these types of injuries compared to those in many other occupations. It’s not just
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Smaller Equipment to Play a Big Role in Infrastructure Projects

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Improvements Provide Huge Opportunity for Smaller Equipment The federal government recently made a historic commitment to massive infrastructure investment in the U.S. and is just beginning to spend billions of dollars to repair and improve roads, bridges, railways, and airports. These projects will put a lot of machines to work—from massive earth movers to compact loaders—in turn, the role of smaller equipment in day-to-day operations is growing. A lot is riding on equipment (and its tires) as the nation and construction businesses alike make the most of this excellent opportunity. What’s Driving the Need for Smaller Equipment? Unlike past infrastructure projects, many of which were built from the ground up in underdeveloped areas where huge earthmoving equipment could maneuver, most of today’s projects will involve repairing or replacing existing infrastructure in confined urban areas and on existing roads. A good comparison to today’s infrastructure projects is the “last mile” in tr
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When to Replace Tractor Tires

  Signs That It’s Time for New Tires Farmers depend heavily on tractors, and how well those tractors perform depends largely on their tires. Tires past their prime no longer efficiently transfer a tractor’s power to the ground and fail to provide adequate traction, which can reduce productivity and add fuel costs. Operating a tractor with tires in need of replacement is also a recipe for costly and frustrating downtime. There’s no standard rule for when it’s time to replace the tires on your tractor, but there are some tell-tale signs that it’s time for new tires. Tire Damage Punctures are one of the most common causes of tire damage, and there are numerous ways that tractor tires are subjected to puncture damage—for example, spear-like stubble, unseen fence posts, and stray nails. While tires can withstand a lot of abuse, older tires simply have less rubber than newer ones, and rubber is the first line of defense against punctures. If a cut, tear, or puncture exposes the body plies or
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Location: United States
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Tire Solutions for Rental Equipment Fleets

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  How to Select an Optimal Rental Equipment Tire   Rental fleet managers must strike a delicate balance when selecting tires for their equipment. They need to meet their customers’ expectations for performance and uptime while satisfying their own need for tires that deliver low total cost of ownership, ensure profitability, and keep customers returning to rent equipment. What makes selecting tires for rental equipment so challenging is that fleet managers do not always know exactly what applications, conditions, or even attachments renters will subject their equipment to. Ultimately, equipping a machine with the right set of tires can help rental houses thread the needle between happy customers and healthy bottom lines. Tires and Rental Equipment  Reliance on rental equipment is growing—it plays an essential role in the day-to-day operations of many construction businesses and was key in helping businesses in a variety of industries survive the low inventory levels resulting from the
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Location: United States
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New High-Traction Loader Radial—Galaxy Hippo All-Steel

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  Introducing the Galaxy Hippo All-Steel Radial Tire The new Galaxy Hippo all-steel radial from Yokohama Off-Highway Tires America, Inc., pushes traction to a whole new level for bucket loaders. The high-traction pattern is ideal for loaders working in dirt on construction sites, or on farms and dairies. "We think of rock tread for most loaders, but many of those machines are working in dirt, whether it's on construction jobs, demolition sites, or on farms," says Dhananjay Bisht, National Product Manager—Earthmoving, Construction and Industrial Tires for Yokohama Off-Highway Tires America, Inc. "The new Galaxy Hippo all-steel radial brings a dirt tread to the category to deliver the extra traction many loader operators need." Bisht uses farms as an example of an ideal application for the high-traction Hippo radial. "On dairy farms and other livestock operations, loaders are used to build silage piles, pack silage, pick up manure, load scales or do dirt work
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Location: United States
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Knee-High By the Fourth of July

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Corn, Tires, and Old Adages The saying knee-high by the fourth of July was long used by farmers to judge the success of their corn crops—it means that growing conditions have been favorable, the crops are off to a good start, and big yields are expected come fall—and the adage remains popular today, despite being antiquated. Innovation in everything from seeds and treatments to equipment and tires has enabled earlier planting and faster-growing, higher-yielding corn. Origins of the Adage The roots of knee-high by the fourth of July are debatable. The Farmers Almanac is well-known for sharing old-timey wisdom and folklore and is commonly associated with the popularization of the saying. Many who date the adage to colonial times also commonly claim that the phrase is misinterpreted and that it’s not a measure of corn to a person standing in a field, but rather to that of a person on horseback. Some farmers think the idiom is a more modern invention, and date the saying to the turn of t
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