Yokohama Off Highway Tires

 Numerous innovations have helped farmers improve their efficiency and production over the years, including increased and improved mechanization, better fertilizers and pesticides, high-tech and hybrid seeds, improved post-harvest handling and storage, and digital advancements such as automation, artificial intelligence, and data collection and analysis. Tires and Increased Farm Production Another aspect driving the growth in production from U.S. farmers is a better understanding of how they themselves affect the land. The adoption of new growing techniques and the creation of strategic practices have bolstered farm productivity by minimizing soil compaction, reducing erosion, and conserving water. It’s here that tires have played an important role. Radial tires are becoming a common sight on today’s farms. Radial tires provide a larger footprint than older, bias-ply technology. Radials lessen the impact of machinery on the field, help reduce soil compaction, and improve yields. They a

Transitioning Compact Tractors for Winter Work As autumn edges toward winter, the days get shorter, the temperatures colder, and many small acreage owners and landscapers begin to transition their compact tractors from fall cleanup to snow removal. Compact tractors are winter workhorses—thanks, in part, to their ability to operate a wide variety of attachments—and play a vital role in both professional and personal snow removal. Some simple preventative maintenance and the right tire can help maximize the performance of equipment, avoid the thin ice of downtime, and ultimately ensure compact tractor owners don’t get left out in the cold this winter. Compact Tractor Attachments for Snow Removal In advance of the snow season, make sure snow removal attachments connect to the tractor and take them for a practice run. This ensures everything works properly and provides the opportunity to fix any issues in advance of plummeting temperatures and dumping snow. Popular snow removal attachments

One U.S. Farmers Feeds More than 160 People The number of people fed by a single U.S. farmer has grown steadily over the years. In the 1800s, a U.S. farmer grew enough food to feed between three and five people. According to the website Statista , the number has continued to grow over the decades:1940 ~20 1960 ~45 1980 ~100 2005 ~144 2022 ~165 While the statistic isn’t perfect, it does show a massive improvement in the efficiency and productivity of U.S. farmers. It might surprise you to learn that tires play an important role in helping farmers grow the number of people they feed. How the Number of People Fed by a Farmer Is Calculated In 2014, Bob Young, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation (which has been doing this calculation since the 1970s), explained how the number of people fed by a farmer is calculated . The number is based on a ratio—it’s calculated by taking cash receipts from farm ag products, subtracting the trade balance, and dividing the number back i

A practical report from a Dutch bulb grower about the Alliance AGRIFLEX+ 363 and 354 tires Adriaan Van der Steen is a farmer-contractor from North Brabant in the Netherlands. Together with his brother and father, they have been running this family business for the last 10 years cultivating first year bulbs of hyacinths, lilies, tulips and some vegetables. Due to the nature of the flower business, they are operating on the machines with row crop tires. Initially, all their machines were running on the tires from an expensive premium brand but it just didn’t work well, as the wear was so high that they had to change the tires every 1,5 – 2 seasons. “We are operating on a large area split into smaller plots, sometimes 20 km away from each other, so we spend up to 60% of our time driving on the roads between the fields. That is why our previous tires hardly lasted for 2 seasons. Two years ago, we were so disappointed that I have asked my tire dealer Marius Dorst, Zuid-West Banden, for a n

How to Give Winter Construction Tire Performance a Boost For many construction companies, the arrival of winter poses a number of challenges, including operating on snowy, icy, frozen, and wet ground. Since tires are the contact point between construction equipment and the ground, taking a few simple steps can ensure efficiency, increase service life, reduce the risk of downtime, and in the end put more money in your pocket this winter. Inspect Tires Frequent visual inspections of equipment tires are a good habit to practice year-round and are particularly important to do in winter weather and cold conditions. Icy and wet weather puts a priority on traction, so make sure tires have enough tread life left to perform at their best. Keep an eye out for common culprits like cracking and chunking, which can cause tire failure and downtime. You’ll also want to make sure there is no puncture-threatening debris stuck in the tread. Ice and snow build-up can also lead to poor performance and une

  It’s no secret that fields with healthy, uncompacted soil are more productive. It’s also apparent that wheel traffic is the major cause of soil compaction in most fields. According to a recent paper—“ Projections of yield losses and economic costs following deep wheel‐traffic compaction during the 2019 harvest ”—authored by educators from the Minnesota and North Dakota extension services, deep-soil compaction (below the depth of normal tillage) can cut corn and soybean yields by an average of 21% for the following two harvests. The takeaway is that the more you reduce the impact your farm equipment has on your soil, the greater the chance your crop will achieve its yield potential. Since tires are the contact point between most farm equipment and the ground, your choice in tires can have a lasting effect on the condition of your fields and profitability.  Tire Progression  Whether simply switching from a bias-ply tire to a radial, moving from a radial to a higher-capacity radial, or

  Best Practices for Maintaining Solid Tires in Waste and Recycling Applications Solid tires play an important role in keeping equipment like wheel loaders and skid steers productive and efficient in waste management applications. Learning how to identify the common culprits of sub-par solid tire performance and adopting some simple best practices can pay off significantly, both for your tires and your operation. How Long do Solid Tires Last in Waste Applications? Solid tires are a popular choice for machines working in waste applications thanks to their puncture-proof performance and extended service life— solid tires can last three to five times longer  than their pneumatic and foam-filled counterparts. That said, a number of factors contribute to just how long a tire will last in waste management applications, including the surface they’re used on, the duty cycle, the maintenance program, the person operating the equipment, the hazards they face, and tire selection. Although some fa

Tires Improve Rental Skid Steer Performance and Profits With the ability to perform a variety of tasks—from leveling ground to clearing debris and moving materials—skid steers have become a fixture on construction sites and a prominent piece of equipment for rental companies. The best asset of skid steers, their versatility, makes tire selection a challenge for those managing rental fleets. Without knowledge of the applications that machines are used for, it’s difficult to equip them with tires that meet both the customer’s expectations and those of the rental company. Skid Steer Tires Matter Tires are typically the most expensive consumable item on a skid steer—they can represent up to 30% of the operating and maintenance costs in the rental industry. This means that selecting a tire that delivers long service life and a low total cost of ownership (TCO) can have a big impact on profitability. Tires can also have an outsized role in customer satisfaction. Rental customers expect machi

Foresters have a lot to think about—from high-powered equipment to challenging terrain to gigantic trees—so it’s easy to understand why tires often get overlooked. However, tires have been on the top of foresters’ minds recently, as more and more of them are moving away from tube-type tires in favor of tubeless. Both tube and tubeless tires operate at the same inflation pressures and share load capacities, but the repairability and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) of tubeless tires have many proactive forestry operations thinking about their tires and how to maximize their investment in them. Tube-Type Tires vs. Tubeless Tires  Tube tires have long been the standard in forestry—one of the primary reasons so many tube tires remain in the field is simply that it’s what operators are used to. But now perceptions are changing thanks to more OEMs offering new equipment with tubeless tires, along with tire dealers informing their customers of the benefits of switching their logging equipm

Unlike traditional pneumatic tires which are filled with air, solid tires are made entirely from rubber, offering puncture-proof performance to skid steers operating in even the harshest terrain and drastically lowering the likelihood of downtime. The robust construction of solid skid steer tires also allows them to provide long service life—solid tires can last three to five times longer than pneumatic tires and provide better wear characteristics since many of them feature deeper tread.  We even figured out how to pack more rubber onto our  Galaxy Hulk SDS Severe Duty Solid : put it on a 16-inch rim and make up the difference with compound. That means the Hulk SDS has four times more usable rubber to the 60J line and still fits the same skid steers as the 20-inch competition. Simply put, the Hulk SDS has more rubber, lasts longer, lowers the number of time-consuming tire changeovers, and, even in high-intensity applications, delivers a low total cost of ownership (TCO). Solid Tires i

Skid steer loaders (SSLs) perform a multitude of tasks in many different conditions; consequently, a wide variety of tire options are available to maximize their performance. Factors like tire construction (radial, bias, solid) and tread pattern (lug, block, button) can make a huge difference in tire performance and cost over the lifetime of the tire. Tread depth is another important characteristic to consider when choosing the best SSL tire for the job. Below is why “going deep” (on tread) is an ideal solution for many skid steer applications. The Advantages of Extra-Deep Skid Steer Tires Tread Depth for Traction: Whether it’s the seemingly bottomless lugs of our Galaxy Muddy Buddy or the extra-deep block-pattern found on our Galaxy Hulk , a deeper tread, allows a skid steer tire to grip the ground better than a shallower tire. Working together with a tire’s tread pattern, deep lugs also promote self-cleaning, helping a tire remove dirt, mud, and slop for maximum traction on construc

Preventative Maintenance Helps Farm Tires Last Longer Ag tires are built tough—they need to be to handle the numerous challenges they encounter on the farm, from transferring equipment horsepower to the ground to pulling tillage equipment and carrying massive loads of seed, spray, and commodities. The durability and ruggedness of the best ag tires can make it easy to overlook the demands placed on them, but devoting time to tire maintenance can pay off, especially when you consider that the price of a single tire can run hundreds or thousands of dollars. A little preventative maintenance can go a long way to ensuring the long service life of your tire. Below are seven tips for making the most out of your investment in farm tires . Inflation Pressure Ensuring your ag tires are inflated properly is one of the best things you can do for your tires and a simple tire pressure gauge is one of the best investments you can make on the farm.Overinflation can cause excessive tire wear and can di