Yokohama Off Highway Tires

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...

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...

Solid Skid Steer Tires for Puncture-Prone Applications Historically, pneumatic tires have been a fixture on skid steers; however, as the number of tasks these versatile machines are asked to perform continues to grow, so do the kinds of tires available for them. There is no one-sits-fits-all tire solution for today’s skid steers, but pairing the “right” tire to the conditions your machine works in can pay off—improving everything from productivity to profit. For example, solid skid steer tires offer numerous advantages to machines working in harsh, puncture-prone environments in applications like demolition, scrap, waste, and recycling. Here are five reasons why skid steer owners operating in some of the most challenging applications are turning to solid tires. Five Benefits of Solid Skid Steer Tires in Severe Applications 1. Puncture-Proof Performance The reason many skid steer owners equip their machines with solid tires is that, rather than being filled with air, they’re made entire...

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...

Radial vs. Bias Farm Tires Farmers today have more options than ever when it comes time to select ag tires. One of the most common ways to differentiate the multitude of farm tires on the market is to divide them by their construction—bias ply or radial. Both bias and radial tires have their advantages, but radials stand apart as there are no real drawbacks to their use in farming applications. Keep reading to learn more about the features and benefits of both types of tires. Bias-Ply Tires Bias-ply tires are nearly as old as pneumatic (air-filled) tires themselves—they’ve been a common sight on farms for almost a century—and still present a viable option for many machines. Bias-ply tires are made by lapping multiple plies of rubber-coated textile diagonally over each other—also called “on the bias”—to create a single working unit. The construction of bias tires allows the sidewall and tread to work together as a single unit. Bias-Ply Tire Pros Bias construction creates a rugged, dura...

Traction and Compaction in Wet Fields  Thoughts of perfect weather and ideal field conditions fill every farmer’s head, but those dreams aren’t always a reality. While we preach patience and believe in biding your time until a field is ready to support equipment, sometimes waiting isn’t an option. In cases when you simply must enter wet and muddy fields, here are some steps you can take to increase flotation, maximize traction, and reduce soil compaction. Find Your Tire’s Optimal Footprint  Operating your tires at lower inflation pressures increases their footprint, consequently spreading the weight of the machine it’s carrying over a larger area and minimizing soil compaction. Reduced inflation has the added benefit of putting more tread on the ground and improving traction as well.  Optimal vs. Underinflated:   An ag tire’s ideal inflation pressure accounts for the weight of the machine, what it’s carrying, and the speed it is traveling at. Knowing these three fact...

Operating super-powerful and massive machinery in extremely challenging terrain, loggers ask a lot of forestry tires. The best forestry tires help get equipment in (and out) of difficult-to-access sites, provide stability while carrying heavy loads, improve productivity, and ensure uptime — but how do you know if the forestry tire you’re looking at is up to the task? While there are numerous brands and styles of logging tires, there are some characteristics that all great forestry tires share.   Puncture Resistance Stumps, sharp branches, and rocks — logging sites are filled with hazards, and punctures pose an enormous problem for loggers. First and foremost is that loggers often operate in remote, hard-to-access areas, which means a replacement tire or tech to fix the tire is not always nearby. Machine downtime is particularly costly in businesses with tight margins, like logging. Tire manufacturers like Alliance and Primex use a wide range of ways to protect against punctures. ...

Safe Site Visits for OTR Tire Salespeople, Field Engineers, and Technicians Whether it’s working around massive, fast-moving equipment on complex sites or handling pressurized tires, the job of an OTR tire salesperson, field service engineer, or technician is one with many potential hazards. Everyone who has worked in the tire industry for an extended period of time seems to know of someone who has had a close call or even been injured while visiting a site, which is why it’s vital that step one when visiting a site is to stay safety-focused. The Challenges of Servicing OTR Tires OTR tire personnel must contend with gargantuan equipment, heavy tires under high pressure, and busy sites in all manner of conditions—service calls commonly take place after dark, in every type of weather, and on every surface imaginable. Safety must be the top priority at every service call. Checking In on OTR Tire Site Safety Recognizing the risks facing OTR tire salespeople, field service engineers, and ...

Maintenance Tips to Improve Winter Tractor Tire Life Tractor tires are designed to take a lot of punishment, but winter dishes out some unique challenges to even the toughest-built tires. Whether your tractor and its tires stay busy all winter long or hibernate in the barn, there are a handful of steps you can take to increase their longevity and maximize your investment in them. For Tractors That Work Through Winter No matter where you’re located, winter presents unique challenges to tractors. Tire Challenges in the Northern U.S. The main challenge facing farm tires that work through winter in the northern U.S. is frozen ground. For example, the rough path from the hay barn to the field can become a minefield for tires when frozen, and the dip or rut that you hardly notice in spring when the ground is soft can cause an impact break in the winter. The same is said for the mounds created by cattle walking through wet pastures, which, when frozen, are not all that different from small, p...