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What’s new from the shows: Companies continue to bring out tires better-suited to agriculture.

December 2, 2017

16 Slides

By Farm Progress staff

If you have a job to do with a machine that rolls on wheels, there is a company somewhere that has a solution for you. Often, many companies have tires or tracks that could fit your needs. And if they don’t, they will redesign a tire or track until they deliver a product that does what you need it to do.

That appears to be what’s happening within the tire industry among the companies that supply agricultural tires. In an industry that needs tires for everything from ATVs to huge four-wheel-drive tractors and A-frame floater-spreader applicators, it takes a wide range of tires to meet the needs.

A whole host of companies introduce new tires for ag use every year at the farm shows. This year was no exception. Some of the tires are designed for special uses, like the Trelleborg tire that should build up less heat during road travel when used on farm implements. Firestone also has an entire new line devoted just to tires for farm implements. They look quite different than the tires with a single-rib in the middle, which were used on implements for many years.

Much of the technology centers around producing new tires that can either carry the same load at less tire pressure, or more load at the same pressure. Several new models that fit this category were released this year, and more are under development by other companies.

One new product from Trelleborg really isn’t a tire at all, but it could make a revolutionary change in the industry if the product is perfected and marketed commercially. It involves an automatic inflation and deflation system actually built into the hub of the wheel. The goal is to match air pressure with the needs of the tractor or other implement operating in the field, spokespeople say. Expect to hear more about this new concept in the near future.

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