With summer around the corner and the promise of brighter, lighter weather comes the ability to head back outdoors and tackle some of your favorite things once more. During the winter, not many people want to be battling the terrain for a few measly hours only to be hit by a lack of sunlight, and in turn this means your hobbies – I’m looking at you, gardening – may fall by the wayside a little bit.
And with no surprise. If spring and summer provide inspiration for plants to grow, then winter does the complete opposite. Yet with that in mind, it doesn’t stop your grass from growing longer and becoming tougher to handle.
Taking care of your lawn can be a fair old effort. During the aforementioned winter months, the edges become overgrown and the grass is damp, often bitten by frost. If you’ve only got a small patch of land this doesn’t often throw up too much of a hurdle, but once the land gets bigger, the work becomes harder and a lot of the time far too big a job for you to do merely by usual methods. This is where a larger tractor machine can come in handy, especially if you’re working on a large, industrial-sized scale.
Even when you have a tractor for your garden, you’re likely to encounter possible hiccups and other problems along the way with the piece of kit you buy, and if you haven’t got one, you’re going to need to get your researching hat on and find out what you need and why.
Where you plan on using your tractor will usually determine exactly what you need with your package. The power, weight and handling style are the major factors, with more power being needed the more weight you plan on moving with the tractor. The heavier you’re likely to want the machine to be will depend on which type of ground you will be using it on.
One way in which to add further control and weight to your ride is through wheel weights. Wheel weights give you enhanced traction between the wheel and the ground, which in turn means you have more control on uneven and slippery surfaces. These are circular-looking items that appear similar to gym weights, which go in the middle of the tire and come in various sizes as well as a multitude of heavy loads. They are can add real improvement to your tractor and are a solid investment even if not used on a daily basis.
How to choose the correct weight for your tractor very much depends on where you are and what you do. For example, if you’re in an area of the world which has plenty of snow in the winter, or rain in the autumn, you’re already at the risk of having poor control of your tractor purely because of the boggy, slippery conditions. Likewise, if you’re pulling loads too, you might find your wheel chains only offer you a certain level of control. Weights in addition to chains are a great alternative.
Related Article: You may read: Best Garden Tractor Review Guide 2023.
If you’re planning on buying some wheel weights, you’re going to want to know how to go about this and what is involved. Well, shopping for weights isn’t too complicated. There’s plenty of stores online that sell them, and in regards to the weight you want, this is really up to you. There is no set weight for what you should or should not buy. Various manufacturers will offer various levels of heaviness. It all depends on what terrain you’re going to be driving on. Icy, slippery conditions will benefit heavier loads, because that pulls your tractors closer to the ground and stops the wheel from slipping.
Safe assembly is paramount with the weights, and naturally the heavier the product you buy, the harder it becomes to fit them to your tractor and this brings added risks. You need to be careful of lifting the weights, but the actual installation should be straightforward. Some tractor tires already offer holes for the owner to add weight themselves. If this isn’t the case, you will need to drill these yourself. The best idea here is to use the weight as a template and drill through where you want to put the holes. Please be aware that different styles of weight are available, which equates to a multitude of shapes, (from round, half-moon and even thin circular), a different amount of screws and of course different weights. Depending on how comfortable you feel wit DIY, you might want to make sure you purchase a weight with minimum drilling. This will make the assembly quicker but also safer for you, the user.
Additional safety is obvious but just as important. On each wheel you must only add one weight only. Even if you’ve discovered that the weight you’ve bought isn’t heavy enough, don’t buy and add another at the same time. This is unsafe and would risk one coming free from the wheel and producing uneven weight to the tractor, which in turn could topple your tractor, something you do not want, especially if this happens whilst you’re driving. This could be a costly mistake, and more just financially. It’s also worth knowing that each side of the tractor needs to be weighted evenly. If you buy two 90lbs weights for your tractor back wheels, the same set needs to be added together. It is hugely unsafe to add, for example, a 90lb weight and a 110lb weight. Naturally, one side will have greater traction and grip, whilst the other cannot compete. This could cause an accident.
Wheel weights are a really great addition to your tractor, and if you’re working through wet conditions you will find the different to be huge. If you use your tractor to move heavy garden waste, such as trees, sheds or building equipment, the weights can help you move heavier loads too. So long as you’re adding them to the tractor safely and you’ve chosen correctly, you will find tractor wheel weights to be a huge advantage to your machine.
Originally posted 2017-01-04 08:30:22.
