[Old Farmer]

I bought a 4250 JD 120 hp with 18.4 by 38 duals 2wd. The bolts have been allowed to get too loose on the duals and I am going to try and re drill the holes. I was wondering if 18.4 38 singles is all I need. I could get it in the shop and would be a lot less hastle than taking off the duals.
I will be pulling a 50 foot flexi coil harrow and maybe a 12 foot kello disc with it sometimes. Soil ranges from sandy to heavy loam.
What do you think will i be spinning too much with singles?

 

[bmich]

I would used the duals. Not sure if you have 9 or 10 hole hubs. You might have room to drill them to a bigger size or it might be easier to use heli coils and stay with the original size bolts

 

[whtbaron]

I think you'll miss the duals when you get to close to a wet spot too. How badly worn are they? You couldn't MIG in some new metal and reshape it with a grinding stone?

 

[Old Farmer]

I am going to take it into town and the welder is going to drill out the holes and try and re thread the hubs. He only has a tool for course thread and it was fine thread. I dont know if they will hold or not. The previous owner also wore the holes larger in the rims.

 

[Northern Farmer]

Assuming the holes have not been damaged much beyond the threads themselves, I would think drilling with the correct drill bit and tapping with the special tap to then put helicoil inserts in would be the best repair. I know I ran into an issue though with using helicoil and wanting a longer repair thread then what they supply the helicoil in and I had to insert two sections of it in a hole.

I don't quite understand why this welder would switch over to course thread though as the torque applied and the clamping force is far higher with an equivalent fine thread bolt size and why they use fine thread for lug bolts or studs in the first place.

 

[Andrew_D]

I vote for drilling and tapping for heli-coils. Had some in the last RoGator 854 we had and they worked great. I think one wheel motor had 3 heli-coils in it!

Andrew

 

[Andrew_D]

4250 should be a 5/8"NF according to jdparts. If you welder/machinist wanted to go to 3/4"NF, I'd say go for it. But to go to 3/4"NC, you may be asking for trouble as Northen Farmer suggested.

Andrew

 

[Willy Nilly]

You don't need dual 18.4r 38 tyres on a tractor that size. When they shipped them to the UK they would have come on 20.8 R38 single and would have been bought to work hard, they were a big tractor here in their day.

I never understand the fascination with dual wheels. Most of the pictures I see of tractors in the US on dual have the tyres pumped up rock hard so no wonder they need another set of tyres to get enough rubber on the ground.

We have a tractor with 350hp at rated speed on single tyres, all it does is hard work and it's never short of grip.

 

[Old Farmer]

I agree that I am a little concerned about course thread and yes the Welder is going to bore out the holes to three quarter inch. I will ask him about heli-coils must admit I have never heard of heli-coils.
Willy 20.8 38 are quite a bit bigger than 18.4 by 38

 

[Northern Farmer]

The tires your tractor is equipped with, are they radials and also what sort of weights or fluid is it set up with ?.

Of course there is nothing stopping a person from trying it out to pull the harrows or disk with the singles but if it were me I would want to know the hubs are in working order so that the duals could be put on in short order if the traction just isn't good enough.

 

[cptusa]

You don't need dual 18.4r 38 tyres on a tractor that size. When they shipped them to the UK they would have come on 20.8 R38 single and would have been bought to work hard, they were a big tractor here in their day.

I never understand the fascination with dual wheels. Most of the pictures I see of tractors in the US on dual have the tyres pumped up rock hard so no wonder they need another set of tyres to get enough rubber on the ground.

We have a tractor with 350hp at rated speed on single tyres, all it does is hard work and it's never short of grip.

You don't have tractors with duals there because your roads are to narrow and dictate against that. While some do overinflate tires the majority of us run them at a more desirable range. Dual tires are putting more rubber on the ground, giving you more traction, less compaction, and more floatation.

Hate to break it to you, but things are different out of the UK.

 

[Andrew_D]

You don't need dual 18.4r 38 tyres on a tractor that size. When they shipped them to the UK they would have come on 20.8 R38 single and would have been bought to work hard, they were a big tractor here in their day.

I never understand the fascination with dual wheels. Most of the pictures I see of tractors in the US on dual have the tyres pumped up rock hard so no wonder they need another set of tyres to get enough rubber on the ground.

We have a tractor with 350hp at rated speed on single tyres, all it does is hard work and it's never short of grip.

You don't have tractors with duals there because your roads are to narrow and dictate against that. While some do overinflate tires the majority of us run them at a more desirable range. Dual tires are putting more rubber on the ground, giving you more traction, less compaction, and more floatation.

Hate to break it to you, but things are different out of the UK.

And his 350hp tractor is most likely a MFWD. Not a 2wd like the OP has. That makes a big difference when you have all the wheels pulling!

Andrew

 

[whtbaron]

Of course if going to big singles is an option you could always check out the wrecking yards to see what other rims you could put on there. Pretty sure fixing the duals would be the cheaper option though.

 

[kenmb]

If there is any reason to put new tires on, michelin and bkt and perhaps others have 520/70/38 radials that are designed to put on the same rim as the 18.4. I put a pair of bkts on and they are a big step up in traction and floatation from the 18.4 bias ply by being wider but more importantly the footprint of a radial. An expensive option no doubt but perhaps something to consider if you plan to keep the tractor for a long time.

 

[CM]

We have a 4250 which we just use around the yard and on our 18' disc for fixing sprayer ruts and low spots. It has 18.4 38 duals on it. I'd never want to go with singles as in soft spots I sure wish I had MFWD as well! I always remember dad telling me the story 25 years ago my uncle was seeding with his 4240 with big singles and 24' of 9350 disc drills and kept getting stuck on a wet year. Dad went over with our 4250 hooked on and didn't get stuck once. Duals!

 

[Old Farmer]

The tires are goodyear dyna torque. I think they are bias

 

[Old Farmer]

Well I have the tractor in at the Welding Shop and he estimates 15 to 20 hours to drill out both hubs and wheels. It is turning into a bigger bill than I expected.

 

[4840mf]

haven't done it with deere hubs but if the hole is open on the back side, run 5'8 fine thread bolts through, from the back, and put the duals on with lug nuts

 

[Duchek]

Stick with the duals. We have a JD 4230 that's a yard tractor now and we leave the singles on it. Back before zero till we used it to pull 60 of tine harrows after the crop was seeded. It defitenly needed the duals for field work.

 

[Old Farmer]

No the holes do not go right through the hubs.