Marshalling his troops - Pitchcare

They’re black,
round and have a
hole in the middle,
right? Wrong. Jane
Carley discovers
that there is more
to tyres than meets
the eye -
particularly for use
on delicate turf
The wheel deal!
“Every application and
every tractor is different
and, therefore, it is best to
contact a tyre specialist”
Andy Hipkin, Fieldens
According to turf tyre
specialist Trelleborg, low
ground pressure tyres were
first developed in response
to demand from
Scandinavian forestry contractors for
a way of maintaining traction on their
machines without damaging the
surface root structure of the trees.
Tyres needed to withstand passing
over ground littered with rocks and
stumps without punctures causing
downtime. Sound familiar? The tyre
industry came up with designs of 600
and 700mm tread width, allowing
lower inflation pressures to be used,
with rounded shoulders to prevent
surface damage and a tread pattern
capable of transmitting the required
power.
Today, the Scandinavian timber
industry runs almost exclusively on
this type of tyre and its qualities have
been appreciated by farmers and,
more recently, turf managers.
Its benefits on turf are the ability to
travel in wetter conditions, and thus
gain a longer working season without
damaging the surface or creating ruts
that alter its playability. However,
there are other challenges for tyres
used in modern turfcare - the need to
travel at higher speeds on hard roads,
and to carry increased loads as
tractors and implements get larger.
The soft rubber compounds, which
were developed to tread gently on the
non-abrasive grass surfaces, may not
be tough enough for the job, and
manufacturers are increasingly
turning to more wear resistant
materials.
Over the last ten years, the size of
grass tractors has risen significantly in
weight and power, particularly in the
local authority markets, explains
Trelleborg’s Technical Support
Manager, Jon McGott.
“We have a range of garden tractor
wide, low ground pressure tyres which
have a soft compound rubber, and a
light and flexible carcase. This was
developed twenty years ago, but is on
the verge of being redundant. With
the larger tractors now being used,