Michelin's Top 10 Tips For Effective Tyre and Wheel Management
12/10/2017 - Big Tyres
Michelin is urging farmers to prepare for a smooth-running harvest and shares its top 10 tips for effective tyre and wheel management.
According to the Company's Technical Manager, Gordon Brookes, who has 28 years' experience at Michelin under his belt: "Time, weather and crop constraints make it essential that machinery is ready for use and leaving checks until the last minute can result in unexpected machine downtime."
1. Check your combine's tyres for damage
During previous harvests tyres may have suffered accidental damage, leaving them with bulges, cuts or tears. Checking the tread area and sidewalls right down to the wheel trim helps detect problems as soon as possible. Leaving damage unchecked can result in costly tyre failure and harvest interruptions.
2. Check for flat spots
Long periods of inactivity can leave tyres with a 'flat spot' due to one section of the casing being deflected, creating massive vibrations on the road. To combat this, mark the affected area of the tyres, move the combine into direct sunlight with other sections of the tyres deflected. If possible - inflate the tyres above your standard operating pressure for a couple of hours, whilst ensuring the manufacturer's maximum inflation pressure is not exceeded. Warming the tyres in the sunlight will prompt the casing to return to its normal shape.
3. Check your tyre pressures
Ensure that tyres are inflated to the correct pressure in readiness for harvest, considering maximum cyclic load in the field and whether the combine will be used on side slopes or intensively on the roads.
4. Tyre choice
If you need new tyres, or a new machine, take tyre choice seriously. Tyre choice can make the difference between a good harvest and a great one and for most combines and foragers there is now a tyre that contains Ultraflex Technology, which limits soil compaction and disturbance on headlands whilst offering greater operator comfort, manoeuvrability and load capacity.
5. Transport width
Is your combine too wide for the road or gateways and would a narrower tyre speed up the harvesting process? If so, there are now tyres for combines that are narrower but have a greater contact with the ground. For example, a Michelin 900\/60 R32 conventional tyre assembly could be replaced by a Michelin IF 800\/70 R32 assembly, giving a 15 per cent larger footprint whilst making the combine 200mm narrower.
6. Rear tyres
Rear tyres can affect the efficiency of the combine but are more commonly neglected. Rear tyres should be operated appropriately in line with manufacturer recommendations. It's therefore important to allocate the same time specifying rear tyres as you would the front set.