Combines duals vs floatation

Beans, I know this does'nt aswer your question, but I have a question for you being a rice grower. What size header do you run in rice, and how often do you harvest in the mudIJ If you do find an answer to your question and decide to buy tires and wheels, will you run them all the time, or just for the mudIJ Thanks.

Was running 22.5 rigid, went to 25' draper. Mostly have a mud problem with a 100 acre field that is not precision leveled. One decent rain between draining and harvest is all it takes. This happens 3 to 4 out of 5 years. Also would run tires full time.

Ok, so tracks would not work for you then, rightIJ Is your combine a four wheel driveIJ If someone were to come up with a system for combining in the mud, but required some change over time, how much time would you be willing to spend doing the change overIJ I'm sorry for the questions but I am trying to learn what some of the requirements are for the farmers that have to harvest in the mud. Its obvious that the factorys are'nt going to spend much time coming up with the answer, so hopefully another farmer will.

I do have a set of steel tracks. They work fine once there're installed. Problem is that they are a little rough and unless you have a way to move the combine down the road you would have to remove them. Not something I like to do. The answer is rubber tracks but at 20k for a used set I cannot justify it.

Email me, I'll send you a picture of a rubber tracked rig I'm working on. It may give you an idea or two.

I can tell you if your in true gumbo ground the only tire that will help you is the 35.5r2 plus size. duals will ball up in gumbo and if you have to many bog holes your going to have to wait for it to dry up or have water on it

What I found works the best for mud was to set machine up with 20.8 42s dualed up and spacing them for 40inch spacings and mud hog with rear tires set on the inside wheel. Duals do not fill with mud at that spacing. Have tryed several combinations in including big singles and this worked the best. Have some freinds running thriple 18.4 42s on Deers 9750s which works to but I am scared something might break with that set up. Also Firestones are better in mud than Goodyears have tryed both. We have not been stuck with this setup as long as the grain is a third full or less. Good luck,for mud is not fun I feel for you. Remember to be safe.

I know of some guys that are farming some real tough buckshot gumbo and they tried tracks on 9610 JDs but had problems with them coming off in the field. I believe they went with 35.5 drive tires now. Most new JD combines Im seeing now have 900 metric drive tires with the 28l-26 steering. I rarely see a red combine with anything other that 30.5s. On header size. Im seeing alot more 30ft draper heads on the newer big combines but mostly everyone runs 25ft ridgid or drapers heads or 24ft strippers.

Mud was fun when I was a kid and driving grain carts for farmers, different story when the break downs cost me. Will the final drives on a 1688 handle wide dualsIJ I here final drives are stronger on 2188. Thanks for the information from everyone!

There's a 1680 up in Minnesota with dual 710's. That's the largest front duals I've heard of, and no problems with final drives after several years. The trick is to use long frame extensions so that the duals are centered on the final drives, and the stress is tranferred with the truss rod. I would suggest contacting Wold if you want to do large duals. They make excellent extensions and wheels. Their number is 800-443-9653. The 2188 final drives are much heavier, and in '97 they stared using 13 bolts to mount them. Those improvements are great for duals, but I'm not sure they are absolutely necessary.