Posted 5/18/2021 15:02 (#9012016 - in reply to #9011001) Subject: RE: John Deere 9500 And 9600 Combine Question
Southeast Washington
JD 9400 - 5/17/2021 14:13
CASE3594 - 5/18/2021 03:39
Glenn,
Do the diamond tread tires add more sideways stability on the hillsides? Seems any time I see a picture of a hillside machine or a piece coming from an area with hills it has those tires on it.
I've often wondered the same thing. I've never seen diamond tread tires on combines anywhere except in the Palouse area.
To answer the both of you it is a matter of opinion. The old days of full leveling like the 9600 pictured above everything was diamond tread as the way they operated they leaned over on the edge is the tire and the diamond tread bit better on the edge than a tractor tire did.
Now the current leveling systems run duals and the tire is always perpendicular to the ground and always biting like you expect a tire to. That is where the differences are now noticed on the steep hills. In our full hillside combine we would run log skidder chains to keep the combine on the hill with diamond tread. Now they are no longer needed for us running tractor tires.
In a nutshell the tractor tires are better for hard ground biting through the straw to grab the ground to hold you there. The diamond tread is better in soft ground to help float on it instead of digging through and basically working you down the hill. A tractor tire is just too aggressive on soft ground. Now some run the alliance tire as a crossover tire between the two conditions. It is like a road grader or front end loader tire.
Then the next issue is the tractor tire doesn't have the load capacity off the other two tires so you won't see tractor tires on the new John Deere hillside combines.
Great questions and no wrong answer as varying soils dictate which is best. Here are pictures of the alliance and diamond tread tires on new JD combines.
John Deere 9500 And 9600 Combine Question
