October 6, 2017
CapitalPress.com
7
Jeremy Siegrist of Ag West
Supply makes a road call at
Rickreall Dairy in Rickreall,
Ore. As with other opera-
tions, the dairy uses many
types of equipment, each
with tires specific to their
use.
Courtesy Photo
Ag tires also need care and maintenance
For the Capital Press
While doing preventive
maintenance it’s easy to put
off replacing tires — espe-
cially when a combine tire
can run $3,000 to $4,000.
What’s not so easy is fix-
ing the old tire on a tractor
that’s stuck out in the field.
Mike McLain, Ag West
Tire Department manager in
Rickreall, Ore., said techni-
cians carry 3,000 to 4,000
gallons of non-toxic liquid
in tanks with them for add-
ing weight to tractor tires
when they make a field call.
Putting 150 gallons of bal-
last in one large tire gives
better traction by adding
about 1,500 pounds to its to-
tal weight.
“Now have fun going out
and fixing a flat on an in-
side dually,” McLain said.
“You’ve got to pump the liq-
uid out; we may use a boom
or forklift to unbolt and lift
out the inside tire, which is
6 feet tall and weighs about
a ton. Then empty the liquid
from the inside tire and take
it off the rim while it’s on
the tractor and find out your
repair. That’s a $500 flat re-
pair.”
Of course, it’s not always
about the tire itself.
“One of the biggest issues
farmers have with tires is the
drivers; you can be trained
in a two-hour class and get a
farm endorsement at the age
of 13 and get in a $250,000
combine and run in some-
body’s field,” McLain said.
“Naturally, they have driv-
ing skills, but when they’re
going to make a corner
they might hit a fencepost
or a piece of equipment
and then they’ve ruined the
tire.”
A lot of farmers are also
investing in caterpillar-like
tracks for their tractors,
though they are more expen-
sive up front and to main-
tain.
Not to worry, said Kim
Oberg, manager of D&S
Tires in Parma, Idaho. His
company recaps both tracks
and tractor tires.
“We can save their tires,”
Oberg said. “As long as we
have a good core we can re-
build them.”
Tires from all over the
country and Canada roll into
their plants in Idaho, Ne-
braska and Indiana.
Retreading tracks is about
half the cost of buying new
ones and doubles the life of
a track core.
“You don’t have to throw
that core away; we’re recy-
cling your track core and
that’s the biggest thing;
we’re not throwing all that
rubber in the dump,” Oberg
said. “It’s quite a process to
see; we buff off all the old
lugs, put on a new layer of
rubber, extrude our lugs, put
each one on and then we vol-
canize it with high heat and
pressure for about 4½ hours
so that the rubber sticks.”
In addition to retreading
many types of ag tires and
tracks, D&S makes irriga-
tion pivot tires from old
truck casings. These are
shipped into the plant from
all over the country and then
buffed, recapped and placed
in a hot cap mold to form the
tire.
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