# Yanmar 1610d tire question



## Bud in NC (Sep 16, 2003)

About 8 years ago the dealer/church friend I bought my used Yanmar 1610d from put turf tires on the rear for me and said to just run some used 14" car tires on the front. The original rice paddy tires on the front were 5-14 x 23" tall. The car tires are p185/r14 x 23" tall and are on the original rims. 

My tractor expert here said the car tires will damage the 4x4 drive if they're not the same as the originals. No such thing as a turf tire in that size that I can find.

The wider car tires do make it harder to turn but with the ball in cage steering, I make sure it's moving some before I try to turn the wheels.

What's the general consensus here - am I damaging my tractor by running the same sized car tire as the rice paddy tires were?

Thanks for any input!


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Bud, 

On another tractor forum, this question was raised. It's now into it's 5 or 10 pages of comments. Even a few of the engineering types got involved doing all kinds of math and calculations. 

The end of the story was this, having the closer ration tires for a 4WD is best. Even having 100% match tire ratio of the fronts to rear will still be off. Only on a dyno can they ever be perfect. WHY? Because the ground out in the field or pastures are never perfect and roll along regardless how perfect the ratio is. Thus, the conclusion of having the ratio very close is good enough. So, the 23-inch high OD of the tire should work just fine for you. As for the width, P185 are narrow for vehicle tires. Tractor tires even loose air at times and are checked less than car tires. So, being in 4WD isn't too bad when the tries are 'close enough' 

The BIG thing with Yanmar 4WD, is to check the front axle grease regularly. Should they go dry or the seals dry rot, you got some bad costly troubles. This would be more important than being off by a few 10ths of a wheel diameter.


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## Bud in NC (Sep 16, 2003)

Thank you! The axle grease is full - had to change a seal a few years ago and now I make sure, even though there's no sign of a leak. Checked it this morning.
As for the tires, I didn't "mic" them but I was a turbine millwright and have a little background in alignments. I can see where miss matched tires side to side would be bad but I didn't see where matching front tires of same ID & OD as the original tires but with a different tread design would cause the 4x4 to self destruct, especially since the tire OD is within an 1/8" or so of the original tires.

I guess something else is going on - I've got a new rub/odd vibration but the tractor is 35 years old. I bought it used & used it for 6 years in the WV mountains and now in Fl for 7 years. Between snow & sand the 4x4 has probably seen more hours than 2wd.
Thanks again!


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Bud in NC said:


> ... the tractor is 35 years old. I bought it & used it for 5 or 6 years in the WV mountains and now in Fl for 7 years. Between snow & sand the 4x4 has probably seen more hours than 2wd.
> Thanks again!


And before you got it, it ran for at least 10 years in Japan rice paddies; 3-foot standing water and mud-muck. ... 

Even though mine is a restored 2WD, the 2WD were used in shallow water applications and other Japan Ag crops. 

Now, my thread about the VN 3rd hand used machines are, 'don't even consider them'.


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## Bud in NC (Sep 16, 2003)

Probably closer to 20 years in the rice paddies! If it was too worn out to be used in the rice paddies anymore it had to have been through some major restoration before I got it, for sure! It's done all I ever ask of it but I think it's nearing the end of its life.....I'm near 70 though so I'll probably run it till it pukes.

Gotta find your thread now. Thanks!


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Bud in NC said:


> Probably closer to 20 years in the rice paddies! If it was too worn out to be used in the rice paddies anymore it had to have been through some major restoration before I got it, for sure! It's done all I ever ask of it but I think it's nearing the end of its life.....I'm near 70 though so I'll probably run it till it pukes.
> 
> Gotta find your thread now. Thanks!


Bud, did you enjoy that looooong read over there? There are many good points to learn and counter points discussed. I'm on 5 tractor forums just to be sure of getting a full understanding before jumping into anything. PLUS, YT vids are a good help too.


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## Bud in NC (Sep 16, 2003)

It was informative! LOTS of good info there! Thanks for the link!
I'm on several boards, too but not real active. My first tractor was a WELL used '57 AC D17 and the guys at YT taught me a lot. I've had my Yanmar for 15 years and had very few problems with it.


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Bud in NC said:


> I've had my Yanmar for 15 years and had very few problems with it.


The YM1610, YM1720 and the YM2610 tend to be popular favorites in the Yanmar 3-cly line up. Even though your 1610 is smaller, it has the nice open floor cab like the FX-series typically has. Plus, the 1610 has the flat top fenders over the rear wheels. Thus, putting a cross bar and mounting a tool-box is doable.


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## dora (Sep 26, 2019)

Can someone please let me know how I can start a conversation?


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

dora said:


> Can someone please let me know how I can start a conversation?


Find the sub-forum of your tractor brand. Click to enter it. At the top in the ORANGE block it says ... POST NEW THREAD. It should be easy from that point onward.


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## winston (Aug 19, 2008)

If you have already opened a thread to read the little box with "post a new thread will not appear". Go to the top of the page, on the line that is showing "home > forums > and on over to "yanmar", just click on the yanmar and you will see a little red box pop up saying "post a new thread".


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