Rear tire thoughts

[sailingharry]

After decades of small yards, I've retired to a house that needs a riding mower. Found an old Honda H3011, got it running well. But an issue with tires.
I have a yard that is THICK Zoysia, and to make matters worse have a 20% slope for part of it. I find that the rear wheels tend to slip, a lot on the hill but also on the flats. The tires are probably original -- they still have lots of tread but are badly dryrotted.

Is this "just how it is?" Does the dryrot/hardening of the rubber affect the traction, and I should replace the tires? Should I move to a more aggressive tread (but I gather that can tear up the lawn)? While I say "lots of tread" and I assume they really don't wear down like a car, is the tread likely to be thinner than ideal?

A pair of tires isn't much money, but I generally hate just buying stuff. They hold air, and if replacing just makes them look pretty but doesn't solve the problem, well, that's not how I roll.

Thanks for thoughts!

 

[bertsmobile1]

Old tyres do have less grip
First question is what pressure are you running in them
A couple of PSI either way will make a drastic difference.
Any you need a 0-20psi gauge so you can do it accurately .

 

[sailingharry]

I did pump the tires up, but I can't recall how full. The tires are marked 14PSI max, and I found the manual lists them at 10PSI. I'll have go tweak them and see how it goes. I use a Ryobi pump (part of their 18V One+ lineup) that has a really nice gauge with 0.5PSI increments all the way down to almost 0. Don't know if it really is accurate, but it seems to be.

But from your first line, you seem to suspect the old dry rotted tires as the primary culprit?

Thanks,

Harry

 

[bertsmobile1]

When tyres are new they are soft(ish) so the treads conform to the surfaces
When they get old & hard the individual trad blocks do not conform to the surface.
Ask any motorcyclist about riding on old hard tyres.
Mower tyres try for a fine balance between grip & rip so they drive the mower without tearing ruts in the grass .
The actual surface of the tyres polish & go hard so I have seen customers take to them with belt sander to remove the polished hard surface .
Never done it myself but as your tyres are slipping & sliding everywhere you have nothing to loose.
What I have seen is as little as 1/2 psi take tyres from slip to grip & visa versa
A tyre that I put 15 psi early morning work fine till lunchtime then slip & slide all afternoon because the heat of the day had increased to air pressure inside the tyre .