Export thread

The dealer told me last year when I bought the grasshopper that if I keep over 9 # of air in the rear tires it will damage the hydros and transmission. I have kept 9 pounds in the tires and it appears that I have developed a hard crease in the sidewall of the tire when it sets for up to two weeks or over winter, etc. The tire feels mushy when driving and steering.

Any reason for concern?

What do you guys keep your tire pressure at?

I run 8 lbs. air pressure in my 725 with lug tires. My previous Grasshopper with turf tires would slip with over 8 lbs. of air, but I have a lawn with hills. I've never heard of damaging the hydro with too much air?

What size tires you guys have on Grasshoppers to only have 8-9psi? That seems low for a heavier ZTR. My tires run at 16psi and no problems to the hydros..

Midniteoyl said:

What size tires you guys have on Grasshoppers to only have 8-9psi? That seems low for a heavier ZTR. My tires run at 16psi and no problems to the hydros..

Click to expand...

My 725DT runs 22x11.00x10 Bar High Flotation tires, you can also get the 22x10.00x10 Turf tire.

The sticker on the rim says recommended 8 PSI as does the owners manual.

Seems to soften the ride along with excellent traction especially if your running the turf tire, I'm here to tell you if you run turf tires up to 10-12 PSI the slippage on an incline is tremendously noticeable.

BWH said:

My 725DT runs 22x11.00x10 Bar High Flotation tires, you can also get the 22x10.00x10 Turf tire.

The sticker on the rim says recommended 8 PSI as does the owners manual.

Seems to soften the ride along with excellent traction especially if your running the turf tire, I'm here to tell you if you run turf tires up to 10-12 PSI the slippage on an incline is tremendously noticeable.

Click to expand...

Huh.. I'll have to look into that.

This is what my tires look like and size. Not pleased with the crease, I have checked with two different air gauges and it says I am at 9 #. WHAT THE HECK???

trpshoot said:

This is what my tires look like and size. Not pleased with the crease, I have checked with two different air gauges and it says I am at 9 #. WHAT THE HECK???

Click to expand...

Those are 16-20psi tires, not 9., unless they are Turf Savers 2ply (which they dont look like), then they are 10psi.


edit: What the name/product code on those? Looks like a Turf Master..

I will take a look and let you know what tire is on my rims; all I do know is that I don't know squat about lawn mower tires and that I have a 1 year old very expensive ZTR with tires that look like crap with a sticker that says 9 PSI. This tread also seems to spin easily, I have to really "baby" turns as in a very slow four to five point turn around to keep from ripping up turf. I am not happy with these tires.

trpshoot said:

This is what my tires look like and size. Not pleased with the crease, I have checked with two different air gauges and it says I am at 9 #. WHAT THE HECK???

View attachment 29270View attachment 29271View attachment 29272View attachment 29273View attachment 29274

Click to expand...

That is odd, I have seen that wrinkle on a 612 with hopper & 48" deck (which is a lot of deck and blower for a 612) never the less I could get it to wrinkle but it usually was less than 9 Lbs. PSI. I do know that the sidewalls on my 721 and 725D are 4/ply and are some what more substantial. Have you ever broke the bead on a side hill? On my old 612 I finally had to run tubes because of rolling the bead off the rim on a side hill.

When you run it up to 10/11 lbs. psi does the wrinkle go away? I guess I'm not totally experienced with the weight distribution of a Mid-Mount. I wouldn't think the weight distribution is that much different than a front-mount weight wheel to wheel?

trpshoot said:

I will take a look and let you know what tire is on my rims; all I do know is that I don't know squat about lawn mower tires and that I have a 1 year old very expensive ZTR with tires that look like crap with a sticker that says 9 PSI. This tread also seems to spin easily, I have to really "baby" turns as in a very slow four to five point turn around to keep from ripping up turf. I am not happy with these tires.

Click to expand...

This looks like your tire.. Go down to your size and you'll see its a 20psi max tire. At 9psi it will not support your tractors weight. It might at 14.

http://www.carlstargroup.com/product/tires/lawn-garden-golf/turf-master-multi-trac

I am assuming you are using a low pressure tire guage.

Midniteoyl said:

Those are 16-20psi tires, not 9., unless they are Turf Savers 2ply (which they dont look like), then they are 10psi.


edit: What the name/product code on those? Looks like a Turf Master..

Click to expand...

I couldn't read a product code the way both tires are down and creased, but I did read 4-ply, inflate to 20 PSI with the name LITE FOOT or something, I did not see the word Turf Master but again it is difficult to see in the shed.

So bottom line, why is there a 9 PSI sticker on my rim with tires that obviously need more # of air?

Anyone else heard of it causing transmission damage or is the tech at the dealership who gave me the info on how to start, etc. when I picked up 329 just mistaken?

I have not broken a bead yet, but on this one wide hill that I mow sideways it does feel like it could bust a bead.

Grouse09 said:

I am assuming you are using a low pressure tire guage.

Click to expand...

No, I didn't know such a thing existed, but thanks for the info. I just ordered one off of Amazon. "SX Series Accugage Low Pressure Tire Pressure Gauge 1-15 PSI" seems to have a decent amount of 4 & 5 star reviews.

trpshoot said:

I couldn't read a product code the way both tires are down and creased, but I did read 4-ply, inflate to 20 PSI with the name LITE FOOT or something, I did not see the word Turf Master but again it is difficult to see in the shed.

So bottom line, why is there a 9 PSI sticker on my rim with tires that obviously need more # of air?

Anyone else heard of it causing transmission damage or is the tech at the dealership who gave me the info on how to start, etc. when I picked up 329 just mistaken?

I have not broken a bead yet, but on this one wide hill that I mow sideways it does feel like it could bust a bead.

Click to expand...

I have no idea why its there, but those tires are way too low. If they are not Carlisle Turf Masters, then they are a knock-off/same thing w/ a different name.

If you can, go back to the dealer and look at other 329's and check the tire's over all height as sitting. This is the most important measurement as it determines the circumference which determines the 'rotations per miles', which determines the speed at a set RPM. In effect, your final drive ratio and how hard your hydros work.

Speaking of which, I am not familiar with Grasshoppers all that much, but maybe you have an upgraded model with bigger hydros, more weight, and thus better tires?

edit: And I'm not saying you need to inflate to the full 20psi. Just that 9psi is obviously too low.

Midniteoyl said:

I have no idea why its there, but those tires are way too low. If they are not Carlisle Turf Masters, then they are a knock-off/same thing w/ a different name. If you can, go back to the dealer and look at other 329's and check the tire's over all height as sitting. This is the most important measurement as it determines the circumference which determines the 'rotations per miles', which determines the speed at a set RPM. In effect, your final drive ratio and how hard your hydros work. Speaking of which, I am not familiar with Grasshoppers all that much, but maybe you have an upgraded model with bigger hydros, more weight, and thus better tires?

Click to expand...

I would not go to the dealer to check ride height. 19 out of 20 times the dealer has way to much psi in the tires. Most of the time close to 30psi

I use a straight edge on the tires. I run them so the all the tread is touching the straight edge.

i looked in my manual and it says 9 PSI. I spoke with a tech at Grasshopper who was very helpful. He said 6-9 PSI is recommended for ride comfort and maximum traction, it has nothing to do with the hydros, etc. The tech agrees that I should not have that much of a crease and that maybe it is happening either because I am losing air because of a bad bead or riding sideways on my steep hills (About 35-40 degrees) is putting too much pressure on the sidewall. The tech said no problem going a few pounds more, but ride will suffer and he is concerned about losing traction on a hill, so to incrementally go up in PSI and monitor very closely. So I just put 13 pounds in my tires and the crease is gone and it looks more like a natural sag of a low pressure tire. I won't be mowing for a few days but will let you guys know if anyone has interest.

My mower weighs about 1140 without fuel. Tank is 12 gallons so that is another 60 pounds plus...

As I said before, my tractor uses 16psi in 24-12-12 4ply AT101 tires and ~1200 pounds of weight. Grasshopper recommended 9psi seems a little off. Usually 8-9psi is recommended on light weight box store mowers.

Agreed.

Re: Tire pressure on the hopper??? SOLVED!!!

Grouse09 said:

I am assuming you are using a low pressure tire guage.

Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone for their assistance. Grouse09, guess what? I have a bad tire gauge. I bought two new gauges with the intention of leaving one regular gauge in my pickup truck.

There is a 6 PSI discrepancy between the gauge I have been using and the new low pressure gauge. There is about a 2 PSI discrepancy between the brand new regular guage I purchased. 2 PSI when talking about 9-10 pounds is what just under 20% rate of error!!! 6 PSI off, well that isn't even in the ball park!

So when my tires were collapsed instead of having 9 PSI, I was closer to 3 PSI. I mowed with about 8 PSI and all is well. That junk gauge caused me a lot of confusion. LOL... So I guess the grass hopper techs are correct in recommending 6 to max 9 PSI in that tire size for my zero turn. It was a stiff ride yesterday. So I am going to try 6 1/2 PSI and see if that smooths out the ride.



:laughing:

Look at me with the troubleshooting answer! Glad to help TrapShooter. Even happier your problem is fixed!

Just a FYI, big changes to air pressure can also change mower deck slope.

7394 said:

Just a FYI, big changes to air pressure can also change mower deck slope.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice.

I run 5 to 6 PSI in my rear and same in front..the tires are just about to belly out a little,,holds the slopes alot better and the ride is great!!
Any lower than 5 PSI I think would start to effect cut quality on my machine by bouncing out.
I am going to cut grooves in all my treads also..I did one side other day and that side holds the banks really well when its on the downside.

577jersey said:

I run 5 to 6 PSI in my rear and same in front..the tires are just about to belly out a little,,holds the slopes alot better and the ride is great!!
Any lower than 5 PSI I think would start to effect cut quality on my machine by bouncing out.
I am going to cut grooves in all my treads also..I did one side other day and that side holds the banks really well when its on the downside.

Click to expand...

Will you post a picture of cutting groves in the tread? I have never heard of that and am interested!

Yes i can,,I just use a 4-1/2" angle grinder with a metal cut off wheel...I cut each tread or knobby in half leaving a nice sharp groove...they make cutting tools for doing the job also..its an old dirt track trick that really works,,just dont cut too deep,,and get ready to smoke out your neighbors..and remember,,its only a lawn mower tire..lol

Here is a video of a guy on youtube doing it to his mower.

Hope that helps.

Tom

Same idea as siping snow tires.. only sideways.

Thank you gentlemen.

Your welcome brother,,
Im going to cut every tread in half next rainy day,,Ill let ya know how it works

Tom