# 42" Semi Tires on a Skid?



## DaveWB (Jun 24, 2011)

I just purchased some 19.5" wheels for my skid, but came across some 22.5's that I am going to mount some 11R22.5 Michelin XDN2 tires to, the tires will need a 2" spacer to clear the front of the boom arm. The biggest benefit will be traveling to multiple job sites with the unit, we are allowed to legally travel a 2 mile radius with it on the road so the increased speed will be beneficial. The tires are approximately 42" in diameter and will raise the front Quick attach about 4", however because this unit is only using a snow wolf plow/fast tach I don't think this will be an issue. 

My main question is, are there any downsides to running tires this large on a skid in the snow? More specifically on an LS180 which is about a 7100 pound machine, but I may be entertaining the idea of wheel weights as well if this machine is slightly too light.


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## lndscpe (Dec 7, 2004)

I have made set of my custom 22.5" rims to fit my 244 J and sold a couple of sets of wheels for other owners on this site with compact loaders to run the 11r series of semi tires, they work great on the compact wheel loaders, nothing beats tall and skinny for plowing!
Now on a skid steer with 11r's......... well, thats pretty darn tall, maybe another consideration would be running low pro 22.5's instead, less sidewall flex than 11r's. You may find the ride will be a bit interesting  on a skid steer with that tall of tire because of the side wall flex unless you pressure up the tires hard enough, but then the ride may be rough and bouncy. It will be a game of dialing it in to your liking.

The other thing you will need to consider and probably will need to do is account for the higher hinge pin height on your skidder's boom (since the whole machine will now sit higher off the ground) and adjust the plows mounting accordingly so it will contact the ground the way its suppose to. Other than that, if you've found rims with the correct bolt pattern and offset that will work and can get them to fit up you most of the way there! So to answer your question, since you'll mainly be on a slick surface I can see no mechanical reason not to use them. On my Bobcat S250 2 speed I just made up my own 16.5" wheels and run 7.50x16.5" tires and they work great, although it doesn't go on road trips but if I had to go roading with it I would have made 22.5" rims for it too . Good luck, post some pictures if you get it done. Thumbs Up


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## DaveWB (Jun 24, 2011)

lndscpe said:


> I have made set of my custom 22.5" rims to fit my 244 J and sold a couple of sets of wheels for other owners on this site with compact loaders to run the 11r series of semi tires, they work great on the compact wheel loaders, nothing beats tall and skinny for plowing!
> Now on a skid steer with 11r's......... well, thats pretty darn tall, maybe another consideration would be running low pro 22.5's instead, less sidewall flex than 11r's. You may find the ride will be a bit interesting  on a skid steer with that tall of tire because of the side wall flex unless you pressure up the tires hard enough, but then the ride may be rough and bouncy. It will be a game of dialing it in to your liking.
> 
> The other thing you will need to consider and probably will need to do is account for the higher hinge pin height on your skidder's boom (since the whole machine will now sit higher off the ground) and adjust the plows mounting accordingly so it will contact the ground the way its suppose to. Other than that, if you've found rims with the correct bolt pattern and offset that will work and can get them to fit up you most of the way there! So to answer your question, since you'll mainly be on a slick surface I can see no mechanical reason not to use them. On my Bobcat S250 2 speed I just made up my own 16.5" wheels and run 7.50x16.5" tires and they work great, although it doesn't go on road trips but if I had to go roading with it I would have made 22.5" rims for it too . Good luck, post some pictures if you get it done. Thumbs Up


Taking them in to get mounted on Tuesday, so it will be interesting. Do I have to worry about the hinge pin if its only a snow plow/box plow being used on it? Seems like the snow wolf has some flex as it is both front to back and side to side. I probably should have gone with the LoPros, and if its rough after testing I may go with that, but I am going to try these for now. I ended up picking up brand new 22.5" rims for $105 each so I couldn't really pass up the opportunity.


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## Jack_Frost (Oct 11, 2014)

do you guys know were I can find 22.5 rims with no tires for a case sv300 I think but I am not sure it is a 8x8 pattern


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## Trimstar (Oct 30, 2016)

lndscpe said:


> I have made set of my custom 22.5" rims to fit my 244 J and sold a couple of sets of wheels for other owners on this site with compact loaders to run the 11r series of semi tires, they work great on the compact wheel loaders, nothing beats tall and skinny for plowing!
> Now on a skid steer with 11r's......... well, thats pretty darn tall, maybe another consideration would be running low pro 22.5's instead, less sidewall flex than 11r's. You may find the ride will be a bit interesting  on a skid steer with that tall of tire because of the side wall flex unless you pressure up the tires hard enough, but then the ride may be rough and bouncy. It will be a game of dialing it in to your liking.
> 
> The other thing you will need to consider and probably will need to do is account for the higher hinge pin height on your skidder's boom (since the whole machine will now sit higher off the ground) and adjust the plows mounting accordingly so it will contact the ground the way its suppose to. Other than that, if you've found rims with the correct bolt pattern and offset that will work and can get them to fit up you most of the way there! So to answer your question, since you'll mainly be on a slick surface I can see no mechanical reason not to use them. On my Bobcat S250 2 speed I just made up my own 16.5" wheels and run 7.50x16.5" tires and they work great, although it doesn't go on road trips but if I had to go roading with it I would have made 22.5" rims for it too . Good luck, post some pictures if you get it done. Thumbs Up


I have 235 85 16 on my skid and I run mine on a 2 mile radius route. It's a 2 speed skid


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## TPCLandscaping (Jan 19, 2012)

Trimstar said:


> I have 235 85 16 on my skid and I run mine on a 2 mile radius route. It's a 2 speed skid


This is what I'm looking at doing on my S570. I just ordered a set of 16" wheels and my cousin has some good tires off a one ton truck. Im hoping this will make my skid steer plow better. If it works i think I'm going to put a set on the one i lease for the winter too.


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## Jack_Frost (Oct 11, 2014)

I have done that it does work better for sure ,, But that size the said wall is not very firm , and when you plow it will fill a lil squishy , when you turn ,,, or skid . 19.5 or the 22's I think may be a better choice I am trying this yr ,, good luck this yr


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## Trimstar (Oct 30, 2016)

TPCLandscaping said:


> This is what I'm looking at doing on my S570. I just ordered a set of 16" wheels and my cousin has some good tires off a one ton truck. Im hoping this will make my skid steer plow better. If it works i think I'm going to put a set on the one i lease for the winter too.


Night and day difference.
I have lots has a incline and always needed a run . Now I can stop in the middle and take off with out spinning


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## TPCLandscaping (Jan 19, 2012)

well i had my tires mounted.. then found out my s570 is actually an 8x8 bolt pattern! crap.. every thing i looked up showed 8x6.5 and i never took the time to actually measure them. Guess I'm just going to order one of the actual wheel packages off of eBay.


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