Rear Duals

Hey guys, I have a few questions about duals. I ve never used duals before, I now have a tractor with rims that support duals (John Deere 3140 2 wheel drive). Just wondering how advantageous they are when it comes to disking and ploughing with mold board plows. Wondering if I should fill the dual wheels with ballast as well or leave them empty. Also wondering if I m plowing am I better off putting one dual on the left side or if I should have both on. Thanks for any help, I realize these might be dumb questions but I ve never had them before and I can t seem to find all the information I m looking for so if anyone has any coles notes that would be great! Thanks!

Discing, field cultivating, planting and
the like is where duals help to eliminate
compaction and add some traction. If you
overweight the tractor, it kind of defeats
the purpose of the duals original
intention. As for plowing, I doubt you
could ever pull a plow big enough to use
an onland hitch, hence you will plow in
furrow, which therefore means a single
furrow wheel is required. It matters not
if you leave the onland wheel dualed or
not, unless it's considerably wider than
the cutting width of the plow. If it's
wider, you cannot plow as close to fence
lines, etc.

Leave the dual 'dry'. The primarys can be either wet or dry to your preference.As said,a single tire in the furrow. Dual or not on the 'land wheel'.Again,personal preference.Some guys like to dual the land
wheel to improve traction.

Leave the dual wheels empty, just air. As you turn your tires need to give some, the outer wheel needs to travel
farther than the inner wheel. You dont want them all filled too much stress.

For plowing you only want the left dual on. You need to remove the right dual to be in the furrow. Often here the
wheel in the furrow gets good traction and the wheel on the left will slip or spin some on frozen or wet ground, so
that dual can help - but it is up in the air a bit so its not a world changing thing.

Larger tractors with plows of 6 or more bottoms can be one land and the tractor does not drive in the furrow but all
on land. Those you can use duals on both sides. There many be a few 5 bottom on land plows, but really not wide
enough to use the right dual anyhow.

Everything else duals can help you out with disking, field cultivating, chiseling. A bit smoother ride, better traction.

The duals often are a tad smaller (just used worn down a bit) and have a bit less air pressure, set up to be
secondary, or a bit less traction than your main wheels. As I said they have to scuff a bit on turns, and being out
farther they put more pressure on your axles. You want the duals as helpers, not as the main wheels if you know
what Im trying to say.

Paul

Most people run the better tires (less wore
out) on the inside. Use the more wore out
pair of tires mounted up as the outside
duals. Not un-common to see outside duals
that are perty near bald.
Most people don't use weights or fluid
ballast on the outside duals. Even if the
inside wheels are weighted somehow. I don't
think I have ever seen any weighted duals.

Just because your tractor 'CAN' accept
duals, is not really a reason for you to be
putting them on. Your reasoning for putting
them on should derive from what you'll be
using the tractor for. If your going to be
using the tractor to disc plowed ground or
something as such, you obviously have some
reasoning to be putting them on. But what
I'm trying to say is I guess, if you dont
have that kind of reasoning for putting
them on, and are just putting them on to be
putting them on, you are only increasing
the chances of running over your own dog.

Around here (my area), farmers have pretty
much went to all no-till. That reduced the
need for duals. Some still run duals, some
don't. What dis-appeared probly the most,
is people taking duals on and off of the
same tractor. If you see a tractor dualed
up these days in my neck of the woods, the
duals are likely on to stay and don't get
takin off. If you see a tractor not dualed,
the owner likely has things he does with
the duals off and just leaves it that way.
But if no such reason is there, it might
just get dualed up and stay that way.

It still all comes down to what your doing.
Other than plowed ground, some other
examples are, if you are pulling a massive
grain cart you'll want duals, but if your
pulling a big round hay baler you won't
want them. In my area, it has more to do
with that now, rather than plowed ground.

You have received good advice on how and when to use duals.

Loaded dual wheels will be three to four times as heavy as empty duals. Unless you intend to leave the duals on year around on a high horse power tractor, loaded duals will be much harder to install and remove and could be hazardous to move by hand.

Thanks guys for all the great information you have all been more than helpful. I very much appreciate!