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I currently have the chevron/bar-tread drive tires on my 721D but would like something more turf-friendly during mowing season that still has good grip for sidehill mowing. I have a set of Carlisle All-Trail tires on my GT235 JD and wondered if anyone has these on their 'Hopper???

Also looking for best mud/snow traction drive tires for winter time snow throwing/plowing. Are my chevrons the best option or are there other choices that perform better? I don't have a problem swapping between seasons.

I was wondering if anyone had tried any ATV tires or the skid steer amphibious type tire (Interco Aqua Tread). just mulling over some options before winter finally sets in.

Any practical advice you can offer is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!

Cheng Shin C 769 Tire - Turf Tire is Great on turf & the Best snow tire I have ever ran.
Have never had any problem with mud, But I generally do not get into that much mud. The round shoulder for easy turning and minimal turf damage can Not be beat. Can be a 'little' pricey but Worth every bit. :smile:KennyV

I have used a snowblower on my 612 Grasshopper since 1992 and found from the get-go that a set of tire chains were the olny way to go. The biggest problem is when your carring the blower in transport you get around real well but when you lower it to the float position traction is a problem and even worse if on an incline without chains. I was concerned about how rough of ride the chains would be but that was never a problem, wearing the chains were a concern but I get many year out of them depending on the year.

Turf tires are by far the most effective with chains bar tires seem to eat up the chains plus will scar up a drive/sidewalk way worse.

I have never put the snowblower on my 721 because I always had plenty of power on the 612 converted to 14hp. plus the smaller machine gets around real well.

I have noticed that if you back into deeper snow or swing the machine around into deeper snow you can get smow on the belts and will have slippage for a few seconds until you burn the water off.

All in all its a great machine capable of blowing tons of snow per minute.

We are big fans of the Kendra Super Turf tire. They hold hills great and get plenty of traction in the snow! Plus they are easy on turf!

OUTDOOR CONCEPTS said:

We are big fans of the Kendra Super Turf tire. They hold hills great and get plenty of traction in the snow! Plus they are easy on turf!

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Yep I saw those Kendra Super Turf tires they look like a good traction tire that wont destroy the turf. Has anyone tried Kenda scorpion atv tires?

We have never used them. They look like a good option tho.

OUTDOOR CONCEPTS said:

We have never used them. They look like a good option tho.

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I go with with Carlisle Turf Masters. I like them a lot, and they wear slowly.

A_tank96 said:

I go with with Carlisle Turf Masters. I like them a lot, and they wear slowly.

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Those are good tires too. They come factory on alot of mower brands.

Well, after a LOT of comparison shopping online I finally took the plunge and picked up a set of new tires for the summer mowing season. The bar tread tires that the mower came with have about worn down to roundies and I was slipping and sliding quite a bit these first couple of mowings. I wanted tires that were more turf-friendly yet still offered good traction in occasional wet/muddy conditions and solid bite while sidehill mowing, which I have lots of. I settled on Duro Desert X Country tires. They are sort of a cross between the Carlisle All Trail and HD Field Trax tires. I had a devil of a time finding something that would fit on the stock Hopper 8" rims. Got these in 21x12x8 so they're only an inch wider and it looks like that will not be a fitment problem. There were several brands/styles that were 22x11x8 but after looking at my mower I feared that the extra inch of height would have caused rubbing against the edge of the fenders. The 21" chevron tires are already a fairly snug fit and I did not want to have to start modifying stuff (cutting/altering the fenders) in order to get something to fit.

Here's a pic of the tire:

They're a 4 ply carcass, so I hope that they'll last for a while. I originally considered the Carlisle All Trail, as I have those on my John Deere and really liked them, but I wanted something different. We'll see how they wear and last. The price of the Duro was almost $15 cheaper per tire than Carlisle - another big motivator to try them instead. I got them thru ATVtires.com for $73.73/ea + free shipping. They'll be here by the end of the week, hopefully. I'll report back when they show up, I get 'em mounted and do my first test mow with them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271294740497&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT


This is our best selling most popular tire.

OK. So... I've had these Duro X-Country tires for a couple of months now. You can see both them AND the new flat-free deck tires I installed the same day. (Notice the cheap "come-along" winch & tie-down strap combo that I use to lift my non-powered deck for ease of cleaning & blade changing.)

Here's the scoop... They were manufactured in Taiwan so they were machine-flattened to maximize loading in a shipping container. The shop that mounted them had to install tubes (stuffed in by hand) and inflate them to get the tires to return to shape. A pain, but not a showstopper - unless your shop won't work with you. The good news is that these tires have awesome traction. Sidehill mowing is slide-free, instilling mucho confidence. They require a learning curve when turning to prevent peeling up the sod, much the same as chevron/bar tread tires do, so getting these to eliminate that particular problem with my chevrons was a no-win. I aired them down to about 4psi and they ride pretty nice. I was in some pretty muddy conditions in the earlier part of the summer chopping down the walking trails in my little patch of woods and I'm happy to report that the tread pattern, in addition to having excellent bite, features lugs spaced far enough apart to clean themselves fairly quickly & easily. They are designed for ATVs so the profile is round instead of flat, like traditional turf tires. They're also not as wide as my Carlisle chevrons, despite being advertised as such. Bummer. The price was really good though ($64 shipped) but then I had to pay $15/ea. for inner tubes in order to get the tires to mount properly due to the flat condition they came shipped in, so again, that was a wash.

Bottom line... they're decent tires, especially for the price, but for what I wanted and was expecting they were sort of a let down. But again, they weren't designed for lawn tractor use. I took a chance on 'em and they weren't what I hoped. Lesson learned. They are better than my old chevrons, but not by much. However, when the time comes I will be replacing them with a pair of the same Carlisle All-Trails that I currently have on my Deere GT235. Those are wider, hopefully not as destructive with a ZTR mower, and have a flatter profile as they are more lawn tractor-friendly. In fact they were used, I believe, as stock tires on John Deere's big X-Series 4WD garden tractors.

1 year update...

Slightly less than a year on the mower and one of the tires suffered a major failure a couple of evenings ago, right along one of the tread blocks. A gape about 2" long that is beyond repair. I'll just chalk up the Duro tires as an unsuccessful experiment. Lesson learned! :thumbdown: Anyhow, I placed an order for a fresh pair of Carlisle 4-ply 20x10x8 All-Terrain tires the same day the left Duro took a dirt nap. Once the All-Trails are installed I'll post pics and my thoughts regarding ride comfort, sidehill traction, yard damage during turns, etc. Hopefully the Carlisles will be a better investment.

A fair warning to those considering them... Duro X-Country tires were definitely a waste of cash for this Grasshopper owner.

OK. So, I ordered a pair of the Carlisle All-Terrains from a place called TREAD DEPOT, after doing a hasty Google search for the best prices. First, these guys have DEFINITELY impressed me. I placed the order on the 4th and had the tires sitting on my front porch ONE DAY LATER!!! Talk about fast service! Got home in time to get the junk pair swapped out with the new skins at the local tire shop.

First impressions:

1) These Carlisle tires are the proper "profile" meaning they are flat, like a car tire, rather than curved like a motorcycle (like the Duro tires).

2) The Carlisle's offer excellent grip, 90% as much as the Duro tires. Only slightly and I mean slightly less traction in muddy conditions than the Duros.)

3) I can maneuver (sharp turns & zero turns) much more readily now, without tearing up the sod & grass. That's a BIG plus since I can mow faster and not have to putt-putt through turns so as not to rip up my lawn.

All-in-all these seem to be a much better set of tires. I've only mowed with them once so far on the Grasshopper but I also have these on my JD GT235 and they never let me down. I have a feeling that the Carlisle All-Terrains are what I should have just went with the first time around. I adjusted the air pressure from 22psi when I got 'em home down to 15psi. After one mowing, I dropped down to 12psi. I will see what difference, if any, that makes. So far very VERY happy with these.:thumbsup: