I'll put it to you this way.
I've got 3 tractors with radials.
A Ford 3930 FWD w/loader that has Michelin's on the rear.
It's sheared one tube.A NewHolland TS90 with Michelin's on the rear and a very similar BFG radial on the front. It's sheared at least one front and 2 or 3 rears off now. All at the stem.
Neither of these do the 'heavy' work here, but they do at times get loaded down heavy with heavy mounted equipment and they also do some heavy pulling relative to their size. The other one is a Ford 7710 with Firestone 23 degree's. I've simply lost count of how many tubes I put in those tires now. It was at least one per year for each tire for a while and they're on there 10 years...
Not one of those tires has a hole in them. They've never given a single problem otherwise... just constant trouble with tubes.
You can either air them up and down all the time for whatever load is on them, air them up and leave them up which makes the tire worthless, or basically do nothing with the tractor. Last summer the TS90 let one rip on a Michelin. It was a saturday afternoon and I had hay to bale. I yanked the tube out, screwed a brass stem in that I had in the toolbox, shoved the tire back on the wheel, stuck the air line on and fired the shot from the bead chetah. I haven't looked at it since.
I did one on the 7710 this spring. I noticed the other leaking tonight. It's getting the same treatment.
I'm done with tubes in radial tires. It's cost me far, far more than a load of cast iron would ever cost. Rod
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