Rubber and steel rolling resistance

[Rod]

Is their a difference between the rolling force required to pull a rubber tire mower verses a steel wheel model?

[Tim Harrigan]

http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?t=3103&highlight=mower

Rod, yes, check out this thread. Based on our work the rolling resistance of a steel tired McD #7 with an operator was about 100 lbf. And based on other work with steel versus pneumatic tired work the rolling resistance of pneumatic tired vehicles is about 1/2 of that for the same vehicle with steel tires. So I would expect about a 50 lbf reduction with the rubber tires on typical hay ground. I think there are one or more threads on DAP where I discussed steel versus rubber tires in considerable detail, if you are interested and have trouble finding them let me know. T

Just to be clear, that is not the pulling force of the mower when cutting, just the part related to moving the mower over the ground. The mechanical resistance of moving parts and the cutting resistance of the cutterbar are additional. 65 lbf per foot of cutterbar length is a pretty good estimate for a well adjusted mower in a heavy crop for a steel wheel mower.

If you are wondering if your team is conditioned for mowing, you will notice at the end of the referenced thread that if you use a sled or stone boat for conditioning, equivalent pulling loads would be sled GVW’s of about 700 lbs for a 4 ft bar, 800 lbs for a 5 ft bar and 1000 lbs for a 6 ft bar. Pretty honest work.

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