TRACTOR PERFORMANCE

Reproduced from a publication by Andrie Visagie, 1976

With minor revisions by J Fuls, 2004

QUESTION: Can the performance of a tractor be QUESTION: What are the factors that influence rolling
improved? resistance?

ANSWER: Yes, a tractors performance can be improved by ANSWER: Soil hardness, soil pressure and weight.
means of the choice of the correct gear and implement size, The measure to which the tractor wheel treads into and
double tyres, ballasting and four-wheel drive. To understand compacts the soil depends on the firmness of the soil, and the
this, lets first look at the factors that play a role in the pressure applied on the soil. A great mass on a wheel will
performance of a tractor. therefor cause the wheel to tread in deep into soft soil, which
causes a great rolling resistance. See Figure 2. Hard soil can
QUESTION: What is the rolling resistance and how can it withstand high soil pressure without the soil sinking in deep
be explained? and the rolling resistance remains low.

ANSWER: Rolling resistance is the tractive effort or power

necessary to roll a wheel over a surface. Therefor, the rolling
resistance of a tractor is the sum of the rolling resistance of all
the wheels. Before a tractor can pull anything, it first has to
overcome its own rolling resistance. A part of the tractors
drive is lost merely to overcome this rolling resistance.
Little weight
As a result of the weight resting on the wheel, pressure is
applied on the soil. If the pressure on the soil becomes too
great, the soil gives way. If draft power is now applied on the
wheel to let the wheel roll over the soil, the wheel has to be
pulled uphill. See Figure 1.
Low soil pressure
Much weight

High soil pressure

Fig. 2: Wheel weight, soil pressure and depression

The more the weight, the greater the rolling resistance. If the
soil is so hard that it does not sink in even with heavy
ballasting, the rolling resistance will remain low, e.g. on
concrete. See Figure 3.
Uphill

Fig. 1: Rolling resistance

The wheel therefor runs uphill all the time but never gets out on
top, because the soil sinks in under the wheel each time. The
deeper the soil sinks in, the deeper the wheel treads. The uphill
then becomes steeper and the rolling resistance becomes
Soft soil Hard soil
greater.
Deep tread Light tread

Fig. 3: Rolling resistance and soil density

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QUESTION: What is the influence of tyre pressure? On the other hand, the tyres must not be inflted too high
because the soil pressure is thereby unnecessarily increased and
ANSWER: By reducing the tyre pressure, the tyre contact the rolling resistance increases, specifically in soft soil.
surface on the soil is increased because the tyre then yields
more. If the tyre contact surface increases, the soil pressure QUESTION: What is the influence of tyre width and
reduces and it leads to a slighter measure of tread and less double tyres?
resistance. See Figure 4.
ANSWER: With the same diameter, a broader tyre has a larger
contact surface, which leads to lower soil pressure and therefor
lower rolling resistance.

High tyre pressure With the use of double tyres, the contact surface is doubled and
Low tyre pressure
the soil pressure reduced by half. See Figure 5.

Since the weight that each tyre carries is halved, the tyre
pressure can even be reduced by 40% without the tyres
distorting and folding too much, which damages the tyres. If
only the inner wheels are filled with water, the weight increase
as a result of the double wheels will be slight.
Large contact surface Small contact surface
Low soil pressure High soil pressure

Fig. 4: Rolling resistance and tyre pressure

Lower soil pressure

High soil pressure Lowest soil pressure
Fig. 5: Rolling resistance, tyre width and double tyres

In hard soils, which are not treaded in by highly inflated tyres, QUESTION: What is the influence of tyre diameter?
no reduction in rolling resistance will be experienced with a
lower tyre pressure but rather an increase, resulting from tyre ANSWER: Firstly, the tyre with a larger diameter has a larger
distortion. contact surface than a smaller tyre with the same width. With
the same ballast on both tyres, the soil pressure and the treading
The lifespan of a tyre depends largely on tyre pressure. With a into the soil by the larger tyre will be less. This will therefor
too-low tyre pressure, tyres will fold and form cracks. The lead to less rolling resistance.
recommended tyre pressure must be maintained as far as
possible. Also guard against the tyres distorting or folding too A second factor in favour of a tyre with a larger diameter is that
much with high wheel ballasting and traction. the uphill it has to climb is less steep with the same tread-in
depth of the soil. See Figure 6.

Steep uphill Gradual uphill

High soil pressure Low soil pressure

Fig. 6: Wheel diameter and rolling resistance
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The less-steep uphill against which the tyre has to climb leads QUESTION: Why does slip increase with an increase in
to a further reduction in rolling resistance. traction?

It is clear therefor that a greater wheel diameter contributes ANSWER: When the soil particles slip over each other, they
more to a reduced rolling resistance than a wider tyre. There is are rearranged and hook onto each other to give maximum
however a practical limit in the rear wheel diameter of tractors, resistance against slip. With low traction, a slight increase of
as the torque on the rear axle and drive system becomes greater rearranging is sufficient and the slip is therefor low. The higher
as the wheel diameter increases, which leads to higher design the traction becomes, the greater is the rearranging and therefor
costs. slip that has to take place to overcome the traction. We see that
slip must occur before sufficient adherence can be obtained in
QUESTION: What is the influence of four-wheel drive? order to give traction.

ANSWER: The soil pressure caused by the wheels may An example is a person pushing a vehicle over loose sand. In
become too high, especially with very large tractors, so that order to push, his feet must first slip slightly to get his heels
preference is given to 4 WD with larger wheels (sometimes dug into the sand. See Figure 8.
double wheels) on both axles. A large tractor with eight tyres
will result in a lighter soil pressure than a tractor with 1/3 of its
total weight, fitted with single tyres of the same size.
Foot grip
In loose soil, a further factor in favour of the 4WD is that the
front wheels compact the soil ahead of the rear wheels, so that
the rolling resistance of the rear wheels are reduced.

QUESTION: How is traction developed on a soil surface?

ANSWER: Because the treads of the tyre clutches the soil, Slip must occur before foot grip can be achieved
the grip capacity of a tyre depends on the friction power that
the soil can resist. The friction power of the soil depends on: Fig. 8: Slip and grip
(1) The ability of the soil particles to adhere to each other
(2) The weight of the wheel that compresses the soil
particles together. See Figure 7. QUESTION: What is the influence of weight on wheel slip?
ANSWER: With additional ballasting on a wheel, the soil
particles are pressed tighter together, which prevents them from
slipping over each other easily. The result is that an increase in
weight will reduce the wheel slip. This does, however, result in
a deeper tred which increases rolling resistance, as with a tyre
of smaller diameter. In soft soils, these effects can in fact
cancle each other (Also see Fig. 10).
Weight Traction
QUESTION: Does it matter if a tyre slips even 50%?

ANSWER: If 50% wheel slip occurs it means that 50% of the

forward speed is lost. It also means that 50% of the tractors
productivity is lost.
Fig. 7: Traction and weight QUESTION: How is wheel slip measured?

ANSWER: A simple method of measuring wheel slip, is as

follows: See Figure 9.
QUESTION: What happens when a wheel slips
Make a clear mark on the rear tyre of the tractor. Measure the
ANSWER: When the traction which a wheel applies becomes
distance that the wheel will cover with about five revolutions
greater than the grip that the soil particles have on each other,
on hard soil without the implement in the soil. Then do the
they begin to slip over each other. The wheel therefor covers a
normal tilling on the field and measure the distance covered
smaller distance per revolution than in the case where the soil
again with the same wheel revolutions. The wheel slip is
particles did not begin to slip over each other. We then say the
calculated by dividing the difference in these distances by the
soil has begun to tear.
distance covered on hard soil. It is usually shown as a
percentage. If the distance covered on hard soil is 25 metres
and in the field 20 metres, then the calculated wheel slip is 5
25 x 100 = 20%.
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 5 Wheel revolutions = 25 m

Hard soil

5 Wheel revolutions = 20 m

In the field

Wheel slip = 25 20 x 100% = 20%

25

Fig. 9: Measuring wheel slip

QUESTION: What are the practical implications of rolling resistance and wheel slip?

ANSWER:
1. Traction:
The greater the traction, the greater the wheel slip becomes. With nil traction no slip will take place theoretically.

Maximum traction does occur at high slip, i.e. from 50 to 60% (see Table 1) but the power loss is then very
great.

Table 1: Traction and wheel slip

Traction (kN) Wheel slip (%)

0 0
3 10
5 20
6 30
6,5 50

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2. Soil type/soil hardness

The grip ability of a wheel is reduced in soft soil, firstly because the soil particles slip over each other more
easily and secondly because the rolling resistance in soft soil is greater than on hard soil, which causes a further
reduction in nett traction. The following table shows grip ability and rolling resistance in various soil types.
See Table 2.

Table 2: Traction and soil type

Soil type Grip power Rolling resistance Drawbar pull

(kN) (kN) (kN)

Loam 5,5 0,6 4,9

Sandy loam (wet) 4,0 1,0 3,0
Clay loam (wet) 3,0 1,5 1,5
Silt (wet) 1,0 1,0 -

3. Weight:

For a tyre to povide traction, there must be sufficient weight on the wheel to press the soil particles together
tightly enough against each other. As previously explained, an increase in weight on the wheel will increase its
rolling resistance, especially in soft soil where the wheel treads in deeper. Whatever is gained by reduced wheel
slip, is lost as a result of additional rolling resistance. The following graphs show the influence of weight on
wheel slip and rolling resistance. See Figure 10.

Total losses

Rolling resistance

slip

Increase in weight

Increase in weight

Fig. 10: Weight and power losses

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Wheel slip can be reduced on hard and soft soil, by additional
ballasting, but in soft soil the rolling resistance becomes so
great as a result of the high ballasting that the wheel slip can
begin to increase again with increase in weight.

4. Tyre width, double tyres

As explained before, broader and larger tyres can reduce the

rolling resistance in soft soils, but it has little effect on hard
soil. Table 3 shows the influence of weight on single and
double tyres (13x38) on hard soil at a tractor traction of 6,5
kN.

Table 3: Slip versus axle weight, hard soil

Total weight (kN) Slip % Slip % Fig. 11: Weight transfer, 2 W D tractor
On the rear axle Single tyre Double tyre
8 40% 35%
10 15% 13%
13 10% 8%
20 8% 6%

The reduction in slip with the aid of double wheels on hard soil
is slight. It is clear that a slight increase in weight has a greater
influence on reduction of slip than double wheels.

Table 4 shows the influence of weight on single and double

tyres in soft ploughed sandy soil at a traction of 4,5 kN.
The total weight is on the drive wheels
Table 4: Slip versus axle weight, soft soil

Total weight(kN) Slip % Slip % Fig. 12: High traction, large weight transfer
On the rear axle Single tyre Double tyre
6,7 50 25
This weight transfer is of great importance to a 2 WD tractor,
8 27 12
since weight is transferred to the rear wheels to develop
10 22 11
traction. When traction is high, the weight transfer is high, so
13 23 10
that the ballasting on the rear wheels is high. If the 2 WD
20 24 10
tractors front wheels lift up as a result of too great traction, the
tractors total weight is on its drive wheels (See Figure 12). In
this case and on firm soil, a 2 WD tractor can almost pull as
Since the rolling resistance is reduced with double wheels,
much as a 4WD tractor with the same weight, since the weight
double wheels are more effective to reduce wheel slip in soft on the drive wheels is the same. (See Figure 13)
soil than single wheels with additional weight.

5. Four wheel drive:

When a tractor applies traction on the implement, weight

transfer occurs from the implement and from the front of
the tractor to the rear axle, as seen in Fig. 11.

Total weight is on the drive wheels

Fig. 13: 4 W D tractor

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It is however not possible in practice to work with a tractor In normal hard soil conditions it is doubtful whether the high
with its front wheels aloft. In this case, additional weight must cost of a 4WD is justifiable, except in the case of very large
be placed on the 2WD tractors nose for steering control and tractors more powerful than 150 kW where the traction
safety. becomes too much for only double rear tyres. More drive
wheels are therefor necessary to handle the high weight and
If traction conditions are poor, e.g. in mud or soft soil, the 2 traction.
WD tractor begins to slip and entrench before sufficient
traction is developed to obtain adequate weight transfer. The QUESTION: What is the effect of double wheels on tyre
result is that the only about 2/3 of the total tractor weight rests lifespan?
on the drive wheels.
ANSWER: Double wheels are even used on hard soil,
The other 1/3 of the weight on the front wheels causes high especially with large tractors, with the purpose of increasing
rolling resistance as a result of the small narrow front wheels. the tyre lifespan.
In the first place, the traction provided by the rear wheels is
low as a result of the poor weight displacement and secondly, The weight and traction is then spread over more tyres and
the front wheels consume some of the developed traction to ensure that the tyres are not over-loaded.
overcome rolling resistance. (See Figure 14).
QUESTION: What is the effect of additional weight and
double wheels on a tractors gearbox and final drive?

ANSWER:

1. Influence of weight on gear lifespan

Wheel slip is an important safety factor for a tractors

gearbox and final drive.

A tractors gearbox and final drive is designed to

Rolling resistance handle stresses in normal agricultural and weight
conditions, caused by high traction powers. If wheel
The traction is too low to provide sufficient weight slip is limited by additional ballasting, especially on
displacement hard soil, the design specifications of the gear
components can be exceeded. This shortens the
Fig. 14: 4 W D tractor in mud lifespan of the drive train considerably.

In the case of a 4WD tractor all the weight of the tractor is 2. Gear lifespan as a result of double wheels
always on drive wheels. There is also not a non-driven wheel
that consumes some of the traction just to overcome rolling Double wheels without additional ballasting holds less
resistance. (See Fig.15). risk for a tractors gearbox and final drive than single
wheels with additional ballasting.

On soils with a medium firmness, 30% additional

ballasting on single tyres will provide the same slip
reduction as double tyres. On hard soils, the single
tyres with a 30% ballasting can provide 30% more
traction than double tyres without ballasting. This can
possibly damage the drive system. On firm soil,
double wheels will not provide much higher traction
than additionally ballasted single wheels.

QUESTION: Why does a tractor slip less with a mounted

The total weight is on the drive wheels plough than with a semi-mounted plough?

ANSWER: Because of the larger weight transfer by a mounted

Fig. 15: 4 W D tractor in mud
plough, considerably more weight is transferred to the rear
wheels of a tractor than with a semi-mounted or drawn plough.
In poor traction conditions it will be found that a 4WD tractor It then appears as if a mounted plough pulls lighter.
with the same weight as a 2 WD tractor can pull twice as much
as the 2 WD tractor.

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To adapt a tractor for a drawn or semi-mounted plough, some Because of the high purchase price of a 4WD tractor, a farmer
of the nose-weights can be removed and additional weights can must ensure that the tractor will be able to compensate against
be placed on the rear wheels. a larger 2WD tractor at the same purchase price.

Question: How efficient is it to plough with a single wheel in Some farmers maintain that it is beneficial for them to purchase
the furrow and double wheels outside the furrow? a 4WD tractor to perform critical operations during very wet
years.
Answer: In soft soil conditions, the double wheel outside the
furrow can help to reduce the rolling resistance and wheel slip. Question: What must the farmer do to obtain maximum
The soil in the furrow is usually firm, so that the soil is able to performance from his tractor?
withstand high soil pressure without sinking. The rolling
resistance and slip of the single wheel in the furrow therefor ANSWER:
remains low.
1. Correct gear selection
Question: When must a farmer ballast his tractor, use double
wheels or obtain 4 WD tractors?
Because of modern design tendencies in tractor manufacturing,
the weight/power ratio is getting smaller, with the result that a
ANSWER:
tractor is no longer able to utilize its engine power to the full at
a low speed of 5 km/h with a large plough, since the wheel slip
Ballasting:
loss becomes too great. If the tractor is ballasted additionally,
Greater traction can be obtained on hard and soft soil by
gearbox and final drive problems will be experienced.
placing additional ballast on the tractors drive wheels.
However, when a tractors wheels already treads in 100 to
A high gear must therefor be selected, so that the engine power
150mm or deep in soft soil, extra ballasting will be of little
becomes the limiting factor. See Figure 16. If a tractor has the
benefit, since the wheels will then tread in even deeper and the
ability to achieve high wheel slip in a specific gear without the
rolling resistance will be increased.
engine speed decreasing, a higher gear must be selected. Wheel
slip must therefor never be a limiting factor, since the wheel
As previously explained, too high ballasting can be detrimental
slip means direct loss.
to the tractors gear components. It is much better to rather
select a smaller implement than additional ballasting on the
tractors drive wheels.
Wheel slip
Additional ballasting on the front of the tractor must be just
sufficient to prevent the tractors front wheels from lifting. Too
much ballasting on the front of a 2 WD tractor is of no benefit,
but rather a disadvantage, since it increases the rolling
resistance of the front wheels.

Double wheels:
Double wheels are of little benefit on hard soil, compared to
single wheels with the same weight, except that the lifespan of Too low gear and a too large implement
the tyre can be increased. In soft soil, and when a single wheel
treads in deeper than 100 to 150mm, double wheels will
increase the traction ability of a tractor a great deal. Engine power

Double wheels without additional ballasting has fewer

disadvantages for a tractors gear components than single
wheels with additional ballasting.

Four-wheel drive:
On hard soil, 4 WD will have slight benefits compared to
2WD. In poor traction conditions such as loose sand and mud,
a 4WD will succeed significantly better than a 2WD tractor. In High gear
hilly terrain, steering a 4WD will be much steadier against
slopes than a 2WD tractor, since the front wheels of a 4WD Fig. 16: Limiting factors
tractor are able to pull the tractor around a corner.
2.Selection of the correct implement

The size of the implement determines the traction requirement

and the wheel slip. A too large implement will cause a high
wheel slip loss, while a smaller implement is cheaper and
handles easier.
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The correct implement size will result in a wheel slip of While the tractor is in motion, the implement may be set
approximately 10 to 15% on hard soil and approximately 15 to slightly deeper than usual. Take note how the tractor reacts to
20% in soft soil and will load the engine to its full in one of the this:
tractors available gears.
1. If the wheel slip does not increase noticeably and
QUESTION: What is the influence of high speed? the engine speed remains constant, change to a
higher gear and/or select a larger implement.
ANSWER: Not all implements can be used beneficially at high
speed. An example is that not all planters can plant effectively 2. If the wheel slip increases noticeably, but the
at high speed. The traction requirement of a low-speed plough engine speed remains constant, change to a higher
can even double if the speed is increased. What the tractor gear and select a smaller implement and if
gains in reduced wheel slip with a smaller plough at a higher necessary ballast the tractors rear wheels to limit
speed, the plough can waste as a result of greater draft wheel slip.*
requirement. The curves of figure 17 show typical traction
requirements of different plough bottoms. Note that the 3. If the wheel slip does not increase noticeably, but
increase in traction with increase in speed depends on the the engine speed reduces, the combination is
horizontal angle that the share and the mouldboard form with correct for maximum performance.
the direction of movement.
After each change, following results 1 and 2, the test must
QUESTION: How do I know whether my gear / implement be repeated until result 3 is obtained.
combination is correct?
*Where a lower gear and additional ballasting is used, the
ANSWER: The following simple test can give an farmer must realize that the gearbox and final drive might be
indication whether the tractor is maintaining an optimum overloaded.
work rate:

A Low-speed plough
= 48

B High-speed plough
= 25

Speed km/h

Fig. 17: Speed and plough resistance

Reproduced by die ARC-Institute for Agricultural Engineering