Description

Semi-Pneumatic Flat Profile Tyre –

Width 55mm OD 18

18 inch Semi-Pneumatic Flat Profile Tyre – Width 55mm Outer Diameter 18 inches

Tyre – 55mm wide flat semi-pneumatic tyre. This tyre is a low to medium pressure tyre suited to wet and sticky conditions. Tyre will give an even pressure footprint over the 55mm of tyre face. Tyre has a tendency to bring soil back over the seed (desireable in most areas). This tyre is well suited to sticky conditions as it has a very good level of cleanability. Not recommended in very rough or very abrasive soils (see solid variant and semi-solid variants of this tyre)

This particular tyre is very popular on parallelogram type seeders in Northern NSW and Queensland.  One of the reasons for its popularity is that it cleans nicely in clay soils.  The 3 most common machines that use this tyre are Multi-Farm, Gessner and Toowoomba Engineering.

The tyre creates a nice 2″ wide moisture band and the flat face pushes the row of seed down into the soil and into the moisture.  The tyre also compresses any loose dry soil which also assists in keeping the area around the soil moist.  If you are seeding into existing moisture then the tyre will press the seed down into that moisture.  All of the features are important to getting early germination, getting the crops established early and taking full availability of existing and future soil moisture.

We make 3 versions of this tyre;

• Semi-pneumatic
• Semi-Solid, a high durability soft rubber tyre, designed for higher levels of dry seeding and abrasive soils.  The soft rubber still gives the tyre some flex.
• Solid, a very high durability tyre for hard soils and rocks (limestone).  Has very little flex so won’t work well in sticky soils.

Why 18″ vs 15″ ? The main reason is more historical.  the 18″ tyres are more popular in NSW and Queensland.  Yes they do handle heavy sticky soils better and they are better when you are deep drilling down at 5″.  But I think farmers like to buy what they are used to seeing other farmers use, ie safety in numbers.  Most of the early press wheels used in NSW and Queensland were 17″ to 18″ and so that trend has continued and each time a farmer buys a new set of press wheels based on what they see other farmers using they are adding to the tradition.  There are also some well known brands that also like to use the 18″ wheels.  Knuckeys, Multi-Farm, Gessner, Simplicity and all Manutec standard gang press wheels and gang conversion press wheels use the 18″ wheels.  The 18″ wheels can also be used on all of Manutec’s different types of press wheel assemblies.  One note here is that on our gangs and gang conversions we only recommend the high durability  semi-solid and solid tyres as gangs are much harder on tyres than other assembly types.  The 55mm flat solid or flat semi-solid tyres could used on gangs but wee would not recommend it.

There is also a smaller 15″ version of this tyre. Plus we do a variety of other flat  shapes in different widths (80mm, 100mm and 120mm) and sizes as well.  The narrow widths are used  in NSW and Queensland mostly and the wider widths are popular in sandy soils in the Southern Wheatbelt and on very heavy compactible clays around Clermont in Queensland.

What many users do not understand is where the humble press wheel tyre sits on the order of importance when it comes to improving crops.  For many years the entire concept of press wheels was not accepted by farmers at all.  Then when it was accepted many systems that were fitted got a bad name and reputation for not working.  Why ?  Mostly because the tyre that was fitted was not suitable for the environment that it was being used in.  If the tyre had been correct, the systems would have worked.  So the message here is that all of the expensive steel work that carries the press wheel is just that.  It is the humble press wheel tyre that is the critical component.  Manutec has taken many unworkable systems from our competitors and turned them into systems that work out in the paddock as they should.  If you have a system that is not working for you, ie you bought a seeder from WA and you are trying to make it work in NSW or a machine built for North American farming conditions, talk to Manutec and we can give you some options for you to use or to trial to get things working properly.

In the more information section below is a Tyre Information and selection pdf.

When measuring tyres we use the outside diameter of the tyre, so when we refer to this as a 18 inch tyre it means that the outside diameter of the tyre is approximately 18-19 inches.

Note semi-pneumatic tyres do not need to have air pumped into them and have no valves.  The semi-pneumatic effect is created by a hollow air cavity inside the tyre.  When the two rim halves are clamped together on to the tyre it seals the air cavity and creates a pneumatic like feel/bounce

Class Name	Value
Diameter	430MM (18″)
Environment 1	CLAY/STICKY SOIL
Purpose	EVEN PRESS ACROSS NARROW BAND
Type	SEMI-PNEUMATIC
Weight	2.70KG
Environment 3	NON ABRASIVE SOILS/WET SOWING
Environment 2	SAND/LOAM
Shape	FLAT
Material	SOFT RUBBER WITH HOLLOW
Width	55MM

PDF Downloads

https://ag.manutec.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Press-wheels-info-sheet.pdf