Modifying your tractor for CTF - what are the choices?

• A simple "cotton reel" wheel-spacer or hub adapter that brings your wheel track out to the desired width by bolting directly to the hub.  They are fairly cheap to buy and easy to fit and remove.  They will work with all wheeled machines

• An engineered axle that moves the hubs out to the desired width, without sacrificing strength and steering geometry. They are expensive to purchase and permanent on live axle machines.

  So why would anyone spend extra money on an engineered axle if they can simply use cotton reel spacers?

• Wheel spacers put extra stress on your axle, leading to increased maintenance costs and higher risk of failure.  

• Taking a gamble on the strength, handling and reliability of their machine.  It can cost more to fix a damaged axle than it does to upgrade your tractor properly.

Wheel spacers increase the leverage on the hub which leads to decreased control and increased wear and damage.

• Steering and suspension problems: When you use wheel spacers, the wheel moves around a larger radius which puts extra stress on steering components and leads to more 'bump steer'. This can damage steering components. It can also affect GPS steering, causing over-correction and loss of fine steering control.

• Leaking seals: Wheel spacers increase the stress on the front axle and steering components due to leverage. This has been known to drastically reduce service life and cause failures requiring replacement of the entire front axle assembly. The cost of an engineered axle extension is roughly equal to the cost of replacing the damaged planetary hub on one side. If you are using wheel spacers and you notice leaking seals, stop driving and replace bearings or contact your dealer.

• Risk: We have seen hub service life reduced to hundreds of hours in some cases. This is not only costly, but dangerous. The initial savings from using wheel spacers can be quickly eaten up by repair costs and downtime. It is not unusual for farmers to try wheel spacers for a season or two and then spend the extra money getting an engineered axle.

• Cost: Long-term CTF farmers often realize it is costing them more to run wheel spacers because of the increased maintenance and downtime. Engineered axles might be more expensive initially but pay themselves off with factory reliability and maintenance schedules.

Long-term testing of our engineered axles has shown no adverse effect on reliability or usability

How much did your tractor cost new?  

It's a substantial investment and worth more when you consider potentially lost production due to downtime.  Because of the risks associated with cotton reel spacers, Widetract have developed better solutions for axle extensions that suit your individual circumstances and protect your investment.

A properly engineered axle extension will not suffer from increased stress on bearings, planetary hubs or steering components and won't affect factory warranty on the rest of the tractor.  This allows the safe fitting of front-mount implements such as loaders, air seeders and spray tanks.

Pros and Cons

Tractor Wheel Spacers

Engineered Axle Extension