Primary agricultural tractors used metallic wheels with clutches as locomotion elements. Due to the impossibility to run in roads, damages provoked on the pathways and the suppression in disintegrated soil made necessary to seek other materials for the tractors' tread. The pneumatic tread, by being deformed, adjust better to irregularities on the ground, increasing the traction capacity and commodity for the operator. The decreased ballastage, replaced by dynamic loads induced by weight transference, improve even more the performance of the wheels in the soil, converting them in actual support points. In spite of the evolution experienced by the treads, they offer several technical options that aren't always used, because not every tread available in the market are appropriate for every application. The size, technical features, inflation pressure, etc. determine the behavior and durability. Thus, an overloaded tread has a decreased useful life; on the other hand, thinking otherwise charges the product, once the lack of weight can jeopardize its primary function, stressing that, by not supporting the whole tread, gliding can be increased. In consequence of the exposed above, it becomes necessary to choose the tread properly in order to determine the application and find out that its use for each moment occurs in conditions that provide better benefits and higher durability.
agricultural tires; traction efficiency; gliding
