Steve Jensen and his team at Farmers Cooperative in Firth, Nebraska, are more than just dealers of farm and industrial tires. They may be some of the toughest customers ever to put their skid steer tires through their paces.
“We’ve been testing all the brands for the past 5 years,” says Jensen. “We’ve got a big whiteboard with the operating hours for every brand. It’s our testimonial.”
To Jensen, the most important figure in his in-house competition is a tire’s cost per hour. Not only do his tires have to last as long as possible—though he says he’s never had a set of tires, even solid tires, last more than 700 hours on his site—they have to deliver value.
THE DAILY GAUNTLET
The Firth location’s Gehl skid steer runs a daily gauntlet over a wide variety of surfaces as it ferries tires and other cargo from the operation’s receiving area to a storage yard 3 blocks away. Forty yards of asphalt. Fifty yards of abrasive, broom-finished concrete. Take a sharp right and go down Main Street, over the railroad tracks. Then turn into a lot covered in dirt, gravel, and what Jensen describes as “three-and-a-half-inch boulders.” Oh, and there’s mud. “We can bury that skid loader,” he laughs. “We almost got it stuck one day. Good thing we had on a set of Muddy Buddys and could get out backwards.”
In short, downtown Firth, Nebraska, is a tire’s worst nightmare. Slick mud and abrasive concrete, grinding asphalt, and sharp rocks. And back again.
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Featured Image: Steve Jensen (left) and Cory Hart of Farmers Cooperative in Firth, Nebraska, stand beside a set of Galaxy Muddy Buddys. Jensen says his Muddy Buddys handled the wide range of surfaces at his operation more effectively than competing skid loader tires and cost less to operate.
Above: The Farmers Cooperative skid loader works all day on surfaces ranging from brushed concrete to asphalt, gravel, rocks, and mud. Steve Jensen says Galaxy Muddy Buddys performed well on his skid loader on all surfaces, in all weather.
THE COMPARISON
Eager for tires that could get a grip in mud without getting ground down by pavement, Jensen put a set of 12-16.5 Galaxy Muddy Buddy skid steer tires to the test against a set of Goodyear Ultimates, which cost up to 40 percent more.
“The Muddy Buddy is built for long service life on a wide range of surfaces, but with extra features that give it a strong edge in mud,” says Steve Vandegrift, product manager for Alliance Tire Americas’ Galaxy and Primex brands. “The Muddy Buddy’s sharp shoulder cleats dig in for traction, while extra-deep lugs are engineered with low angles for grip. On harder surfaces, the overlap of the cleats, high rubber-to-void ratio, and special rubber compound deliver a better ride and a long performance life, even on abrasive pavement.”
In fact, notes Jensen, the Muddy Buddy wore slowly and evenly—it didn’t chip like the competitive tire did. “That was big,” says Jensen. “You want as much rubber as you can to protect the casing. The Muddy Buddy didn’t chunk away.”
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THE RESULTS
In all, the Muddy Buddy set lasted nearly as long as the Ultimates, delivering top-tier performance for $100 per tire less—or a cost per hour of 49 cents rather than 61 cents per hour for the Goodyear tires. Jensen tallied up the cost of the tires and the cost of operating them and figured he saved $261 by using the Galaxy Muddy Buddy on his skid loader.
“I think for your big fleets, you could buy four of these Muddy Buddys for the price of three Goodyears,” he points out. “If I had 15 or 20 skid loaders, I know what I’d do. That’s really worth something. You’re really talking about dollars.” ■
 
For More Information: For more information about the Alliance Tire Americas’ Galaxy and Primex brands, visit www.atgtire.com.
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Modern Contractor Solutions – December 2015
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