tire choices for murray riding mower

[1 FMF]

i was given a ~1998'ish murray riding mower.
I don't know the model of it, it has a 12.5hp briggs L-head engine that has a 1998 code, and is a 38" cutting deck with side discharge.
Anybody know where i can peruse available tires for this thing?
What's on there now are carlisle 18x8.5-8 on the rear and 15x6-6 on the front.
Right now both blade shafts in the cutting deck are seized, and i have the cutting deck completely off.
I don't really care about cutting grass with it, have more interest in towing and possibly attaching a plow on the front for winter time, so I would want good rear tires that will grab and get good traction.

 

[1 FMF]

also, how does the tire spec work on these?

for 18 x 8.5 - 8,
what does 18 refer to, what does x 8.5 refer to, and what is the dash 8 ?

 

[CarbonSteel]

These tires are probably sized like ATV tires. Here is a link that gives a good explanation:

Tire Size

 

[motorguy222]

A local tire shop may have mower tires,one in my town does.If you have a Tractor Supply close by,they carry mower tires too.

If you do want to be able to mow with it,the spindles for the blades should be rebuildable and cheaper than buying new ones.Sometimes thay can just be cleaned up and greased and work fine.

 

[JTK]

That little Murray will probably come unglued if you try to use it to plow snow, but with some fancy fab work, who knows!

Carlisle makes some great lawn/garden tractor tires. Some of them with aggressive tread (see below). There's also a bunch of knock-off import versions that can be mail-ordered reasonably. Just gotta Google "lawn tractor Ag tires" or whatnot.

 

[deeter16317]

http://www.gemplers.com/tires-supplies

That will give you an idea of what is available...

The bar treads pictured above don't really work well on hard pack snow without chains. If your intent is plowing snow, a set of turf tires with chains will provide the best traction...unless you have a asphalt driveway you don't want to damage.

 

[JTK]

Agreed that when it comes to tire chains, you could have racing slicks on under the chains. In fact, that would probably be the best setup as it would keep even pressure on the chains.

 

[deeter16317]

My father uses a set of turf tires in the 23x10.50x12 flavor (fluid filled) with 100# wheel weights and chains with a snow blower...never has a problem with traction, and they live in the snow belt and use it almost daily. His snow blower attachment alone probably weighs more than the poster's whole tractor, so he needs it for both traction and counter-balancing.

Prior to that he ran a set of dual ag/bar tread tires/wheels in the 23x6x12 flavor (both tires filled) and chains on both sets. The single wide turf tire with chains is significantly better than the ag/bar tread tires with chains in almost every situation.

Even though there was well over 100#s difference in weight between the two sets (in favor of the ag tires), the turfs still do better since they act like a big paddle tire with the chains)