The objective of this study was to compare the consumption of fuel of the FWD agricultural tractor, equipped with three types of tyres (bias ply, radial and low pressure), with and without tyre water ballasting, operating in four forward speeds. The research was carried out at FCAV/UNESP, SP, Brazil, The soil was tilled using a chisel plow. A tractor with 89 kW (121 HP) engine power equipped with FWD was used in the experiment, and the tyres used had the following characteristics: radial (front: 14.9R26 and rear: 620/75R30), bias ply (front: 14.9-26 and rear: 23.1-30) and low pressure (front: 500/60-26.5 and rear: 700/55-34). The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design (3x2x4), with a total of 24 treatments and three replications. The results evidenced advantages for the tractor equipped with radial tyres. The ballasting condition with water in the tyres showed lower specific consumption. It was also observed that the increase of the forward speed reduced the specific consumption.
agricultural tractor; tyre; consumption of fuel
