WAKEFIELD, Mass. — Yokohama Off-Highway Tires (YOHT) has launched a pair of Galaxy-brand steel-belted radials designed for skid-steers and surface mining, the AT Grip Steel and LDSR 510, respectively.
The AT Grip Steel steer radial was designed in close consultation with skid- steer operators and industrial tire dealers, YOHT said, which resulted in an all-around performance design engineered to deliver higher performance and longer tire life for skid steers.
"What we found when we sat down to talk to skid-steer operators and tire dealers about skid-steer radials is that the market is ready for the benefits radials deliver — more hours, better traction, better ride, and overall lower cost of ownership," according to Dhananjay Bisht, product manager – earthmoving, construction and industrial tires for YOHT.
"But what we also heard loud and clear was that they really wanted a strong sidewall. The feature they admired most about their old bias-ply tires was the stability and durability of the sidewalls.
"So we developed a radial tire that delivers the footprint and ride benefits of radial construction as well as a much sturdier, reinforced sidewall."
The Galaxy AT Grip Steel features an extra sidewall ply to add thickness and stiffness and immediately below the bead, Yokohama added a stiff flex-dampening layer that directs sidewall deflection away from the rim, reducing damage from lower-sidewall movement.
On the surface of the sidewall, twin rim protectors minimize impact and rubbing damage to the tire.
YOHT claims these design features strike a balance between stiffness and flexibility that allows the tire to reduce the bucking and bouncing common with bias-ply skid steer tires while resisting damage and heat build-up to extend tire life.
In a departure from many R-4 tires, the AT Grip Steel features a non-directional block tread design. The blocks are optimized for wear and traction, Bisht notes.
"We knew radial construction would give us a larger footprint with more evenly distributed tread wear than bias-ply tires can deliver," he said, "so we were able to design the AT Grip Steel with smaller, shallower tread blocks, knowing they would last. That gave us more biting edges for traction on any surface and less heat build-up for longer tire life."
The AT Grip Steel's tread pattern's lugs are closer together toward the center of the contact patch and farther apart along the outer edges, YOHT said, yielding a 45% higher rubber-to-void ratio along the center and lower mass along the edges.
"Those ratios provide a smoother ride and better stability because of the center mass, while adding traction and self-cleaning from the extra voids along the shoulders."
The tire is built with sidewall and tread compounds that YOHT said maximize heat resistance and resist cut-and-chip damage.
YOHT claims the combination of design, construction, and materials enable the AT Grip Steel to outlast conventional bias-ply R-4 skid steer tires by up to 50% in rigorous field testing. Plunger tests at the factory also documented that the AT Grip Steel is nearly four times more puncture resistant than competitive bias-ply tires.
The AT Grip Steel casing is also retreadable.
Without disclosing exact pricing, Bisht said YOHT is launching the tire at a price point that is comparable to bias-ply tires.
The tire launches in one size, 260/70R16.5 (10R16.5) IND.
