Duraforce Utility Range

M and D I Kemp and Sons run an interesting farming operation in Melbourne, near York.  Alongside their poultry and arable operations, they have a mulch processing plant that converts waste wooden material into organic mulch.  The mulch is used to improve the soil structure on farmland.

They run a fleet of three telescopic handlers to feed this processing plant, and high tyre wear has historically been an issue.  ‘We were lucky to get much more than 2,000 hours from a set of tyres’ says Jeremy Kemp.  ‘Tyre costs were becoming something of an issue, so we were very interested when Firestone approached us and asked if we would test a new pattern tyre.’

The tyre in question was the new Duraforce Utility in size 400/70R20.  This tyre is optimised for work on hard surfaces, although it still has enough traction for field work.

‘We were looking for a particularly demanding operation to test our tyres,’ said Barry Coleman, Firestone UK’s AG product manager.  ‘Our engineers wanted to run a 2,000 hours durability test, and we expected to test the tyres to the limit.’

‘After two years service, and around 2,000 hours work the tyres have only lost 8mm of tread.  With 16 to 18mm remaining there’s a lot of life left in these tyres yet!’

Mr Kemp is also impressed with these tyres.  In fact, even when they received a brand new machine the new tyres were removed and the Firestones were put in their place.  They have also fitted Firestone tyres to another of their machines when the originals wore out.

Mr Kemp adds, ‘Another benefit has been the elimination of punctures.  These tyres have a 100% reliability record, and that’s amazing when you think of the type of environment they work in.’

The Firestone Duraforce Utility range covers rim sizes from 18 inch up to 28 inch and is widely available from Firestone’s AGRI POINT network, or your local tyre dealer.  Firestone is the largest farm tyre manufacturer in the world and is a part of Bridgestone, the world’s largest tyre company.