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Duals Wheels For Garden Tractors
Chuck Shelato designed duals for his zero-turn mower and garden tractor. After posting a YouTube video, he launched a business building them for others. The key selling point is easy alignment.
“Full-size tractors have J-bolts and spacers between the rims, and that’s what I try to emulate,” says Shelato. “My key ingredient is my tie rings. The second thing is where they go. I put them down next to the valve stem. With my open throat design, you can reach through to air up the tires.”
Shelato notes that his duals are especially popular with people who drive on slopes. In his area, a lot of people have high banks, and stability is a problem.
“The duals lower my center of gravity,” he says. “They also increase my traction.” What they don’t do, he stresses, is carry more weight.
“Armchair engineers drive me crazy, suggesting duals will overload an axle,” says Shelato. “Adding weight is not the point.”
Shelato suggests four lug extensions on heavier zero-turns and compact tractors. Lighter machines need only two to hold the tie rings tight. His first tie rings were built with 20-ga. steel, as it was the heaviest he could form in his home shop. He would wind it like a clock spring while fitting it to the rim-size form.
“After a few months wrestling with the 20-ga. steel, I found a slip ring roller locally,” says Shelato. “With a few modifications, I could use 10-ga. steel. Now everything that goes out has the heavier, 10-ga. rings.”
The only promotion Shelato has done for his small-scale duals is to post videos on his YouTube channel and his personal and High-Noon Group Facebook sites. That has been enough. He has shipped dual kits from N. C. to points as far as Maine, Minn., Utah and Texas.
“My kits range in price from $70 up to an $1,100 custom kit for a Deere 111 used to mow canal banks in Fla.,” says Shelato. “I tried to talk the latter out of doing it, but his attitude was spending $14,000 on a 4-WD or have me build him a set ASAP.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, High-Noon Duals, 128 S McCoy Rd., Salisbury N.C. 28144 (ph 704-798-5014; shelato61@gmail.com)


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2022 - Volume #46, Issue #1