Tires Thorn trees and Tires?

[willy1947]

How well do the R4 tires hold up to thorn trees?

A friend on mine has a Ford 3000 (2wd, Gas) and just put new tires on the front of his tractor. Both tires were flat after one day because of thorn trees. He had them filled with foam and they've been fine since.

I'll soon be purchasing my tractor and I am wondering what I should do. It will be a Kubota L3830, w/FEL, R4 tires, and will be 4wd. I plan on having fluid put in the rear tires and don't know what to do about the front ones. Should I have foam put in them, fluid, or nothing? Should I even have some in them with the FEL?

My thorn tree problem is very mild right now, but the potential is there for issues.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Moon]

I have a Kubota Grand L3010 w/ R4's. I also have the dreaded thorn trees w/ 2 & 3" thorns. I've pushed over a half dozen of em & cleaned up with the FEL & bush hog. I was worried about a flat, but didn't get one. I have nothing but air in my front tires, rears are loaded. Maybe I've been lucky, but so far these R4's have stood up to the thorns and mucho multi florra bushes that I"ve been bush hoggin.

Moon of Ohio

 

[Henro]

I would try them with air-only first and see what happens.

The fronts are small enough that you can handle them by yourself if you want to fill them later, after you get a puncture. In my case I flatted on broken glass within hours of getting my tractor, so I had my front tires foam filled. The foam makes them a lot heavier, but still manageable.

There are different ply ratings on R4 tires. I think mine are only 4 ply on my B2910. I have heard of some other tractors having 8 and maybe even 12 ply R4 tires. More plys probably makes for a more puncture resistant tire.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I have something close to a natural thorn orchard in my valley. There are literally about a 100 native Hawthorn trees down there and the thorns can easily exceed 1.5" on the mature branches.

My Cub Cadet has foam filled rear tires because they have been popped so many times! The front tires have each been repaired probably only 2 or 3 times in ten years, but the rears seem to attract the thorns and often resemble a porcupine.

My newest additon is a Ventrac with wide garden tractor type tires, as of 4 mowings, they are still air filled. I think the front mounted deck might be cutting up and discharging the thorns to the side? To be honest, I think I have just been lucky so far. My guess is that those tires will end up foam filled sometime in the near future becuase that tractor is used to get up-close-and-personal to the trunks of those thorn trees.

The NH and Kubota both have R-4 tires, both have worked pretty extensively in and around the Hawthorn trees, neither has ever had a problem picking up thorns let alone getting a tire popped by one. I did get a leak in one of the Kubota tires about a month ago, it was due to the fact that I tore the valve stem. From what I can see, the R-4 tires are pretty rugged.

 

[TBAR]

We have Honey Locust and Mesquite Trees that we have to deal with.

I mow them down every 2-3 years then go take the tires to the shop to have 20-30 thorns pulled and new tubes put in.

Foam filling is the way to go but it can be a little pricy.


TBAR

 

[rdbrumfield]

I was doing a mowing contract and it had several acres of hawthorns. The flats were killing me and then cutting them down and sending them through my chipper was getting me into the red with labor. What I came up with is a set of tracks that I put on each tire. They gave me invincibility against flats and the traction in soft areas is incredible. They are easy to build and only takes an hour of so to put on. The tires keep from getting ripped up too. I don't use fluid in my back tires as I have 4wd.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

TBAR . . . foam fill is not cheap to do, but over the long run I think it is cheaper than paying multiple repairs.

By the way, we have honey locust too, but those are all located in our woods in places I don't really take the tractors into. We keep mowing the edge of the woods to prevent them the locust trees from sneaking out into the grass areas. Mowing also seems to keep the raspberry thickets back the woods too.

 

[EastTexFrank]

We have honey locust trees at the farm and in the pasture at the house. Last year at the farm I had over a dozen flats caused by thorns, all except one in the front. I've also had flats on the R4's on the B2400 at the house. The fronts are small enough that you can handle by yourself but you don't want to be getting a puncture in a liquid filled rear tire ... believe me. Changing that will make an old man of you in a hurry. Around here all the ag tire places have stopped coming out to your place to fix flats because of insurance reasons and you have to get the tire to them for fixing.

You really only have 3 choices. Either leave them air filled and live with the flats, fill them with slime (that helps some but is not a cure all) or get them foam filled. I've tried the first two and I'll probably try to have the fronts on the farm tractors foam filled this year. I have seen guys out in New Mexico who run over thorn bushes for a living use 10-ply and 12-ply tires on their trucks and they say they have little problem with flats but they do ride rough.

Has anyone found a good way to get rid of those darn thorn trees? Mowing them doesn't work because the thorns lay in wait for you for years and it just causes them to spread. I've tried spraying to kill them and then cutting/digging them out but that is costly, time consuming, laborious and downright dangerous. There has to be a better way!!!!!

 

[willy1947]

I would love to know how they spread. I don't have many, but I don't want them multiplying /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I did notice a beaver has taken quite a chunk out of one of the larger ones. Now if I can just train the rest of them to do the same, I'm set /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I have thought about cutting around the larger ones in the woods and just leave them standing. They won't fall for a few years. Then I can deal with them. The ones in the field I can just dig, spray, and or burn them out.

thanks,
Dave

 

[slowrev]

Not sure about the R4 rear tires, but for my 2WD IH I have a set of steel belted radial truck tires mounted on a spare set for rims for the front that I use when in thorny sutuations. Plugs work fine on them for any holes that might puncture them, but not many do. The 3 rib front tires I refer to as baloons.

 

[EastTexFrank]

I talked to the extension agent and he told me that they (honey locust) are spread by seeds but if you cut or mow them, they can send up shoots from the roots. So mowing them can actually cause them to spread and form clumps or thickets. I think I'll continue to spray them at the farm and if I get the tires foam filled, I'll try mowing them once they're dead. Now the ones at the house ... spray, cut and dig is probably the only way. Man I hate doing that. Those thorns hurt and will go straight through a pair of leather gloves.

 

[carluman]

I'm in the same boat. Have 1000s of these dang locust trees on our farm and that is no stretch. I've used Slime in my four wheeler and lawn mower and haven't had any trouble with them since. I'm not sure about the tractor though. Is the foam fill for these tires something that gets hard after it is in the tire or is it some what of a liquid? I've asked a couple of dealers about it but none of them seem to know what I'm talking about. The extra weight would be nice too. Any help would be great.

As for killing those trees I'm cutting them and letting my Boer goats do their job. It's to early to say for sure but I think it's a winning combo as they like the locust, multiflora rose, and thorny berries. So far they have not let the other trash trees come back.

Thanks
Carl

 

[HoundsPal]

I have tons of those darn hawthorns that have wrecked 3 new tires. The bush hog blows them to pieces and scatters chunks with needles out of the cutting lane. I have tried a few things but am going to do a hillbilly fix once I get another new front tire. You can buy thin flexible steel in narrow strips. Going to wrap it around tire between ribs and duct tap it on and see what happens. They never go in the ribs, just the soft underbelly of the tire. It is cheap and have nothing to lose except another $150 on a tire. Failing that am going to get a set of 8 ply used truck tires on another set of rims and keep them for bush hogging.

 

[AWSubie]

I was having problems with Mesquite thorns until I used Texas Refinery Corporation (TRC) Tire Sealant. Now I don't have any more flats.
Here is what I like about TRC sealant:

Reasonably priced; $138 for 6 gallons. 6 gallons serviced my NX5010 and a lawn and garden mower.

TRC does not turn into some sticky goo that is difficult to remove when tires need to be replaced. It simply washes away with water. It does contain ethylene glycol so it won't freeze.

I did not want to foam or load my rear tires because I like to do my own tractor maintenance and repair. As it is the rear tires on my NX5010 are a handful for me.

You will need a pump to put the sealant into the tires through the valve stem. The pump cost me $75 on Amazon.

So for around $220 I no longer worry about flats. I am happy.

https://www.texasrefinery.com/products/specialty-products/tireseal/

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Subie, do you buy the TireSeal directly from the company, or do they sell through dealers?

 

[CalG]

There are tire liners available on the market.

 

[AWSubie]

Pappy, I called the company direct and talked to sales. I originally tried to go through dealers but could not find a business to sell to me because they were set up for re-selling to heavy equipment businesses (I only needed one pail, not 20!). I finally called TRC to ask them if they knew of a distributor/dealer that would sell to me, a small agriculture operation, and they said that they would!

 

[Rmart30]

Foam fill is the way to go for the fronts. Filling the rears would kill power and probably cost $400 a tire or more.

I saw a advertisement a while back for a ag tire with 1" thick sidealls but cant find the ad right now. Some of the new radial tires may be worth looking at for the rears.

 

[yanmars]

I had thick rubber liners put in my tires years ago and that solved the problem.

 

[D2Cat]

We have Osage Orange (hedge) and locust trees. I've helped a friend with 80 acres of them clear his land. We would ring the tree with a chain saw and let it stand for next years work. When we came back to that tree we would use a pump up sprayer with diesel, and spray as high up in the tree as possible. Then light the tree on fire.

Sometimes would cut the tree down, then spray it, then light it on fire. The thorns burn FAST.