Another tire issue (flat)

[Richard]

Bought tractor at auction.

Using to cut fields & had a flat in front tire. Put NEW tire on and carried on.

Saturday, had a flat (new tire ) No biggie... I can put a plug in it...

Only to find out the co-op put a TUBE in , with the new tire Now I've got to deal with the tube...no wait...I'll just remove it and then plug the hole...oh , wait...I CAN'T, because the valve stem is connected to the inner tube

Ok, so a quick trip to Walmart, found a stem that would work, got some tire slime and plugged the hole...tire is fine.

Go out today to cut the fields and the freaking OTHER front tire is now flat .

This is an old, weathered looking tire... it has a tube in it.

I get to thinking... maybe I can go BACK to walmart, get another valve stem, yank the tube out and fill it with slime....

Go to store, got valve & slime. Went home and removed tube.

I am now, unable to get the tire to seat properly. It will NOT go on. I've got dish soap around bead to help it slide on and all its doing is blowing bubbles at me

I've decided I'm going to just schlep the tire to the co-op tomorrow and have them put a new tire on WITHOUT a tube in it.

During this process, I got to wondering about the tire slime....

Is it better to put into a tire WITH a tube or WITHOUT a tube or does it really matter?

I got to thinking about the poor guys at the tire shops and the possible surproise they might have when goo drips all over their machine.

 

[Skyco]

Is it better to put into a tire WITH a tube or WITHOUT a tube or does it really matter?

Actually there are different versions of Slime for tube and tubeless tires...

 

[diyDave]

Actually, its better to plug a hole if you know where it is, rather than sliming the tire, if you have the time. Reason is is that once you slime a tire, the slime interferes with any future plugging you may try to do. It dirties up the plug, and it doesn't seal properly. I take a little soapwater in a spray bottle, and spray the tire till I find the leak, then plug it. Whenever I have used slime, I have found that it merely slows the leak, never quite stops it like a plug!

 

[Richard]

Actually, its better to plug a hole if you know where it is, rather than sliming the tire, if you have the time.

I'm with you here however, I'm sick & tired of some of these flats. This spring, bought brand new tire (for different tractor)...out cutting some of the fields that havn'et been cut in several years.

Came home with flat front tire... put a plug in... a second plug...a third plug a FOURTH plug and finally a FIFTH plug . I guess I ran over some locust or something...

This cutting season, I've been running two different tractors (trying to decide which to keep/sell) and I've had two rear flats and four front flats with some of the flats having multiple issues.

It's been so bad, my father in law said just yesterday "Well... maybe if we keep getting all these flats, we just need to stop cutting the farm altogether"



He seems to lose sight of (my opinion) that if we (he) had kept the stinking farm cut for the last 5 years, most of this growth wouldn't have developed little woody stems to create all these little tire daggers!

IMHO, the logical answer to all these flats isn't to abandon maintaining the farm, it's to better bulletproof our tires!

 

[Bird]

the logical answer to all these flats isn't to abandon maintaining the farm, it's to better bulletproof our tires!

Filling tires with foam is probably pretty rarely done because it's so expensive, but you just might be having enough flats to make it worth the cost.

 

[firemanpat2910]

Are you over sharpening your bush hog blades? dull blades wont leave near as many tire eating spikes. How wide is the bush hog compared to the tire width? Do you constantly have to put the tires in freshly cut stems? Would a wider mow path keep your tires out of harms way? How tall are you leaving the stems? maybe cut them shorter with softer tires that would deflect and not puncture, or cut them longer stiffen the tires and have them push stalks down instead of puncturing? Of course this may be overthinking the problem, foam the tires and dont ever worry again.

 

[mlauk]

I've found that I don't have near as many flats when I went to tubed tires and Berrymans tire sealer. If the tire won't seat on the rim, just put a tube in it.

 

[diyDave]

Another approach would be to tube the tire, and install a tube liner, which acts like a shield to keep thorns away from the tube. Gemplers sells the liners and tubes if you need them

 

[Birdhunter1]

Had you ever thought about patching the tube?

 

[Farmerford]

I am not sure if "Slime" is a brand of no leak or a generic name. I have used Gempler's product (can't recall the name; something like "Bulletproof") in front tires for many years and it has not failed to stop a leak yet, including large ones caused by spiked stumps.

 

[hayden]

I agree with Bird. It sounds like foam filling is the way to go. It's expensive, but so is down time and the frustration of multiple repairs, not to mention the cost of those repairs. I use it in my B2910 front tires and they have been trouble-free ever since. The extra ballast doesn't hurt either.

 

[bjcsc]

Are you over sharpening your bush hog blades?

That's the question I have. Properly sharpened bush hog blades won't leave sharp sticks, they shatter them. Over sharpened blades leave fields of punji sticks. Check your blades...

 

[FredH]

A trick I have used quite often on everything from wheelbarrow tires up to rear tractor tires , ( to get tubeless tire to seat ) , is to either use a piece of rubber rope for smaller tires or a ratchett strap for larger tires . Tractor tires usually work better with strap versus rubber rope , alot easier on hands also .
Just run strap all the way around tire an bring it up tight . By squeezing it tight in center , it usually forces outside bead up against rim tight enough that it will build pressure and seat properly .

Take care ,

F.H.

 

[AlanB]

Just a note on the foam filling, there are different types, densities and weights.

I had some done on one of my commercial mowers, and we fixed the flat problem, but then I had fork, frame and ride problems.

Make sure you don't trade a nuisance problem, for a more serious, more expensive to fix problem.

The air in the tires, acts a bit as the "suspension" for your tractor.

 

[tinkertoys]

to get the tire to seal on the rim some murphys soap the paste kind or some grease gun grease. the grease softens the tire a little. the tire shops use a sealer that they put on the tire and rim. i have used all of these and they all work well for me.

 

[dqdave1]

Your tire is probably old and has lost its "seating abilities" Put a new one on.