Riggin' for steep slopes

[MarkV]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

Greg, I filled the rear tires of my tractor with the environmentally safe anti freeze (I think the brand was Sierra) and here is how I did it. First you need a special valve that screws into the valve stem. I got one from a tractor dealer for $7 and I have heard that Napa has or can get them. The valve allows you to hook up a garden hose to it for the water and has a little release button to let out air. You let most of the air out of the tire, start putting water in, as the air pressure builds you turn off the water and bleed off air with the release button. I wanted about 75% full so I had the valve stem at the 2 o’clock position and when water rather than air came out of the release valve it was full. Of course the above only puts the water in. For the anti-freeze I used one of the drill operated pumps that has hose fittings on both ends and cost about $10. I put the anti-freeze in a bucket and pumped it into the tire the same way as the water. I did put the anti-freeze in first. With both liquids in I positioned the valve stem at 12 o’clock and added the normal amount of air pressure. You do need to make sure you have the valve stem on top when checking pressure or the liquid will do bad things to your pressure gauge.

As far as removing the existing fill, it will drain out of the valve stem. I think the problem will be containing it.

MarkV

 

[Bird]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

<font color=blue>liquid will do bad things to your pressure gauge</font color=blue>

Mark, you can also buy air/liquid tire gauges, which is what I used, although I still only checked tire pressure with the valve stem at the 12 o'clock position, and always gave it just a short burst of air first to clear the valve.

 

[BKColeman]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

Bird,
Should liquid come out when the valve stem is at the 12 o'clock position? I checked mine last night for the first time and there was considerable liquid coming out. Mine are filled w/ water and methanol.

I've read they should be filled to the top of the rim, which is about an inch or two higher than the base of the valve stem so I didn't know if it had too much in it or not.

Thanks,
Brad

 

[Bird]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

Brad, I filled mine with the valve stem at the 12 o'clock position until it ran out and l let out any that would run out at that position (had a jack under the axle so there was no load on the tire). That should be 75% full, which is the way the manual said to do it. Now of course, if you open that valve stem with the tractor weight on the tire, you could expect a little liquid to come out.

 

[MarkV]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

Bird,
I didn't know there was a gauge that was made to work with liquid, thanks for the info. Are they a common item or something you had to order?

MarkV

 

[Wingnut]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

ATV's too? I understood (maybe incorrectly) that low pressure tires didn't work very well with Slime and other sealants .... because of the low pressure.
I'd thought of using slime in my lawn tractor tires (it seems that the native form of willow is almost as spiky as mesquite!) but when I checked out the Slime containers, I would have needed to use at least 3 times as much as an auto tire ... for a tire 1/4 the size. It looks as though it'll be cheaper for me to buy new tires than fill these with Slime.

 

[BKColeman]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

I just bought my air/liquid tire gauge at Wal-Mart a couple of days ago. It was called a tractor gauge. $2.99 in the automotive section.

--Brad

 

[WVBill]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

I have a maintenance agreement on my Sears lawn tractor that includes fixing flats. After the third call out in one year (I've got Multiflora and Locust) the guy put Slime in the tires and I haven't had a flat since (2 years).

 

[Soundguy]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

I know that walmart sells a grey collered 'slime type product' that is specifically made for atv and similar ( lawnmower ) tires.
I'm not sure if slime also makes one for that application.

Chris

 

[Bird]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

Mark, I see that Brad beat me to a response, but you can buy them lots of places. I got mine from the Matco tool truck my brother had, but Wal-mart, NAPA, TSC, and probably dozens of other places, and they're no more expensive that other tire gauges.

 

[MarkV]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

Brad & Bird, thank you for the info. Guess I have never looked that close or it is another one of the things I forgot. That seems to happen more and more.

MarkV

 

[BKColeman]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

Mark,
They were kind of hard to find. They look exactly like the normal tire gauges and the package looks identical. I missed them the first time I looked.

--Brad

 

[Harv]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

<font color=blue>filling a tire solid w/ foam would cause a slightly rougher ride as the ability of the tire to compress under load is removed</font color=blue>

The term "foam" implies to me that the material is composed of many small cells, which themselves are filled with air or some kind of gas, which would still allow for a certain amount of compression. I have dealt with "open cell" (air can flow from one cell to the other) and "closed cell" (each cell is sealed) foam materials in other applications, but I have no idea what kind of foam goes into a tire.

Since my tractor is located way out in the boonies, and I have no trailer (or sufficent truck to pull it with), I am warming up to the idea of flat-proofing my tires with a foam fill. Can anybody tell me more about the characteristics of these foams? Does the material wind up rigid, or is it somewhat elastic (spongy)? If it truly prevents flats, I'm assuming it is a closed cell foam.

 

[kyoders]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

On the original thread, what about outriggers? Sort of like what they put on canoes for open water use. At first I thought it was a ridiculous idea, but now I wonder... Would it be possible to rig up an axle, say 4 feet wider than the tractor, then have it mounted under the frame? An appropriately sized wheel on both sides would widen the footprint of the tractor a great deal. Some sort of magic solution would be nice. Almost half of the property I am dealing with is too steep for the tractor (at least with me driving it), and a lot of it is too steep even for my ATV.

Kevin

 

[bubenberg]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

well, i like not to replace intertubes and or patch tires every week. we do many acres and since last year when we started with slime, we almost fergot how to take apart these small tractor tires, we rather work than play tire mechanic.

 

[Darren]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

The foam does end up being solid. The tires don't flex.

 

[bgott]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

One brand of foam, I can't remember which, is advertized to come in hard, medium and soft.

 

[Egon]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

Just a thought but if the slope is steep enough to make one think of outriggers perhaps one should be thinking of just keeping the tractor off of it. There are limits.

Egon

 

[kyoders]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

Egon,

You are, of course, correct. I was just speculating. I think before I would attempt anything like outriggers, I would go investigate one of the PowerTrac machines others rave about. They seem more suited to this kind of thing than a tractor. I almost wish I had known about them before I got the tractor bug, but not quite Maybe in addition to the BX? Being single without kids does have some perks.

I took my BX on an exploration tour of part of the hill, which I am already intimately familiar with from ATV journeys. I went only straight up/down the hill, but I did turn it around in what I thought was a pretty flat spot near the woods (it seemed flat on the ATV). Anyway, I ended up doing a lot of small maneuvers to try to keep from turning across any steep spots, and finally got it back down. The load of sand I was able to get into the bucket wasn't worth the trip (about two grain shovels full. I just wanted to get back down at that point). Without any great technology breakthrough, or perhaps discovering a flaw in the laws of physics, the tractor will not be going back up there. For that, I can load the trailer and pull it behind the ATV, which is what I've been doing. At least loading the cart should be easier now.

The guy we hired to help spread mulch initially had a really big (yellow) JD backhoe/front loader. He also had a NH compact, I think it was a TC29D. For this particular stretch he used the NH, because he said the JD might crush the septic tank, which is up there somewhere. He went only straight up/down, but the NH handled it, and he didn't seem too nervous about it. Although I did watch him get the big JD almost off the wheels and bouncing a bit on another spot. He said "no problem", but I wonder if that's true or not. I certainly wouldn't want to have been on the thing at the time. Between him moving the bulk around into piles, and 2-3 of us doing the final spreading, we managed to do a little over 350 yards of mulch in 3 days (and I hope we never have to do anywhere near that much again).

Kevin

 

[Soundguy]

Re: Riggin\' for steep slopes

I would use the slime or equivalent for puncture resistance. There is also another product that uses similar technology, with micro-fibers... works great in car tires too.. I saw a demo at a tire shop.. they had a mounted tire in the salesroom on a post.. with an air gauge attatched, and a box of nailes and a hammer... ther must have been 20 nails in it... pull em out ( soooooop! ) and it seals... looked neat

soundguy

""Poster: Harv
Subject: Re: Riggin' for steep slopes

filling a tire solid w/ foam would cause a slightly rougher ride as the ability of the tire to compress under load is removed

The term "foam" implies to me that the material is composed of many small cells, which themselves are filled with air or some kind of gas, which would still allow for a certain amount of compression. I have dealt with "open cell" (air can flow from one cell to the other) and "closed cell" (each cell is sealed) foam materials in ""