Tractor tires

emernst · Sep 17, 2000

I am a rookie tractor owner with a leaking rear tire. I am sure it is not a simple task to remove and repair this tire. Would I be better off taking the tractor to a repair shop, or buying the tools and tackling it myself? Also, is there any tire sealer that can be used with the water in the tires?

Bird · Sep 17, 2000

emernst, that's a tough question to answer without knowing anything about your experience or knowledge of tires. It it has water in it, I suspect it will have to be broken down and patched whether it is a tube or tubeless tire. Have you ever broken down a tire and patched it before, or at least watched someone do it? Did you put the water in it, or did you have it done? How often do you have flats? If it's a rare occurrence, it might be cheaper to take it to a repair shop than to buy the equipment to do it.

Bird

jgh · Sep 17, 2000

9/17

I successfully repaired an 11.4x24 ag tire with fluid, using a stitch-it-in type patch kit (about $5 or so). Using the provided screwdriver-sized "needle" (looks like a screwdrvr with a large eye in the end), you push a piece of vulcanizing material into the hole. It seals itself thru Chas Goodyear's chemical miracle and you're done.

Unlike using same on something like my 911 with its 162 mph capability, the safety risk from such a repair is small, IMHO.

Consult a tractor dealer if necs but the kits are available from all kinds of auto and hdw stores. Get one for the kind of tire you are repairing and work with the puncture above the fluid level! If your booboo is too large and/or your tire has collapsed its bead, leaking big time fluid, well, above my pay grade.

[I did not see Bird's post until mine went up, ditto on his cautions]

Jim

Edited by jgh on 9/17/00 12:33 PM.

chuckp · Sep 17, 2000

James, your repair method is only effective on a tubeless tire and is very fast, effective and inexpensive. It will not work on a tire with tube installed.

Chuck

ERNIEB · Sep 17, 2000

I have plenty of mesquites, prickly pear, and other assorted thorn bearing brush on my place. I use a goop called Super Seal Formula 100. It has several slang names that I won't get into here. They make a neat device to put the stuff in with. It's a piece of about 2 in. PVC pipe about 12 in. long. At one end is a cap with a short piece of air hose attached and a chuck at the end of the hose. On the other end of the PVC pipe is a screw in plug, with a fitting on top like a valve stem. What you do is unscrew the cap and fill the pipe with the Super Seal goop. Screw it back on and remove the valve core from your tire. Attach the air chuck end to your tire and apply air to the valve stem fitting. Presto, the stuff gets shot into the tire. I hope I explained that right. At any rate, I have used it on tube and tubeless tires with good results. According to the label it can be used on tires with water, and with or without sodium. Although they sell smaller bottles of it, I usually get it by the gallon jug. It runs about 16 to 19 dollars depending on where you get it. I guess the stuff eventually dries out, because every few months I'll see a tire going down and have to give it a retreatment.

Thomas · Sep 17, 2000

emernst,
Breaking down a tire w/ a iron bars or other means can a job./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif
If you the tire doesn't have a tube you might conside now the time./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
Even with my father new and old tractor its a heck of alot easier to remover the tire and have Goodyear patch or replace,/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gifand if you figure out the the time and tools plus patching the cost is well worth it./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Be carefull if you should attemp this task.

Thomas..NH

Bird · Sep 17, 2000

ErnieB, I'm glad you described that PVC device for putting stop leak in tires, because I have a home made device just like it that I've used both for stop leak, and that's how I put the antifreeze in my rear tires before adding the water. The only difference is that my home made one is bigger (18" long) so it'll hold more material at a time and the chuck has a chuck clip so it'll stay on the valve stem (yours may have, too).

Bird

Anonymous Poster · Sep 17, 2000

I beg to differ, using such a fix on a tractor tire is terribly dangerous, my L35 does have a top speed of 162mph and I would never endanger myself with such a patch job.

This idea is........

oooooooh...... uuuuhhhhhhhh......

My L35 has a top speed of 16.2 kph.

Uh....never mind/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

del

jgh · Sep 17, 2000

9/17

Chuck, your limitation sounds logical. Obviously the tube would have to be patched. The tire I used it on was indeed tubeless, and the fluid was glycol (poisonous? not sure, but most folks in my area are using Methanol now, less of a problem since it evaporates quickly on escape from the tire).

Some guys are still using CaCl2, which usually means using a tube to avoid corrosion.

Jim

jgh · Sep 17, 2000

9/17

Del, ole buddy, with the brakes you've described I do believe I would invest in training wheels, so that when a tire blows, you can stay upright while coasting to stop.

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

J

ps-seriously, how are your brakes doing? Did you ever figure out the problem?
Edited by jgh on 9/17/00 10:12 PM.

emernst · Sep 17, 2000

I have repaired various types of tires before, but not a rear tractor tire. Mine does have a tube and is filled with water (75%). When I bought the tractor, the dealer offered a sealer that would work in the water filled tire, but the cost was very high. Are you familiar with that type of sealant?

Anonymous Poster · Sep 17, 2000

Going forward they are probably normal, going backwards down a hill, which I rarely do anyway I find them "scary". Maybe normal, maybe not.

ERNIEB · Sep 18, 2000

Bird, Yea it does. The first time I picked that thing up I thought to myself that a handy fella could make the thing himself. But I'm curious, did you see one somewhere else or did you just get your own idea of it?

Bird · Sep 18, 2000

ErnieB, when I said home made, I guess I should have given credit where due. A neighbor who has 5 old tractors told me about seeing one somewhere, so he made 4 of them (for himself, his brother, another neighbor, and me).

Bird

scruffy · Sep 18, 2000

Bird, ErnieB, post a pic of it! Maybe some other 'handy fellers' can save some money and make one for themselves!

Bird · Sep 18, 2000

Scruffy, sorry, but I don't have one of those fancy digital cameras./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

scruffy · Sep 18, 2000

Bird, they sure are handy! My wife discovered that, and 'stole' mine, as well as my scanner, HP880 color printer, and a few other goodies. I bought another one, and another color printer (better one) but haven't replaced the scanner yet (I did, but hers broke, and she stole the new one!) Don't let spouses get interested in what you like, or you will wind up like me...always trying to find a way to 'nail' it down so it won't move somewhere else! If I didn't ever plan on moving again, I'd epoxy it to the desktop!
You can scan a regular pic (if you have a scanner), save to .jpg and post it. Lot of trouble though!

scruffy · Sep 18, 2000

I came across this website looking at the classified section. (Add 1248 I believe)
http://www.rnjenterprises.com/multi-seal/ They seem to have an additive that will handle 95% of all punctures (there claim...not mine)

Bird · Sep 18, 2000

Scruffy, I use a HP Office Jet 520 printer/fax/copier/scanner and I've tried scanning a picture in and saving it, but this thing is a color printer, but copies, faxes, and scanned items are black and white only. I tried scanning a color photo and it works fine except the black and white is a pretty poor quality picture. I haven't even used my camera equipment much in the last 5 years so I don't have any kind of picture of my device for putting liquids in tires. I'll just try attaching the photo I scanned and see just how bad it looks.

Well, I attached a photo, saw how bad it was, but don't know how to delete it.

BirdEdited by Bird on 9/18/00 10:32 PM.

gordon · Sep 18, 2000

Bird I can read the document in the picture that your holding it's the Tractorbynet award for poster of the month!
You must have the color settings off on your monitior/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Gordon