MarkF48
Gold Member
A little background....
I have loaded rear tires on my Mahindra 2216. Beet juice to be specific. A while back during the winter I was losing the ability to push snow. Engine maintained RPM's, but no forward motion. I really thought the clutch was slipping. I went to the dealer and after a bit of thought he said add some air to the tires as the tires are likely slipping on the rim due to the slippery nature of the beet juice. Adding air to the tires did indeed 'lock' the tire to the rim. I put paint dots on the tire and rim so if it moved I'd know the tire was slipping.
A couple weeks ago I was using the loader to move some compost material and again had the feeling the tires weren't grabbing the way they should. The paint dot marks had shifted on one of the tires, so figured check the tire pressure and add air if needed. Went to remove the plastic cap on the valve stem and it was snug and wouldn't budge. Went at it with a bit more force, still using my fingers, and the rubber valve body itself let loose spraying beet juice over me and the driveway. Fortunately I was able to jam the piece in my hand back into the remaining part of the valve to stop the flow. I think some of the beet juice being somewhat sugary had dried under the valve cap in essence 'gluing' it in solidly place. I've had caps that were on snuggly before on normal tires and usually the rubber of the valve stem would twist and give a bit, but never outright break off, so I don't know if Mahindra cheaped out on what they purchased for valve stems or the beet juice somehow deteriorated the rubber in it. I fix a lot of my stuff that breaks, but tackling a heavy loaded tire was not something I was up to nor have the equipment to do.
Took the tire to the local tractor dealer to get it fixed. They had to break the beads and they originally thought they could recover the beet juice, but couldn't, so they reloaded with Citristar ballast. The new valve stem is a bolt in metal one. Total for labor and parts.......$155
If the other tire ever seems to need air I'll probably cut the plastic cap off with a razor knife rather than risking twisting off the top of the stem.
I have loaded rear tires on my Mahindra 2216. Beet juice to be specific. A while back during the winter I was losing the ability to push snow. Engine maintained RPM's, but no forward motion. I really thought the clutch was slipping. I went to the dealer and after a bit of thought he said add some air to the tires as the tires are likely slipping on the rim due to the slippery nature of the beet juice. Adding air to the tires did indeed 'lock' the tire to the rim. I put paint dots on the tire and rim so if it moved I'd know the tire was slipping.
A couple weeks ago I was using the loader to move some compost material and again had the feeling the tires weren't grabbing the way they should. The paint dot marks had shifted on one of the tires, so figured check the tire pressure and add air if needed. Went to remove the plastic cap on the valve stem and it was snug and wouldn't budge. Went at it with a bit more force, still using my fingers, and the rubber valve body itself let loose spraying beet juice over me and the driveway. Fortunately I was able to jam the piece in my hand back into the remaining part of the valve to stop the flow. I think some of the beet juice being somewhat sugary had dried under the valve cap in essence 'gluing' it in solidly place. I've had caps that were on snuggly before on normal tires and usually the rubber of the valve stem would twist and give a bit, but never outright break off, so I don't know if Mahindra cheaped out on what they purchased for valve stems or the beet juice somehow deteriorated the rubber in it. I fix a lot of my stuff that breaks, but tackling a heavy loaded tire was not something I was up to nor have the equipment to do.
Took the tire to the local tractor dealer to get it fixed. They had to break the beads and they originally thought they could recover the beet juice, but couldn't, so they reloaded with Citristar ballast. The new valve stem is a bolt in metal one. Total for labor and parts.......$155
If the other tire ever seems to need air I'll probably cut the plastic cap off with a razor knife rather than risking twisting off the top of the stem.
