Tires Self loading of tires easy!

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi All,

I am happy to report success at my first attempt to load tires with windshield washer fluid. Also have a couple data points that may be of interest. Decided to start a new thread on this…hope that is OK…

The little drill-operated pump that I got for under $6 worked real nice. I used a pressure gage to check the output pressure if the little guy, and it turned out to be 23 PSIG when the output was totally blocked. I was surprised as for some reason I was expecting it to be much lower.

At first I was going to try to figure a way to put the WW fluid into the valve stem, through a small tube, with some airspace around it, so as the fluid went in the air would come out, and it would be a simple filling procedure, that required no stopping. Bird suggested that the hole in the valve was quite small and that doing this would likely be impractical. Turned out that he was right.

After seeing that the pump output pressure was pretty good, I made a set up from some valves and fittings that I had lying around. I used two valves and also incorporated a PSI gage. One valve shuts off the flow from the pump, and the other allows the air from the tire to be expelled. This second valve outputs into a piece of tubing that returns any liquid that may come out with the air back to the five gallon bucket that holds WW fluid to be pumped into the tire. A piece of plastic tubing carries the WW fluid to the tire valve stem. This tubing just slips over the end of the valve stem, and is held in place by a small hose clamp.

First thing I did was use an old MTB tire [bicycle tire] for test purposes, and it filled just fine. So I decided to get the garden tractor and try filling the rear tires with WW fluid. I used vinyl tubing to carry the fluid from the valve assembly I made to the tire, and it was a rather long piece. This caused some pressure drop, but this was not an issue. What I found was that there was about a 4 PSI drop between the pressure gage and the tire. I know this because when I shut the valve from the pump, the pressure dropped about 4 psi.

I ran the drill pump with a little 1/4 inch drill that I normally never use for anything because it is so small. It is 1200 RPM. It was totally satisfactory.

For no specific reason, I decided to shut off the pump and close the feed valve when my pressure gage reached 15 PSIG. AT that point I opened the bleed valve and let WW fluid, and then air drain back to my source bucket. On the first tire, I did this procedure three times, but the third time a huge amount of WW fluid was returned. ON the second tire, I only pumped twice, and that was enough to totally fill the tire.

All in all, I was surprised how easy it was to fill these tires. I am sure it would be just as easy to fill the tires of my new Kubota B2910 when it gets here. Probably easier, as I had to remove the tires from the little garden tractor, since the valve stems were on the inside and I had to use some long nosed pliers to remove the guts….

I took a couple photos of my setup, but can't post them now…kind of sleepy!

Bottom line is I am really amazed at how easy it was to make this setup and get the fluid into the tires. Total cost probably will be less than $50 to fill both rear tires on the B2910. Sure beats the cost the dealer would charge.

All in all I am really satisfied with how this worked. I would encourage others to fill their own tires if they are so inclined…it is really not hard to do….


Bill Macher in PGH PA

 

[Anonymous Poster]

PS...as far as time goes...maybe 2 min per gallon...very easy to see the level in the five gallon bucket dropping from a distance...all in all I was surprised at the speed and ease of the process.

Bill in Pittsburgh, PA...kind of....

OK...maybe 3 min per gallon...I was enjoying the process so much that I did not really time it...can't wait for the real tractor to arrive!

 

[Fly_Rodr]

Can't wait to see the pictures. I will need to do something when my new tractor gets delivered. Thanks for the information. On a previous post someone used a solution of water and an antifreeze that did not poison animals, that would be my mixture of choice, but I had no clue as to how to fill the tires.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi,

Here is the first of two pictures. This one shows the layout things. Five gallon bucket on the left holds the ww fluid. Next time I will cover it with a piece of plywood with a hole in it so I don't have to hold each gallon jug the whole time it empties.

The larger green hose goes to the pump and the outlet hose from the pump [lighter green one] goes to the assembly I made up with the valves and pressure gage. The small hose from the bleed valve [red handle] goes back into the 5 gallon bucket, to return any fluid that comes back out of the tire when the air pressure is bled off.

The fluid to the tire exits on the far right, and goes to the tire via vinyl tubing, the cheap kind that you can buy at home depot for something like 10 or 20 cents per foot. It can easily hold 15 psi. That hose slips over the valve stem and is held on by a small hose clamp.

If this post goes and the picture also appears [never posted one before] I will also post a closeup of the valve manifold assembly.

Bill

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi again,

Well, here is the close up. I happened to have brass fittings on hand so that is what I used, but you could just as easily use black pipe which is VERY cheap in these small sizes.

The pressure gage is not needed, but was very usefull as it gives you an idea about what is going on. The pressure gradually built up as the fluid went into the tire. I decided to turn the flow off at 15 psi, which gave me about 11 psi in the tire, due to the pressure drop of the long piece of vinyl tubing between the pressure gage and the tire [maybe 20 feet ?]. I did not cut the tubing short as I don't know how long I will need it to be when the real tractor arrives...

The valve on the left, with the yellow handle, turns the fluid from the pump on and off. The other valve, with the red handle, is the bleed valve. The tubing on the outlet of the bleed valve returns any fluid that is in the tubing that goes to the tire, as well as any fluid that comes out of the tire, back to the 5 gallon bucket.

When filling, you open the yellow valve, with the bleed valve closed, and pump to the tire. At some point, you close the yellow valve [I also turned off the drill] and open the red bleed valve to let the air come out. Then close the red bleed valve and repeat as required.

You can see the tubing that leaves from the fitting on the far right [a simple hose barb] going up to the valve stem on the tire if you look closely behind the pressure gage.

When doing the first tire I bled the air out three times. The third time I was really glad I had the return tubing going to the 5 gallon bucket, as I think I overfilled the tire by about a gallon and a lot of fluid came back out! The second tire I only bled twice, and on the second bleeding I found the tire was full.

Worked really well for me...

Bill

 

[GSS]

Wow. You had all of that "just laying around" huh? Pretty slick setup. You should go into business filling tires! Might want to go back to Phar-Mor and pick up a couple hundred more gallons though...

 

[hosejockey2002]

Wow, looks like a really slick setup. I am wondering why you would be concerned with how much pressure you are putting into the tire when filling with the fluid. I've never done it before, but I thought they just pump the fluid in until the tire is full enough, install the valve core, and then pressurize the tire with air to the proper pressure.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

The reason for the pressure gage is to get an idea when to stop filling, and start bleeding air.

As the fluid fills the tire the pressure builds up, and I am sure the flow rate drops. With the gage you can pick a number and when that pressure is reached, stop the pump and bleed the air. I picked 15 psi...

Without the gage it becomes more guesswork and less science, so to speak. But aside from a possible time savings, I am sure that you do not need the gage.

Actually, I kind of like watching it and not guessing. But if I did not hava a pressure gage laying around I probably would have not used one.

Bill

 

[Mrwurm]

Bill, the quality of your setup is really quite impressive. It looks like you put a lot of thought and planning into your projects.

I recently had my tires filled at the dealer with RimGaurd. He did not have a pressure relief system like yours with the overfill return line. (no gauge either) He would just pump for 5 minutes or so and then take off the input hose and let the air out (and a lot of fluid). RimGaurd really foams up when you fill tires and it made quite a mess in his shop as he filled the tires. Cost me $150 for 13.6 x 16 turf tires (same turfs they put on B2910)

 

[s1120]

WOW! Good job! Looks like I will be making one of those bad boys. For now, I just have garden tractor tires to fill, but with three tractors, I have a lot of them. Thanks for posting.