Tubes in front tires

[BobRip]

For the second time in two weeks I have had front tires go flat from leaks between the rim and tire. When this happens trash gets into the area and when you blow them back up the leak is continuous. The last time this happened I took the tire to the tire place and they broke it down and cleaed the rim and tire. It worked fine, but this is a nussiance. This seems to only happen on the front. My tires are 8 years old. I am thinking of putting inner tubes in the front tires. I would appreciate suggestions on this. Is it a good idea? Also what do you do with the hole for the second valve stem? Leave in a second "dummy" valve stem?
Thanks for any suggestions.

[3238dpw]

I personally like to avoid putting tubes in until there just isn't a choice. If there is a tube in a tire and you get a flat it is a big deal to fix. If you get a flat in a tire without a tube all you have to do is plug it add air and you are off. Have you tried braking the beads without removing the tires. Then just clean the rim and tire bead area with a rag and soapy water in a spray bottle. If there is a lot of dirt in there you can try using a shop vac before the rag.

[MossRoad]

Bob,
While I have heard that you can tube them I have found that replacing them with solid tires on my brush hog was the best choice for me. I have the mower deck, the snow plow and the brush hog and they all take the same tire/wheel combo and the pin that they are mounted to are all identical, too. So I have one set of solids and two sets of pneumatics without tubes. I swap the solids between the snow plow and brush hog seasonally and keep two sets of pneumatics for the mower deck. I found that if I overinflate the pneumatics, they stay up for several seasons.

[DieselPower]

Why not use a tire sealant? You don't have to remove the tire, most work on holes 1/4 inch or smaller and it provides continued protection from flats in the future. Just a thought.

[3238dpw]

Originally Posted by DieselPower

Why not use a tire sealant? You don't have to remove the tire, most work on holes 1/4 inch or smaller and it provides continued protection from flats in the future. Just a thought.

I find sealant doesn't workvery well for leaks at the bead. Works great for leaks in the tread.

[J_J]

Slime tire sealant, or the stuff from Gemplers does work even for the tire beads. I did lawn service for about 20 yrs. and I have plenty of experience. You have to put in the right amount, and for a large tire, it would be about 32 oz per tire. It coats the complete inside of the tire and rim.

[Bob999]

I have used tubes for years with good experience. I first tried sealer and found that it seemed to act as a lubricant and facilitated the tire bead slipping off the rim when I was working cross slope on a steep slope with the result that I got the equivalent of a blowout.

[BobRip]

Originally Posted by J_J

Slime tire sealant, or the stuff from Gemplers does work even for the tire beads. I did lawn service for about 20 yrs. and I have plenty of experience. You have to put in the right amount, and for a large tire, it would be about 32 oz per tire. It coats the complete inside of the tire and rim.

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

Moss - This is the tires on the PT422 not the mowers. I do have inner tubes on my mower front tires and in 3 years had not even added air.

J_J - I talked to Gemplers yesterday and they did not feel that their tire sealant would work. Maybe they just did not want to commit to a guarantee for something that they aren't quite sure of. Your twenty years experience kinda over rides that. I was all set to get inner tubes, now I am not sure.

[Phils]

Another vote for tire sealant. I put the "bulletproof" stuff from Gemplers in all my tires and haven't had a problem since. I did this right after receiving my PT from Power Trac. The brush hog tires have stayed inflated for years without incident and I do some pretty rough forest work. They were delivered to me flat and twisted on the rim from the shipping company.

My right rear PT tire has a 1/2" slit in the sidewall that I got a couple of years ago. Two times I've parked where that slit was on the "bulge" of the tire and came out days later to find it flat again. Simply putting air back in is all it needed, and it's even been almost a year since I've done that. Odds are that I've parked with the slit on the bulge more times but it's been ok.

On the left front PT tire, I put a metal valve stem BACKWARDS in the inner hole after I got the not-surprising flat from brush hog waste ripping the rubber stem. I put a metal valve cap on it too.

Phil

[MossRoad]

Originally Posted by BobRip

Moss - This is the tires on the PT422 not the mowers. I do have inner tubes on my mower front tires and in 3 years had not even added air.

My apologies. I slimed my front tires and that did not work for one of them. I tubed that one and have never had a problem. I don't remember what I did with the second valve hole. I'll have to look. Either I left a valve in it or it is just there. Not sure. Hmmm....