Tires Flat Tires

[EddieWalker]

On Wednesday I spent about 6 hours just brush hogging. I'm trying to clear some trails through the woods on my land and I'm going through some very thick jungle. I have no Idea what I'm cutting, mostly saplings of various types along with underbrush. At times I just close my eyes, cover my head and hold on to the steering wheel.

Yesterday morning both front tires were flat. I added air which is holding, but not for too long.

What works the best for fixing flats? Should I foam? What does this cost? Is there a "fix a flat" type stuff that works?

Thanks,
Eddie Walker

 

[Bird]

Eddie, personally, I'd air up the tires, wet them down, then spray soapy water on them (always kept a squirt bottle with about a 5 to 1 water/dishwashing soap solution) to find the leaks (punctures, valve core, valve stem, or bead leak?). If it were the valve core or valve stem, I'd replace them. If it's the bead, I'd break it loose, clean it good, and reseat it. If it were a puncture, I'd either plug it or patch it from the inside. If it's very small leaks, and you want to prevent small leaks in the future, there are lots of "tire sealer" products on the market. I've had good luck with Amerseal and Berryman's, but it seems to me that Slime is about the most popular product lately, and you find it lots of places. I won't use the "fix a flat" stuff that uses a flammable propellant to both seal a leak AND inflate a tire.

 

[DavidJ]

I agree with you Bird about the flammable stuff. I saw a tire after it had exploded. The guy it belonged to said that it had went flat the week before and he had aired it up with one of those bombs (Pun Intended) /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif . It seems that he was driving after that and hit something in the road that punctured the tire and apparently sparked against the rim and he said it felt like he had just hit the biggest pothole he'd ever seen and it sounded like a shotgun going off.

 

[19th_VA]

Foam, especially the flexible stuff by Arnco, is flatproof but expensive. I believe it would cost close to $200 to do the fronts. Might be worth it, bit why not try slime first?

 

[EddieWalker]

Both fron tires had tubes in them.

Why would a brand new tractor with tubeless tires have tubes?

The tubes are out, the holes patched and slime has been added. We'll see if I can get another ten hours out of her without another flat.

 

[SnowRidge]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Why would a brand new tractor with tubeless tires have tubes? )</font>

The rims might not be suitable for tubeless operation, in which case the tubeless designation on the tires would be essentially meaningless.

Another possibility is the tire/rim combination having a history of flats, and the dealer or distributor with a number of those tires in stock trying to nip the problem in the bud by installing tubes from the get-go.

SnowRidge