Tire Out of Round?

[Hook]

I bought a new 2001 Kubota L3010 that now has about 37 hours on it. About a month ago, I started to feel a slight rocking motion when I was driving slowly on a paved surface. It was kind of sibtle, but I felt sure there was "something" going on. It felt like it was coming from the right rear.

I checked the tries for leaks, nails puncturing then & other problems, but found nothing. I have truf tires, filled with CaCl

But just the other day I was driving slowly on the paved driveway & watching the edge of the right rear tire as it rotated. There is a small, but definite "flat spot" in the tire & the rocking motion is correlated with that spot. I.e., just after I see that spot roll past, I feel the rocking.

Anyone else ever have this? Any ideas what is causing this? Should I call the dealer?

--
Hook

 

[Bird]

Hook, without seeing it, I wouldn't be able to diagnose the problem, but my first thought was to wonder how cold it was. Cold tires often develop a flat spot where the rubber meets the pavement, and that flat spot disappears when the tire warms up or runs far enough to flex a few times and get it worked out. Is that a possibility in this case?

 

[Golfgar4]

Hey Hook! What's the worry? The tire is only flat on one side, right?/w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif Seriously, I would agree with Bird. If the problem is being caused by cold weather, the flat spot should "smooth" out after running the tires for a few minutes. Of course, your other tires would probably have flat spots too, wouldn't they /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif? If this is not happening, definitely talk to your dealer. When I was in school, I worked for a tire service. We would occassionally see a defective tire that have a breakdown in the rubber in just one spot and thus be flat. But it was pretty rare! Good luck.

 

[Von]

Hook,Don't worry the same thing happins to my tires when they sit awile and its cold out. I have filled turfs as well. I notice it when I pull out of the garage first thing, then its gone after awile. It must be the added weight with filled tires that does it, as my last tractor with turfs but not filled didn't do it. So there should be nothing to worry about once the rubber warms up after running a few minutes.

 

[CVHoss]

Hook,
I'm also bettin' that the liquid in the tire may require that you run it a little longer before the flat spot goes away. While the CaCl won't freeze, it will be as cold as the air temperature. Any heat developed by the tire will tend to get absorbed by the cold fluid, increasing the amount of operating time required to bring the tire up to a temperature that will allow the flat spot to "relax"

Hoss

 

[bgott]

Sounds like you busted or slipped a belt in the tire. I would run it until I couldn't handle the rocking anymore. You can't run a tractor at the same speeds that you run a car so you don't really have to worry about slinging the tread and tearing a fender off. You do need to keep in mind that you have a weak spot in the tire, a stump or a sharp rock could possibly tear a big hole in it.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I had the same thing on a new 4300JD, noticed it the first time I was in road speed, watched the tires and they were out of round and wobbled. Around 40 hours on machine. The dealer replaced all and returned the machine with a smile, I have found the dealer and the sales people to work hard to maintain the reputation of the Deere. I'd be suprised if Kubota wouldn't do the same. GL Doc