mmranch
Gold Member
Howdy folks... it's been awhile.
I've been dealing with a tire-leak dilemma and have been trying to find the best way to solve it. I have never really worked on my tractor tires before other than mounting my snow chains, etc.
First some background. We are located on the top of a mountain in Colorado and get about 400" of snow each winter. Our driveway is 1/2 a mile long and about 150' of elevation gain from the bottom to the top (so you can imagine the grade). I have a 2009 TYM 603 that I use to move snow, skid logs, etc. etc. The rear wheels have calcium chloride liquid ballast inside a tube in the 16.9-24 R4 tires. (At least I think it's in a tube?).
Many months ago, my L rear wheel started leaking from the valve stem and I had to replace the valve stem core. I promptly got sprayed while changing the core but I got it installed and all seemed fine (other than my burned skin). Then after plowing snow for a couple of months this winter, I started seeing strange drip patterns on my shop floor... I knew something wasn't right but I couldn't see actual leaking and the tire was still inflated. So I kept plowing and one day, I noticed the tractor listing to one side and looked and the tire was almost flat and there was calcium chloride spots all over the snow around me. So I was able to limp the tractor back to the shop and get her jacked up, etc. I re-inflated the tire and then noticed bubbling/spewing from the valve stem hole area (not from the valve stem itself). I also noticed that the valve stem hole area of the rim was corroded. I'm guessing that there is a puncture in the tube and it could possibly be near the valve stem. There is still some amount of ballast in the wheel... not sure how much but it is still leaking slowly with the tire off the ground and the valve stem rotated to the 12:00 position. (Chains are removed off this wheel... and already starting to majorly corrode).
Because of where we're located and in the middle of a big winter... I can't get any service up here to fix the wheel. And it would cost me a lot. I'm currently paying someone else to plow our road and I need to get this machine back in service.
One possible solution is I could dismount the wheel, transport the wheel to a tire service place, have them drain the ballast, replace the tube, fill with ballast again, transport the filled wheel back home, remount the wheel, etc. I have an engine lift that could hoist the wheel but it would be a difficult process to precisely get the filled wheel up into my 68 Chevy pickup and back down. Plus the engine lift can only get the the wheel so far into the pickup because of it's design. Plus I would probably have to mount/dismount chains on my pickup just to get her up and down the mountain (probably twice). We don't usually use this pickup in winter so she could break down along the way. All in all... a major major pain.
The other solution is my preferred method... do it myself. But I haven't done this type of a procedure before and I don't have all the tools I need to do it. The tools I think I need to get are:
Tire irons to open up the tire.
Large container to hold the liquid ballast... not sure how much ballast is still in the tire.
Pump of some kind to pump out/in the fluid.
Hoses to hook from pump to tire/container.
Calcium Chloride powder.
New tube.
Not sure what else.
Since the Calcium Chloride has been on the rim, I might need to totally dismount the tire in order to clean the tire & rim? I've never dismounted a tire from a rim before... seems like it would be really hard without special machinery.
My basic question is... is this project something that I can do myself? Or would I be better off, trying to transport the wheel and let someone else do it?
Thanks for your thoughts!
I've been dealing with a tire-leak dilemma and have been trying to find the best way to solve it. I have never really worked on my tractor tires before other than mounting my snow chains, etc.
First some background. We are located on the top of a mountain in Colorado and get about 400" of snow each winter. Our driveway is 1/2 a mile long and about 150' of elevation gain from the bottom to the top (so you can imagine the grade). I have a 2009 TYM 603 that I use to move snow, skid logs, etc. etc. The rear wheels have calcium chloride liquid ballast inside a tube in the 16.9-24 R4 tires. (At least I think it's in a tube?).
Many months ago, my L rear wheel started leaking from the valve stem and I had to replace the valve stem core. I promptly got sprayed while changing the core but I got it installed and all seemed fine (other than my burned skin). Then after plowing snow for a couple of months this winter, I started seeing strange drip patterns on my shop floor... I knew something wasn't right but I couldn't see actual leaking and the tire was still inflated. So I kept plowing and one day, I noticed the tractor listing to one side and looked and the tire was almost flat and there was calcium chloride spots all over the snow around me. So I was able to limp the tractor back to the shop and get her jacked up, etc. I re-inflated the tire and then noticed bubbling/spewing from the valve stem hole area (not from the valve stem itself). I also noticed that the valve stem hole area of the rim was corroded. I'm guessing that there is a puncture in the tube and it could possibly be near the valve stem. There is still some amount of ballast in the wheel... not sure how much but it is still leaking slowly with the tire off the ground and the valve stem rotated to the 12:00 position. (Chains are removed off this wheel... and already starting to majorly corrode).
Because of where we're located and in the middle of a big winter... I can't get any service up here to fix the wheel. And it would cost me a lot. I'm currently paying someone else to plow our road and I need to get this machine back in service.
One possible solution is I could dismount the wheel, transport the wheel to a tire service place, have them drain the ballast, replace the tube, fill with ballast again, transport the filled wheel back home, remount the wheel, etc. I have an engine lift that could hoist the wheel but it would be a difficult process to precisely get the filled wheel up into my 68 Chevy pickup and back down. Plus the engine lift can only get the the wheel so far into the pickup because of it's design. Plus I would probably have to mount/dismount chains on my pickup just to get her up and down the mountain (probably twice). We don't usually use this pickup in winter so she could break down along the way. All in all... a major major pain.
The other solution is my preferred method... do it myself. But I haven't done this type of a procedure before and I don't have all the tools I need to do it. The tools I think I need to get are:
Tire irons to open up the tire.
Large container to hold the liquid ballast... not sure how much ballast is still in the tire.
Pump of some kind to pump out/in the fluid.
Hoses to hook from pump to tire/container.
Calcium Chloride powder.
New tube.
Not sure what else.
Since the Calcium Chloride has been on the rim, I might need to totally dismount the tire in order to clean the tire & rim? I've never dismounted a tire from a rim before... seems like it would be really hard without special machinery.
My basic question is... is this project something that I can do myself? Or would I be better off, trying to transport the wheel and let someone else do it?
Thanks for your thoughts!