Broken tire valve stem

[boomer613]

I broke my back tire valve stem the other day while bush hogging. Just curious if an auto tire shop can replace the valve stem or do I need to drive down to the Kioti dealer? Also, what type of lift jack most people use to lift their tractor? I was debating whether to buy a 42" High lift farm jack Farm Jacks - 42" 3-1/2 Ton Farm Jack or purchasing a floor jack. Tires are not loaded, tractor type is DK40. Thanks

 

[DT86]

I don't think you want a hi lift jack for lifting your tractor. They can easily fall over. I have used and would recommend either a HD floor jack or a hydraulic bottle jack. Don't trust the jack to hold the tractor while you are working on it. We use various size wood scrap blocks and boards under the axle.

As for the valve stem, any one will work. You might try looking for a metal one, they don't seem to break as easy.

 

[Loadstar]

Hi lifts have their purpose. Maybe in a desperate pinch I would use one for a tire. I recently used one to barely lift a wheel up to rotate a tire. Had to chock all wheels big time and have a few attempts at a stable lift point. That was just to lift, turn wheel, and reset. Typically I just use floor or bottle jacks to set it on timber. I might reach under a tractor on a floor or bottle jack, but you wont hardly catch me walking too close to one on a hi lift.

 

[grm61]

Rear Tire?
Put one in it like came out, air water stem.
They have two uses, one is being able to fill the tire with liquid, the other is when the inner bung is removed, the tire guy will use a quick air fitting to get the tire to take air. With a regular small bore stem, it is often hard to get enough air volume to get the beads to seat, even with a blaster or cheatah.

Go to a tire place that does truck and farm, the valve stems are common and not dealer specific.

If your uncomfortable taking the tire off...its not worth getting hurt over.

See how much they would charge to come out and do it.

All the tire guy is going to do is knock the bead back, replace the stem and air the tire up.

10 min job.

 

[grm61]

Also you may have just broken the bung that screws into the stem.

A word of caution, tractors are narrow, and wiggly when jacked up...

 

[JHTFarmer]

Ask around. You may know someone who knows someone who'll drive out to do the work at your place.

Happened to me a couple years back. Big loaded rear tire with a broken stem. Regular tire shops wouldn't touch it. Truck tire people wanted me to haul the tire to their place....

Found a local guy who does it. Came to the house. Jacked up the rear end broke the bead, changed the stem while wheel still mounted on tractor and reloaded the tire. All for like $75. Saved a ton of down time and running around.

 

[boomer613]

Ask around. You may know someone who knows someone who'll drive out to do the work at your place.

Happened to me a couple years back. Big loaded rear tire with a broken stem. Regular tire shops wouldn't touch it. Truck tire people wanted me to haul the tire to their place....

Found a local guy who does it. Came to the house. Jacked up the rear end broke the bead, changed the stem while wheel still mounted on tractor and reloaded the tire. All for like $75. Saved a ton of down time and running around.

Thanks everyone for the inputs. I bought a 3.5 ton floor jack at Costco for $99 and a set of jack stands at Harbor Freights yesterday. I tried using an 18" breaker bar to get off the lug nuts with no luck. I had to use a 3 ft steel bar over the breaker bar to loosing them. This made it much easier. Since I was close to my 50 hour mark, I decided to change my hydraulic filter. Call me weak but I couldn't even budge the filter with my strap wrench. I had to use my extra large channel locks to get it started. Needless to say, it came off but all dented up. I couldn't imagine how hard it would be if I didn't have the back tire off.

I called three tire shops yesterday and two of them said they would come out and fix the tire on the spot. One told me he would charge me $100 to come out, plus $65 per hour, then $20 for the tire stem. His shop is only 15 miles away. The other told me it could cost me a pretty penny for him to come out but if I could bring the tire to him it would cost only $20 - $30. The third shop said they do not do service calls but could repair my tire for $8.95 - I'm guessing it would cost a little more for a metal stem.

By the way, the back tires weighs about 200 lbs, I couldn't imagine how one would get the tire off if it was loaded. Thanks again everyone.

 

[Loadstar]

Not too terrible loaded. Just don't lay it down or let it lay down on you if you have to man handle them.

 

[boomer613]

Not too terrible loaded. Just don't lay it down or let it lay down on you if you have to man handle them.

How is it putting the loaded tire back on? I'm thinking I will have a chore putting my "unloaded" tire on by myself.

 

[JHTFarmer]

Knock the bead off the rim with a sledgehammer when the wheel is flat on the ground. A couple of 4-5 foot pry bars will be needed as well. If the tire is fluid filled, drain it before taking the wheel off the axle.

The only easy part is changing the stem.

Then you've got to get the bead re-seated. Need a bucket of bead soap, a great air supply, the sledgehammer and a lot if patience!

Good luck