Front tire seated on bead all by itself

[tlm720]

As I was reading posts today I thought about what happened to me this winter. I have R4 tires on my Deere 4120. Over the years I've had front tires come off multiple times from them having slow leaks and me being too lazy to check the pressure every time I use the tractor. This winter in Michigan there was a lot of snow to plow and weather too cold for human civilization. Of course on one of the well below zero days I had a front tire completely unseat from both beads. It is usually a struggle to get the tire to take air and re-seat. I was not about to try on a tire at 10 below and as hard as nails to get it re-seated, so I brought the wheel and tire in the house and parked it in front of my zero clearance fireplace that heats the house. The next day when I got home from work I was going to try to re-seat it, but lo and behold, it was sitting in front of the fireplace with both beads seated. There was no pressure in it but I was able to pump it right up. I have seen the videos of tires exploding from people welding on wheels and realize that even unseated tires can inflate and explode, but there is no way this tire or wheel got hot enough to start the reaction that causes that. I'm sure it never was too hot to touch, but I am at a loss to explain how this happened.

 

[boggen]

both the metal rim and rubber tire both expand as they get warmer. and contract (get smaller) when they get cold.

 

[Texasmark]

Another thought is that the heat relaxed the rubber and softened it. As that happened, the tire touched the wheel sealing off the trapped air inside. The trapped air inside continued to expand with the heat.

Plausible.

Mark

 

[rd_macgregor]

House elves is my guess.

 

[diesel lover]

Cold tires are very stiff. When the tire's sidewalls were warmed up they became plyable, and flexable. I change 22.5 and 24.5 truck tires on a regular basis by hand with two tire bars. Some old tires will take air as you lift on the rim and drop the tire on the ground. Others do not. Tires with flexable sidewalls easily take air. Was the tire standing on the tread or sitting on the rim?

 

[Texasmark]

Some old tires will take air as you lift on the rim and drop the tire on the ground. Others do not. Tires with flexable sidewalls easily take air.

I don't remember the age, but I have done that on several occasions when the tire is light enough to lift. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I usually try that before I get out the compression straps since it's less complicated.

Mark

 

[tlm720]

Tire was sitting on the tread as if it were on the tractor.

 

[bajabum]

Don't forget to feed the Elves...
otherwise, Bad juju...:laughing:

 

[DrBill]

I just saw this thread... Often in life I've had some unexplainable things happen, and I'm mainly talking about mechanical things,,, not women (a different subject and no answer). I think in this case, Texasmark's first reply is probably the real answer as to what happened...