100 year old barb wire

[BBELL]

I started Mr. Kubota up last saturday to do some snow blowing and when I lifted the bucket loader off the ground, the weight transfer to the front tires I saw one of my front tires was slack. I looked at it and saw a small ball of rusted old barb wire stuck to the tire , I started to pull on it and it was stuck to the tire. So I took out my trusty old Leatherman out and clipped it off and a stub of the wire was stuck in the tire. I was going to yank on it but I thought about it for a second, hey it was holding pressure some what and I had a yard to clean so I left it the tire. I can't beleive a old piece of barb wire could poke thru a construction (R-4) tire. So anyway, do you guys think it would be ok to just go out and buy a repair kit that has that tarry/rubber material on a wick like cord, or should it be taken to a tire shop and be repair from the inside?

 

[sandyc]

I'd sell the wire as an antique to pay for the tire repair.....seriously, I would pull the wheel off and take it to a good tire store for expert repair.
There are a couple of products on the market that might fix the tire. If the rubber is badly punctures you might have to use a tube unless you want to replace the tire.
Around here, logging hooks take a toll on tires!
Good luck!

 

[Bird]

Bruce, for many years, I would not allow a plug of any kind to be used in one of my tires. I always broke them down and patched them on the inside. However, a number of people in the tire business have tried for several years to convince me that the "plugs" like you described are better than the patch for punctures in the tread of a tire, especially radial tires. So in the last few years, I've used them and never had a problem with one. So the simple answer to your question is, "Yes, that's what I'd do."

 

[gsganzer]

You have nothing to lose by trying a plug first. The worst that happens is it doesn't work and you have to pull the tire.

I always prefer the "Plug/patches" when I have access to the inside of the tire. It's a patch that has a plug with a piece of wire poking out to help you get it threaded through the hole. Once you get the wire threaded through the hole, you grab it with a pair of pliers and pull it through, until the patch makes contact with the inside surface. They work great, even on sidewalls.

I had my little BX exactly 4 hours before I got a piece of fence wire in the front tire. I loaded all 4 tires with tire sealer (like slime etc.) and haven't had a problen since.

 

[frank_f15]

as a few others have mentioned, i would try the plug first, then if that don't work have patched from the inside.call a place that does tractor tires, and ask what they recomend?

 

[PineRidge]

BBELL I used to get flats all the time from thorn trees while clearing my property. Then someone suggested Multi-Seal to me so I added it to all 4 tires. That may not have been the end of the thorns but it was the end of fixing flats for me. I understand they even have the sealant for ballast filled tires.

 

[BBELL]

Hey Bird that's a nice T-shirt your sporting there, do you go hunting with also? Ha ha. Seriously thanks for the input. Your right I'll try pugging it and if that doesn't work, to the tire shop she goes. Any body want to buy 100 year old barb wire $50.00 a lbs. or else it's going on e-bay. Last chance

 

[RalphVa]

I worked in my Dad's service station for 4 years while in HS and fixed many tires. First thing you do is try a plug, unless you can tell it's a slit from the beginning, which a plug won't hold against. The wire poke hopefully just went in and out and didn't create a slit.

Ralph

 

[theboman]

It's fine to plug a tire of OFF ROAD USE such as tractors, but if you love your life, your family etc you'll never EVER plug a tire for highway use. It's EXTREMELY DANGEROUS and I think it maybe against some state laws, or at least the tire dealers I know will not plug a tire for the highway because of lawsuits.
It's $4 to plug, $10 to patch. One will work, one you hope works. If hope don't work it's now $14 and it's a bigger hole.

 

[Bird]

Bo, I was doing tire repairs when the first tubeless tires came out on new cars, and a lot of people felt the same way about them as you do not about plugs. I had customers with brand new cars bring them in and have me put tubes in them because they didn't trust the tubeless tires. And we used to patch tubes with "hot patches", then the plugs were invented, and the first ones weren't very good; looked like a mushroom; good theory but you could sling them out at higher speeds and some even leaked at low speeds. But like most things, there have been many new designs, better adhesives, and many improvements. So, yes, I agreed with you for many years, but . . . every tire dealer I know of now plugs tires instead of patching from the inside unless the customer specifically requests the tire be patched from the inside. My two brothers owned a tire dealership for several years, used the plugs all the time, and claim to have never had a complaint or failure.

Now I don't know of any law anywhere prohibiting the use of plugs for highway tires, but there could very well be laws I'm not familiar with (and I understand there are some special laws for big trucks, especially for the steering axle.) So if you know of such a law, I'd sure like to read it if you can give me an example.