Tires Air Leaking Out of Wheel Rim Clamps on Mahindra 5555

[Mad Mac]

After checking the tire, valve stem and beads, the tire man at our local farm and ranch store began spraying the wheel rim of the Mahindra 5555. The four wheel drive beast has large adjustable front wheels with separate rims and centers clamped together by means of loops welded to the rims.

Two of these loops were blowing bubbles where they were joined to the rim. The Mahindra dealer is running down a replacement rim. It may be under warranty. We bought it two years ago and it only has 350 hours on it.

This picture borrowed from Google images is very similar to our wheel rim.

 

[JerryK]

I don't know for sure about your tractor, but I think most all the rims are made by Titan International [ US ], and supplied to Mahindra to install with the tires already mounted....

About Us - Titan International

 

[RickB]

Not the first time this has happened to a Mahindra rim.

 

[Mad Mac]

Apparently, the loops are spot welded to the rims. The fused "nuggets" (they resemble rivets) formed by the electrodes can be seen in the photograph posted earlier. Odds are the metal rim has cracked around the nuggets.

 

[CincyFlyer]

"Back in the day" (1970s) a lot of inexpensive alloy wheels had slow leaks. We ended up spraying them with various paints, which sealed most of them. We used some rubber goo on a particularly bad one, which worked, as well. If there is cracking around the spot weld nugget I'd be wary if it was a high-speed vehicle. For a tractor, I'd probably clean it up and TIG weld it, and then also spray something on it, as I'd only want to do that once.

 

[Bud Soda]

Tube it

 

[CincyFlyer]

Make sure you watch the following Bridgestone training video first.

Wheels of Fire Training Video - YouTube

I'd have no issues with it at under 30 psi.

 

[RickB]

I'd have no issues with it at under 30 psi.

Pyrolysis.
Excellent chance you’d be dead wrong.

 

[Mad Mac]

The Mahindra dealer said the wheels are not covered by the 5-year warranty. They are covered for one year. So no warranty repair for me. Their solution is to install an inner tube, which we will do Monday at my local farm and ranch store. Thank you one and all for playing.

 

[LouNY]

Before I tubed it, with the tire dismounted I would take it and wire brush and clean it, then reweld every one of the mounting tabs that look the least bit other then perfect, grind them down smooth repaint and then it's up to you if you tube or stay tubeless. If you went over a year with no leakage and now are having a problem something has been moving, if it continues it will chaff the tube and cause a leak again. There is absolutely no reason to be concerned with welding on a rim when the tire has been dismounted. There have been a great many steel wheels widened and or reinforced for many reasons for decades.