flat tire

papavillars · Sep 19, 2009

Had my first flat today. I have a kubota m4900 with 14.9 x 28 firestone tires. I knocked a 1" x1" flap in the face. It kicked my tail jacking it up and removing the tire. Then I found out it could not be booted had to be vulcanized. So I had to pay a shop to remove the wheel and then take the tire 50 miles to a shop to have it vulcanized. It takes three days for this process so my tractor sits on a jack and crib underneath in case it fails. I recon the worst part is still to come when i try to reinstall the tire back on the tractor. Any advise on how to do this by yourself?

HCJ · Sep 20, 2009

I had the same issue with my M6800. These rear tires and weighted wheels are heavy!!
First get a friend to help. I would not want to do this alone. It would be unsafe. It's hard enought with two people. Since we did not have a lift and it was parked on gravel. we simply removed the tailgate from the truck as not to overload it and rolled it off and let it fall. We then stood it up and rolled it into place. The hardest part was aligning the holes. It is so heavy that this isn't easy to do. If you are on concrete, that would help. If not, place something flat under the hub, such as a piece of plywood, the slicker the better. This will allow you to rotate the wheel without rolling it, to align the holes and lugs.
A little lube (such as dish soap) under the tire also helps. You will probably need a lever to help rotate it into place--one guy holding up the wheel while the other levers and slides it. This alignment was by far the hardest part. The rest is pretty straightforward, just takes muscle.

papavillars · Sep 20, 2009

that is pretty much what i imagined. tough to line up the holes and lug bolts. they need to make an extender that would fit on two of the bolts so you could slip it on those then push it in place. oh well now comes the fun part. thanks for the info

HCJ · Sep 20, 2009

Good luck. When we first tried, the wheel was on a gravel/dirt surface. The tire lugs were digging in preventing rotation. We struggled, kept rolling it back and forth to try to get lucky and have the lugs aligned. Never happened. Once we placed plywood under the tire, that allowed us to rotate the whole wheel with a lever under the thread to align. I saw a picture of a carriage designed for this operation that carried the wheel into place. It had rollers in the bottom supporting the wheel that allowed the wheel to be rolled into position and then the tire rotated on the rollers to align. If I recall, it was a high dollar item designed for commercial use. Now that I have done this once, it would be much easier the second time.

Now are you going to load your tires?? After mounting mine, we loaded it with water and antifreeze.

woodchuckie · Sep 20, 2009

You may have to have both tires jacked up to do it, but I could turn the wheel to match the holes and using the jack to help had no trouble doing it by myself.Standing the tire up I guess was the hardest part but manageable.

Soundguy · Sep 21, 2009

have a good surface to scoot the tires and get them right at the hub.. a couple pry bars or irons help get the rim to the hub.. then get at least one hole/lug lined and lean it on enought to start the nut.. then jack up and get the rim on al the lugs and take them down.

just had to do a 16.9-24 last weekend like that.. not too bad.. maybee 15 minutes of work once I had everything in place. sure was glad i had a loader on another tractor to deal with the laoded 16.9-24 that came off!!

soundguy

Bedlam · Sep 21, 2009

My recent trick was to put a pipe wrench on the axle shaft,(away from the seals). And then i could tenderly rotate the axle shaft to get the holes to line up,This let me to a thought of welding a small nut on the outside face of the axle itself and then next time a simple ratchet and socket could turn the shaft to line it up.
Also I found that it was so so close but the bolt would go in , so I tried several of the other ones and one was just that much close enough to take the bolt.then I could slightly wiggle it so the next one would go on.
If they are loaded and have weights, there the fear that it will get away form me and flop backwards this adds to the stress. LOL

Soundguy · Sep 21, 2009

if you got another tractor with a loader.. hang it over the tire and use a loose chain thru the rim as a last ditch safety.. any good overhead strong point could be used for same..

cherry picker.. etc.. in fact.. cherry picker might make it too easy..

soundguy