Tires Flat tires?

[AKKubota]

I parked my L3830 in the garage last winter and the tires were fine. This year, due to the cab, it sits outside. This winter tires kept going flat.

I sprayed "Simple Green" on the tires looking for a hole...nothing. I found that they were leaking around where the two stem pieces meet.

A buddy of mine who worked in a tire shop unscrewed the stems and found that the little rubber O-ring wasn't sealing and there was not enough room on the threads to tighten it down more. He applied a bit of rubber gasket sealer compound in there and it worked great.

 

[JD3130]

Like to add my 2 cents on this tire post. Around here they charge $6 to fix small tractor tires. Ft of 8N, 12$ for rear if I delivery 75.00-80 for my Backhoe and JD. $5.00 for the riding mowers.
We have little stickers (grass burrs) (goat heads) plus every thing else has thorns here in Texas. I tried the sealer it helped a little but not a lot. I used the foam, but I found it breaks down. Here the tire shops will not work on a tire if it has foam in it. So you have to buy a new rim. So I went went the 2 part polyurethane. The ones on my 8n are 10 years now, looks like I will get another 4 years out of them. They cost 35.00 each to fill. I was averaging two flats a week on that tractor. You do the math! It cost me 8.00 to do the ft tires of my rider and 40.00 to the rear. It had at least one flat everytime I went to mow the grass. I even filled the tires on my hay hauler and cement mixer. The front tires on my John Deere 16X20 would have cost me 375 to fill. So I put aircraft tires on them, they are 32 ply and cost me $120 each new, in Houston, used ones were 85, but they were out of my size the day I drove up there. I don't need the extra weight of the rear tires and so far I've had only a couple flats.
Just my 2cents.
JD

 

[kybota]

[quot/] geting the front tires foam filled. It is not too expensive for the smaller fronts, and you can forget about flats as well as add a bit of ballast weight down low where it helps the best when on side slopes...

On my B2910 I paid about $70 per front tire for the foam. On yours it would be a bit more. For me it is worth it to forget the possiblility of flats. I think the foam also works better than air in the tires for loader work, but that could just be me. [/quot

Questions about the foam in th tires; does it maintain pressure and a sealed bead or is it rigid enough that it doesn't need to maintain pressure seal (seams it would wobbel on the rim and come loose

Is the MultiSeal and Ultra Seal product what some people have called Slime. or is slime a different product.

I think the foam filled front tires sound good if they stay sealed. I rented a bobcat this past summer and it has foam filled tubes but witihin and hour of using it, the tire was coming off the rim. It coud be driven but not well and since it was rental and it looked like the tire was going to be shredded if I continued loader work with it and I did want to pay for well worn out tire on their rental property. so I parked it had them come and get.

 

[PineRidge]

<font color="blue"> Questions about the foam in th tires; does it maintain pressure and a sealed bead or is it rigid enough that it doesn't need to maintain pressure seal (seams it would wobbel on the rim and come loose

Is the MultiSeal and Ultra Seal product what some people have called Slime. or is slime a different product.
</font>

When a tire is foamed it is completely filled with a solid dense foam rubber material. The air is completely replaced in the tire with the foam so the tire cannot ever go flat again. The ones on my RFM do have some give like a semi rigid pneumatic tire but I don't think there is any way they would come off the rims short of cutting them off. I have never seen one wobble on the rim either. I would think of foam as a permanent, long term fix and great for adding extra weight.

Slime and Multi Seal are two completely different products. FAQ on Multi Seal can be seen here.

TC-40D SS web pictures click here

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue"> I used the foam, but I found it breaks down. Here the tire shops will not work on a tire if it has foam in it. So you have to buy a new rim. So I went went the 2 part polyurethane. </font>

JD3130,

Can you tell us more about this? What kind of foam are you referring to and in what way did it break down? I've not noticed any problems with my foam-filled tires, but the oldest are only 2.5 years old.

Side note: When I picked up the front tires for my smaller tractor last summer, the guy helping me mentioned to be sure to keep the lug nuts tight. "You're not going to move the tire to a new wheel if you oval the holes due to the nuts coming loose!"

True when you stop to think about it. With a foam filled tire you lose the tire, the foam AND the wheel if you damage a wheel and it cannot be repaired.

 

[PineRidge]

<font color="blue">Side note: When I picked up the front tires for my smaller tractor last summer, the guy helping me mentioned to be sure to keep the lug nuts tight. "You're not going to move the tire to a new wheel if you oval the holes due to the nuts coming loose!"
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Henro don't you think he might have been also indicating that if you don't wear out the rubber first the foamed tires will last long enough to go on your next BX? That's the way I read it anyway.....

 

[JD3130]

Guys some of the tire shops offer a foam, that they pump into your tire. (Off road tires) It's not the liquid slime stuff, to me it sort of acts like the foam insulation from Home depot. It expands in the tire. Works pretty good for a few years, then it starts breaking down. When that happens, you have to throw out the tire and rim. Unless you clean it yourself, I tried that, I found out why they don't want to mess with them.
The GOOD stuff is the 2 part rubber. They drill a couple holes in your tire across from the stem, and pump this two part mix into the tire until it comes out the holes. Takes it about 8 hours to setup. They charge by the pound.
It looks like natural rubber after it has setup. It you use it start with a new tire, because it will outlast the tire. My son counted over 100 nails and thorns in one of my 8N tires a few months ago.
Theres alot to be said for the aircraft tires too, if you have a larger tractor. Takes a lot to hurt a 32 ply tire.
JD

 

[kybota]

Here and in several other posts people have stated that foam filled tires cannot go flat, but the experience I had this summer with the Bobcat I rented proves otherwise in that it was equally as useless as a flat tire when the bead separated and the tire edge went over the rim. When I tried to dig into a pile of dirt, the rim would spin around inside the tire and start smelling of burned rubber. Possibly the foam itself was turning, but I was working alone and could not see what exactly was turning inside the tire while operating the machine.

This affected the traction, steering and stability due to the tire coming over the rim just like a flat tire can do, and the loader was rendered useless for heavy work.

Does the foam exert internal pressure to keep the tire sealed to the rim and prevent this spinning out that I experienced with the Bobcat? That would appear to be the lone drawback of a foam filled tire, unless what I encountered was an extremely rare phenomenon. Until the foam subject came up in this discussion I never gave it a thought, not even when the tire on the Bobcat failed (I was too busy being disgusted at not getting my work finished to do much pondering that day).

 

[JD3130]

The place I get my tires filled have several tires cut in half for nosey guys like me to look at. The polyurethane bonds to the rim and the tire, don't seem possible it could tear loose. In fact it has a warranty against it. Sounds like you had the dreaded foam. That's exactly what happened with my foam filled tire.
People inter-change the term "foam filled" with anything in the tire from slime to rubber. Somewhere around here in all this junk i have more info, I see if I can find it.
JD.

 

[EddieWalker]

The first thing I learned when I bought my CUT was how long the thorns are on the Black Locust tree. Three inches long, sharp as a needle and extremely hard. They put a small hole in your tire everytime!

I was going to foam them and be done with it. When I brought the tires to the shop to have them foamed, they suggested I try slime first. If the slime didn't work, I could foam them later, but if it did, I'd same hundreds of dollars.

Almost two years later the slime is still doing its job. I'm a believer in the stuff. It's in my fourwheelers, by backhoe and my Century CUT.

My temps don't get much below 20 degrees out at the worse, so I don't know if that makes a difference or not.