CincyFlyer
Veteran Member
While pushing brush piles over a hill with my pallet forks (they were already on the thing; I'm now saving up for a grapple!) I snagged a log with my left front tire valve, and immediately snapped the thing off. Hisssssss ... followed by a [literal] sinking feeling. It likely wouldn't have happened with the bucket, as that's about six feet wide, matching the tractor, but the forks are only four feet wide.
The valve is a very common brass air & water valve (Dill TR 618a) so I ran to Tractor Supply to get one. Nope, not happening; the sell the filler kit to put water in through the valve, they sell car valves, but no tractor valves! Then I hit every tire and auto parts store nearby, and also found nothing equivalent. The local Discount Tire gave me a Dill truck valve, which is skinnier, but fits the same size (5/8") hole, and is long enough to be easy to get to.. As I have a bunch of stuff to do, including a few tons of gravel and sand that won't move themselves, I decided to go with the truck valve.
I put the forks on the ground and lifted the front of the tractor, and backed up about 100 feet to reasonably level ground. The tire was stuck to the rim, so I lowered the front end until the tires gripped a little, then turned the steering hard left and right, and broke the tire free. Then I "jacked" it back up with the forks. I had to use a drill to get the deformed end off (after filling the stem with grease to catch the chips, I'd be ever annoyed with chips in the tire) so that I could remove the nut. I used a very smooth combination wrench to pry the tire back far enough to get the old valve out (after threading some string through it; I didn't want to have to fish it out, and certainly couldn't have it live in my tire forever!)
I put in my new valve (using a valve pulling tool, never free-handing 'cuz the stems cannot be retrieved with a magnet), soaped up the tire and pushed it back and forth so that it appeared to be touching the rim evenly (it still being off the ground), and blasted it with 120 psi from a ten gallon portable tank. Luckily, it "caught" and I ended up with about 15 PSI, enough to drive a few hundred feet to the garage and finish the fill up. I took a few pics of the operation above.
I'm thinking of making valve stem protectors that bolt to the hub using the lugs; my only issue is that I don't want maintenance to be more difficult.
The valve is a very common brass air & water valve (Dill TR 618a) so I ran to Tractor Supply to get one. Nope, not happening; the sell the filler kit to put water in through the valve, they sell car valves, but no tractor valves! Then I hit every tire and auto parts store nearby, and also found nothing equivalent. The local Discount Tire gave me a Dill truck valve, which is skinnier, but fits the same size (5/8") hole, and is long enough to be easy to get to.. As I have a bunch of stuff to do, including a few tons of gravel and sand that won't move themselves, I decided to go with the truck valve.
I put the forks on the ground and lifted the front of the tractor, and backed up about 100 feet to reasonably level ground. The tire was stuck to the rim, so I lowered the front end until the tires gripped a little, then turned the steering hard left and right, and broke the tire free. Then I "jacked" it back up with the forks. I had to use a drill to get the deformed end off (after filling the stem with grease to catch the chips, I'd be ever annoyed with chips in the tire) so that I could remove the nut. I used a very smooth combination wrench to pry the tire back far enough to get the old valve out (after threading some string through it; I didn't want to have to fish it out, and certainly couldn't have it live in my tire forever!)
I put in my new valve (using a valve pulling tool, never free-handing 'cuz the stems cannot be retrieved with a magnet), soaped up the tire and pushed it back and forth so that it appeared to be touching the rim evenly (it still being off the ground), and blasted it with 120 psi from a ten gallon portable tank. Luckily, it "caught" and I ended up with about 15 PSI, enough to drive a few hundred feet to the garage and finish the fill up. I took a few pics of the operation above.
I'm thinking of making valve stem protectors that bolt to the hub using the lugs; my only issue is that I don't want maintenance to be more difficult.
