RTV Flat Tire Again!

[ragkar]

I just checked my Kawasaki 610xc mule and the tires are marked - ATV max operating pressure 7 psi, UTV max operating pressure 12 psi.

I run them at Kawasaki's recommended 8 psi in front and 12 psi in back.

 

[prehm]

Dapper I can not determine what caused your flat by the picture you provided. Is that a piece of steel? If so 8-ply rating tires would not have precluded your flat.

I only have 50 hrs on my RTV 900 that has the ATV tires. No flats thus far, maybe due to the pastures being so low in grass as a rsult of the dry summer we experienced in west central Arkansas. The low grass enables seeing obstacles that would normally be covered by grass.

 

[yanmars]

Recently in one of the ATV magazines I saw a new product that is a semi-rigid foam inserts placed inside the tire that will let operation continue even with loss of air. As I recall they were kind of pricey however.

 

[nybirdman]

Atv tire size
first number =tire height (25)

second number=tire width(11)
third number=rim diameter (12)
25x11x12

 

[Smallplot]

Use slime. Just make sure you use at least the recommended amounts per tire. Used to have flats in my 4 wheeler tires all the time. Since putting slime in them no flats. I do have several larger punctures that the slime is still visible in. Also if it sits for a while I will see some small liquid runs from the larger punctures but have not had to add any air in 2 years. I have a lot of thorn trees on our property think they may be locus trees. It would, be cheaper to try slime besides buying new tires.

 

[dapper]

Prehm, Sorry, the picture is a T post fence post. Busted off at the ground, and stump not pulled out. This happens a lot with the old T posts. Rust's off right at ground level, and if your not diligent about removing them when you take down the fence, the WILL come back to haunt you. Not the first time I have had this happen, but where this one was at, I had not take down any fence. Someone left it as a surprise for me.. As I said before I believe if I hit it with the lug of the tire, i did no damage, but when it is in the middle of the tire, just not enough rubber to stop it from poking thru. Agree that 8 Ply wouldn't stop this, but would certainly help. I got the tire fixed this afternoon, ($25 Plug & overlay) and ask Goodyear about their recommendation for tire pressure. They said that for most atv's they would recommend about 8-12# pressure. When I said that it was Bota RTV they said that due to the weight of it, they would stay at the 20# range that I had been running. So for now I guess I will take their recommendations, and see where it goes from here. In all fairness, I am pretty sure that all 3 flats were caused by the same @!#$% piece of fence post. Other than that the tires seem to hold up to thorns and sticks pretty well. I do believe in slime, as I have used it before on lawn mower tires that kept picking up thorns. I am hesitant to use though, as it makes changing the tire a mess, and tire techs, say that the plug/patch they use will not stick to the inner wall once they have been slimmed. For this one, that would have meant a $125 tire verse a $25 patch.

 

[drakefamily2]

Also had good luck with slime. Pulled a piece if fence out of tire once and watched slime bubble out and seal hole within seconds. Been a couple of years and tire never went flat.

 

[cdaigle430]

I highly recommend that you not use slime, it will make for a mess the next time you change out the tires. Ususally, an ATV\UTV loses ait because either the valve stem is damaged or was not installed correctly, or the beed is leaking. If the beed is leaing its because o foreign object is stick in between like dirt. Best think to do is to remove the tires, check and clean the beed edges on the rims and on the tires. Check or replace the stems. They can even add a sealant to the bead. So-a few choices;
1) Put 25 punds in the tire and use a hammer, hit the tire around the edge to seat properly. After-put recommnede air in tire.
2) Break the bead, sand and clean the rim, check or replace the stems. Add a sealant but beware it can make for a messey removal.
3) Slime may or may not work and it will unbalance your tires and can leave a flat spot in the winter.

 

[DT86]

3) Slime may or may not work and it will unbalance your tires and can leave a flat spot in the winter.

How important is tire balance on a machine that will hardly do 25mph on flat ground with the wind to its back? lol

With that being said I do agree that slime leaves one heck of a mess for who ever has the misfortune of breaking the tires off the rim next time.


I have just had my first flat < 400 hours use, looked it over good and wonder if its leaking around the valve stem.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

get some 26" itp 589 and put a bottle of slime in each tire you will never have a flat again unless you rip a huge hole in them and that would be hard to do. the xtr tires are good to but the 589's have some great lugs for traction and they last a long time they are made of some really hard rubber.i ran them on my hpx with slime and never had a flat i had them on there for over 4 years and they was still on there when i sold it.20lbs of air is alot to put in a utv/atv tire i wouldn't go over 15lbs