Jay4200
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2005
- Messages
- 2,053
- Location
- Hudson/Weare, NH
- Tractor
- L4200GST w/ LA680 & BX2200D w/ LA211
Funny that this came up last week. My tractor's left front tire has lost pressure (down to ~6psi), gone flat sitting, gone flat running, and held pressure for weeks w/o problems. When low or flat, it always pumped right back up. Looked fine, but it's air storage capability is completely intermittant. Whatever. I figured it must be a function of loader work and cornering - I don't tend to go easy unless I REALLY have a lot of weight up front.
This weekend, I was clearing out the woods behind my shed - making a flat spot about 25x10 to park my tractor. I was also dumping and spreading a couple of loads a "driveway base gravel mix" (aka dug out septic stone/sand) over the area.
Other then backhoe work digging out a big half-rotted root ball, about 6-8 smallish trees/stumps, and a boulder or two, everything was done with my loader. I did a half-day and got the area dug out and graded, loaded about 95% of the gravel into the dug out area, and got it rough-graded.
I came out the next morning and my right tire was completely flat. I pumped it up, but it wouldn't hold air - air came gushing out of an area on the rim that was fairly dinged up around the edge - damaged there before I owned it.
I popped the bead on the tire (note below**), and cleaned up the loose debris at the area with a wire brush - I also smoothed the burrs of of the rim edge with a grinder, and smoothed the bearing edge in that area the best I could with the grinder. I sprayed a little engine-orange paint onto the rim as a rust preventative (then blasted the paint with my air compressor, as I was way too impatient to let it dry normally).
I gave the tire rim a squirt with WD-40, which tends to make rubber soft and tacky for a short while, so I thought it might help it stick to the rim (grip-installing trick from my dirtbike days). I pumped up the tire and it was fine to 20psi. It started bubbling WD-40 out of a teeny spot in the area I worked on when I pumped up to 30psi. I reduced pressure back to 20, then waited a few minutes for the WD-40 to do it's magic. When I noticed the liquid WD disappearing on the tire surface, I pumped the tire back up to 30PSI, and it held.
I put the rim back on, then finished my parking-spot job, which still involved a fair amount of loader work, as I had to move all of the dirt and debris that I dug out from where I piled it up, then dump it over a bank into the woods. Once the new pile I was making got big enough at the bottom of the the bank (~6-8' cliff, more or less), I was driving just a bit over the edge, then mashing down the pile stuff with my loader, then back drag up and over the edge. Eventally, it softened the bank edge, and mades for a decent looking trash pile that blends into the surrounding grades. I figured my backhoe could pull me out of just about anything, so I really took some chances. I throught for sure I was going to drive over the cliff and get stuck while teetering on my FEL, but I sort-of got used to looking straight down over my FEL, and I didn't get stuck even once.
When I was finally done, I drove my tractor up the street to a birthday party (why start up a whole 'nother vehicle?). The tire seems to be holding so far.
** Worthy of note: I have a Harbor-Freight portable tire-changing tool (Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices)
that I bought to change ATV tires. I wasn't sure it would be effective on automotive-type tires, but I used it on my tractor tire yesterday, and it worked great - popping the bead off the rim was virtually effortless - way easire than soft-walled ATV tires.
JayC
This weekend, I was clearing out the woods behind my shed - making a flat spot about 25x10 to park my tractor. I was also dumping and spreading a couple of loads a "driveway base gravel mix" (aka dug out septic stone/sand) over the area.
Other then backhoe work digging out a big half-rotted root ball, about 6-8 smallish trees/stumps, and a boulder or two, everything was done with my loader. I did a half-day and got the area dug out and graded, loaded about 95% of the gravel into the dug out area, and got it rough-graded.
I came out the next morning and my right tire was completely flat. I pumped it up, but it wouldn't hold air - air came gushing out of an area on the rim that was fairly dinged up around the edge - damaged there before I owned it.
I popped the bead on the tire (note below**), and cleaned up the loose debris at the area with a wire brush - I also smoothed the burrs of of the rim edge with a grinder, and smoothed the bearing edge in that area the best I could with the grinder. I sprayed a little engine-orange paint onto the rim as a rust preventative (then blasted the paint with my air compressor, as I was way too impatient to let it dry normally).
I gave the tire rim a squirt with WD-40, which tends to make rubber soft and tacky for a short while, so I thought it might help it stick to the rim (grip-installing trick from my dirtbike days). I pumped up the tire and it was fine to 20psi. It started bubbling WD-40 out of a teeny spot in the area I worked on when I pumped up to 30psi. I reduced pressure back to 20, then waited a few minutes for the WD-40 to do it's magic. When I noticed the liquid WD disappearing on the tire surface, I pumped the tire back up to 30PSI, and it held.
I put the rim back on, then finished my parking-spot job, which still involved a fair amount of loader work, as I had to move all of the dirt and debris that I dug out from where I piled it up, then dump it over a bank into the woods. Once the new pile I was making got big enough at the bottom of the the bank (~6-8' cliff, more or less), I was driving just a bit over the edge, then mashing down the pile stuff with my loader, then back drag up and over the edge. Eventally, it softened the bank edge, and mades for a decent looking trash pile that blends into the surrounding grades. I figured my backhoe could pull me out of just about anything, so I really took some chances. I throught for sure I was going to drive over the cliff and get stuck while teetering on my FEL, but I sort-of got used to looking straight down over my FEL, and I didn't get stuck even once.
When I was finally done, I drove my tractor up the street to a birthday party (why start up a whole 'nother vehicle?). The tire seems to be holding so far.
** Worthy of note: I have a Harbor-Freight portable tire-changing tool (Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices)
that I bought to change ATV tires. I wasn't sure it would be effective on automotive-type tires, but I used it on my tractor tire yesterday, and it worked great - popping the bead off the rim was virtually effortless - way easire than soft-walled ATV tires.
JayC
