Tire explosion kills farmer.

[ebme96]

Recently a guy I knew very well (I hunted his farm for years) decided to air up his tractor tire. This was the front tire on a older John Deere tractor. He is a bachelor and farms by himself for the most part. They found his body two or three days later. Evidently the tire blew up as his one arm, the one holding the tire chuck, was almost severed; and his forehead had an impact. He was only 50 years old, and a very active and likable man. Moral of the story, air pressure has terrible potential.....

 

[5030]

Keep that in mind next time you pass a big truck and dwaddle along side him. Those tires weigh aqroinf 130 pounds and have 100 + PSI of pressure in them.. If she blows and you are next to it in your car, it's goodbye.,

 

[ruffdog]

I know, I live near the interstate and hear them blow up once in a while...BOOM!

 

[FredH]

Just this past week , a flatbed was passing me and one of his portable , sliding winches on the rail bounced off . Missed it with my left steer tire but as it slid under truck towards passenger side , I clipped it with the rear , inside drive tire on rear drive axle . Took about 2 miles , if that and brand new tire , maybe 3 months old with 105 psi blew out . I HAD home made lights bars / mud flap hangers on the back . 6" x 2" x 1/8" tubing welded to 1/2" plate , bolted to frame .
That light bar was literally torn off the mounting plate . Welds did not break , it literally ripped the tubing from the plate . The tear was any were from 1/2" from plate on one side , ( the front - closet side to tire ) to maybe 2" on back side of plate . The tubing was also bent backwards in the middle maybe 2" or 3" off center .

Did have 3 led 4" lights in tubing . Center one was gone , outside one was o.k. but inside one , next to frame was o.k. on face but when I took it out of tube , it was Shattered on its backside inside the tube . Now while some damage could be attributed to tire / rubber flinging around , some damage was likely just from the concussion of tire exploding .

That is why most tire places now a days always air tires in cages .

Sorry for the loss of your friend , Neighbor .

Fred H.

 

[tcartwri]

Our neighbour had a tire on his grain cart blow and it shook the house like an earthquake. I thought my elderly mom had fallen down the stairs.

another story.. we had a drive tire repaired on our 550 and my coworker was lifting it onto the truck when the sidewall blew up in his face. I was certain someone had let a 12 gauge go next to me. He was very lucky, although his ears rang for two days.

 

[RoyJackson]

Recently a guy I knew very well (I hunted his farm for years) decided to air up his tractor tire...

I wonder what air pressure was supposed to be in that tire. Most tractor tire pressures are pretty low...maybe 35 PSI in the fronts. That seems kind of low to cause a catastrophic failure.

 

[kdm0811]

You said it was "a older John Deere", it may be that the rim had rusted or deteriorated, and that was what failed. When that happens, the flying debris is much worse than when a tire fails.

 

[tcartwri]

I wonder what air pressure was supposed to be in that tire. Most tractor tire pressures are pretty low...maybe 35 PSI in the fronts. That seems kind of low to cause a catastrophic failure.

35psi in a large tire is an unbelievable amount of force.

 

[RoyJackson]

You said it was "a older John Deere", it may be that the rim had rusted or deteriorated, and that was what failed. When that happens, the flying debris is much worse than when a tire fails.

Very true...

 

[Soundguy]

35psi in a large tire is an unbelievable amount of force.

front....

 

[ebme96]

I don't think the rim was damaged in any way. They said there was very little visible damage to his forehead but the impact evidently is what did it.

 

[boggen]

pressure testing plumbing. general rule of thumb = filling the pipes full of water, with just a little bit of air, right at the air injection point.

if a test plug or fitting comes loose, it gets fired like a bullet out of the pipe... if you just used all but air in pressure testing. if using water like noted above, if plug comes loose it is dramatically reduced to barely being shot out.

compressed air can hold a huge amount of energy!

many tire repair shops, will refuse dry rotted tires, due to risk of tire explosion.

===========
the scary apart with tractor tires, is they are not like car/truck tires that get replaced every so many years or miles. but rather last many years, and are at a higher risk of dry rot / surface cracks within the tire itself.

 

[Bill 55]

Tire work can be very dangerous. I worked in a diesel garage for 20 years and always hated tire work

 

[PRF]

In our shop we have one of those chucks that clips to the tire valve with a 5' with a valve on one end.. I always stand off to the side when airing up a tire to 110-115psi just in case.. Very sorry about your friend, very tragic.

 

[Happy Gilmore]

In our shop we have one of those chucks that clips to the tire valve with a 5' with a valve on one end.. I always stand off to the side when airing up a tire to 110-115psi just in case.. Very sorry about your friend, very tragic.

That sounds like a good idea PRF, you never know when something so seemingly mundane like airing up a tire can turn for the worse.

 

[RickB]

35psi in a large tire is an unbelievable amount of force.

Surely is.......

 

[chopped]

Just this week I had a 16 incher explode. Its the front, and I run 35 to 40. But in this case, there had been a small slice in the tire itself and I added some rubber on the inside when I patched the tube. It has worked well in the past. but this time a small pebble had worked its way inside and kaboom. Im glad the bucket was empty then.
This was own faut in a couple ways. one is obvious but I also was watching a video the day before and saw a tractor tire blow .
Sad for the friend also

 

[RickB]

front....

I'm not volunteering to stand near an 1100x16 3 rib if it is going to blow off the rim in my direction @ 35PSI. "Older tractor" really doesn't tell us anything. There are 50 year old 4020's and 806's as of this year that had some pretty big front tires.

Tragic, at any rate. Folks in our area still grieve a well respected and loved truck repair shop owner who dies far too young due to an exploding tire he was repairing............

 

[Happy Gilmore]

After reading the initial post, I googled similar incidents. Scary stuff right there. I had never thought much about the violent force released from a tire exploding. Controlled environment testing video shows just how violent it is. New found respect here.

 

[PRF]

That sounds like a good idea PRF, you never know when something so seemingly mundane like airing up a tire can turn for the worse.

This is the one we use... I get real squeamish around truck tires..

Amazon.com: Milton 501 Hi-Pressure Inflator Gauge with 5' Hose: Automotive

and made right here in the USA