Tires Tubeless tires - are we crazy or what?

[Jay4200]

I mentioned this in a post last year - in the first season I owned it, my tractor's left front tire 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. THEN my right one went flat, pumped right up, worked all day, then went flat overnight and wouldn't hold air. I cleaned up the rim on one of them and it was great. Then the other one went flat again. BAHHH!!

It sure seems that a tractor is a stupid application for tubeless tires - between blowing beads all the time with loader work, all of the fix-a-flat and foam fillings attempted solutions, not to mention having rims dissolved by corrosive liquid loading.

I had enough of that and bought two tire tubes for $8 at the local tire shop last fall. I popped them in the front tires and have been driving happily ever since. Gotta be nuts to run tubeless tires.

JayC

 

[dano13]

Ya, I'm not sure why why no tubes either. I finally put some on my little garden tractor last year after years of filling them with air at every use. I haven't had to fill them since.
dano

 

[DieselPower]

I removed all my tubes and run tire sealer in all of them now. Have not had a flat in years.

 

[Bird]

Gotta be nuts to run tubeless tires.

Well, I guess I'm nuts then, 'cause I sure disagree. I don't put any corrosive liquid in my tires or I'd probably want tubes, but otherwise . . . if you have a flat on a tube type tire, it has to be torn down and patched, but if you have a flat on a tubeless, you can just plug it and go. So I figure you gotta be nuts to run tube type tires.

 

[Volfandt]

I run both tube & tubless on my various machines, hummmm, I guess theres no way around it, I must be nuts

 

[Soundguy]

I think Bird hit the 'trade-off' issue.

With tubes.. you can run a wider range of ballasts, and don't have bead issues like a tube tire.. however in trade.. you HAVE to break it down to repair a puncture.

Without tubes, you run a risk if you use a liquid ballast that is plain water.. or a salt water. and you have to deal with bead sealing problems... on the flip side.. some repairs can be done from the outside without dismounting the tire..

Soundguy

 

[Taiser]

I got one front tube now. Seems to me only the fronts would be bad with all the abuse they take, loads and turning and such, but I'm getting those filled. Can't see the back tires being stressed so hard that being tubeless will cause any problems.

 

[john_bud]

Yeah, you're right! My Kubota has been tubeless for 7 years and the tires have never gone down. My 1963 ford is tubeless and looks to have been that way for a long time. Maybe since new?

If you still have issues even with the tube, you might want to go to foam fill. Will ride harder, but will never go down.

jb

 

[Jay4200]

if you have a flat on a tube type tire, it has to be torn down and patched, but if you have a flat on a tubeless, you can just plug it and go. So I figure you gotta be nuts to run tube type tires.

NUTS I TELL YA!!

I suppose can see the draw to tubeless if you run in an environment where you risk punctures frequently. I haven't run into that personally. OTOH, every one of my 2500 front tire flats were the result of turning with a full loader bucket. The bead gets pulled into the rim, slips and *poof* - flat. "&%$$@**! Tubes completely remove that occurance with no down side that I can see, at least not driving around my yard.

On a related topic, I have a cheepo tire-changing machine that I got from Harbor Freight for $40, which works terrific to break the beads on my tractor tires (front anyway). Regular tire spoons pop the tire off in seconds. I can remove and relace a tire in two minutes or less.

None of this applies for the big back tires, though I think I'd want to run tubes there too, unless again, I was in an environment where I'd risk frequent punctures.

JayC

 

[Bird]

every one of my 2500 front tire flats were the result of turning with a full loader bucket. The bead gets pulled into the rim, slips and *poof* - flat

That's easily solved; put enough air pressure in them to start with and that won't happen.