OK, but don't even THINK about washing any parts in gasoline, or welding
on any ROPS, SG.
rops are golden to me. them I won't fudge with too much. i won't drill or weld them. that's just my comfort level there. ( i generally don't advise others to do it either.. as with anything.. owners are free to do whatever they wish with their own equipment.. just be sure to tell a next owner if you have modified a safety part though
) on the other hand.. 80% of my machines don't have rops at all.. though i am slowly outfitting the ones I use most with rops, as I find them.
gas as a parts wash? yuck. flashes off too fast and is smelly... I much prefer diesel, if at all available...
not that I semm may tractors.. but if I did.. I'd reveal any weld repairs made to structural or other parts of the machine. if nothing else to show them the reapir was done well.. and not a previous hack job or cover up.
i'm into full discolsure. i don't mind buying repaired stuff either.. i just like to hear about it when making hte purchase decision.
as for rims.. I've bought many tractors that had softdall sized holes inthem with tubes and boots poking thru like a sea monster on a lake.. if I was taking a very compromised rim or tire off a tractor I would however deflate it first. I dismounted a large 16.9-24 sand tire once as the tire had a bead seperation on it. large tire.. high volume.. and letting go. now that was a bit of a danger.. I did deflate it when i saw it till I could fix it. IMHO.. more dangerous than a rim issue was that tire seperating from the bead .. already about 1/3rd let go and working around. that's a big casing... and decent volumke. wouldn't want to be right near it if it did pop.. though it's also 'comparitively' low pressure too...
i do all my own tire work usually.. have seen my fare share of tires let go when airing.. just practicing normal safety precaustions working on tires and such when mounting or dismounting or airing, etc will save ya 99% of the time.
I've aired up small high pressure ones with re0used caps and thrown an old piece of carped over them when airing.. or wrapped chain around a casing thru the rim in case of a pop off.
again.. basic safety stuff you should be doing anyway around tires and rims.
split rims? I won't work on. have had some tracors come in with them. I deflate them with a bleeder valve and walk away while they do so.. and then I put them on the scrap pile. only split rims I'll work on are bolt up split rims that have bolt together flanges.. liek the ones onmy batwing that hold aircraft tires. usually 6-8 bolts around the flange hold the rims together. them I deflate before removing bolts.. etc....
just basic safety and common sense saves you 99% of the time on most situations.
unfortunately.. common sense is exceedingly uncommon these days..
