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garden_guy 
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 Topic: Flat front tires?
Posted: 23 Sep 2018 at 12:47pm |
So my WD mowing tractor has new-ish front tires (one is a year old, the other is 5 years old). Well, I think locust thorns and woody stubbs got the better of me this season, as they both went flat this week. They hold air, but go back flat again within a day.
So is my fix for this to get the tires taken off, the old tube taken out (and any sharp pointy garbage taken out of the rubber), and a new tube put in and remounted?
And then quit mowing the ditches with it. 
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Dusty MI
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Posted: 23 Sep 2018 at 1:08pm |
If they were tubeless, maybe try some Slime. I wonder if a liner would be thick enough to keep the thorns from reaching the tubes? Dusty
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Gary Burnett
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Posted: 23 Sep 2018 at 1:32pm |
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Steel wheels with rubber wrapped around the outside.
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Dakota Dave
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Posted: 23 Sep 2018 at 1:42pm |
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Old tires are better for mowing I've only ever had flats on new tires. My C that I put new tires on back in1986 has t had a flat in many years and I used it to narrow the ash pole after burning a building.
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Ranse
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Posted: 23 Sep 2018 at 1:55pm |
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Air them up everyday until you are finished with your bush hogging. Then take them off and take to a tire shop. Chances are they can patch your tubes. If not you will have to buy new as you said. Next year you will probably have to do it again. This is common practice for me. I have several front tires a year fixed, just part of it.
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DiyDave
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Posted: 23 Sep 2018 at 5:11pm |
Slime don't do much for off road tires, they never get up to a speed, that will cause heat, which hardens the slime, and makes a somewhat permanent repair. Slime mostly just pi$$es off tire mechanics, when they break the beads, pull the tire off, then have to clean the slime offa their machine, floor and pants...
Read in farm show mag, that you can take some clean short nap indoor outdoor carpet, and cut a strip, to fit into the tire tread area, then install the tube, like normal, and the carpet will keep the thorns from penetrating into the tube. Gemplers also sells tire liners, that do much the same thing...  |
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DMiller
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Posted: 23 Sep 2018 at 5:42pm |
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Have tried most all the above, still get an occasional thorn as we also have Honey Locust here. Only thing I have found is to check inflation OFTEN, when one starts going low get it off and find the thorns. Once the tire has picked them up they will work thru until puncture and not pull out from the outside, even seen the more stubborn have to be drilled out with a 1/16" bit. Tire always gets booted over the holes, last one I had go bad looked like a inside out turtle.
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TimNearFortWorth
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Posted: 23 Sep 2018 at 8:35pm |
Berryman's (s), we use it for mesquite down here. I run about a quart in each front of a D15 and D17, one gallon in each rear. Only flats I deal with are from nicking front valve stems in brush/small tree clumps. Every rim that get's painted or tires mounted in general now has a U-cup welded to the OEM front rims around the valve stem hole. I have seen a tire look low, pulled a 2-3" mesquite thorn out of the tire with vice-grips and watched it seal off. Top up air pressure and go. Any large chain automotive parts store can get it for you.
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Pat the Plumber CIL
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Posted: 23 Sep 2018 at 8:52pm |
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I got sick of flat front tires so I had both fronts filled with foam. Adds a lot of weight and makes them stiffer. Only time I notice the stiffness is on a bumpy road. No more flats but tire will have to be cut off rim if there is ever a problem . I did not notice lug bolts loosened this spring on one and the rim cracked. Had to replace both tire and rim and have foamed. Works for me as I am a week end warrior and would rather be mowing than repairing tires.
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You only need to know 3 things to be a plumber;Crap rolls down hill,Hot is on the left and Don't bite your fingernails
1964 D-17 SIV 3 Pt.WF,1964 D-15 Ser II 3pt.WF ,1960 D-17 SI NF,1956 WD 45 WF.
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jaybmiller
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 6:17am |
OK, maybe a silly idea but... similar to the carpet idea..
could you insert a section of wide steel 'banding strap' in the tire first, then the tube ? It's kinda springy ,dang tough ain't NO thorns going to get through it.
Jay
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3 D-14s,A-C forklift, B-112
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FloydKS
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 7:51am |
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I would be afraid of "pinch holes" where your 'banding strap' would pinch the tube.
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ac hunter
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 8:03am |
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Have had the same problem mowing around honey locust and hedge trees . You can have the tire repaired but my experience is that there are thorns hidden in the tire that haven't come through yet and will haunt you later. Had one of the liquid sealers pumped in the tires and that has helped a great deal. Think the only total solution is new tires and stay out of the thorns.
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jaybmiller
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 8:04am |
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if you rounded over the corners and added a layer of duct tape that 'shoule' prevent cuts to the tube.....
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3 D-14s,A-C forklift, B-112
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CrestonM
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 9:44am |
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When I took the tires off the rims on my great-grandpa's 60A combine, I noticed he had cut open some old tubes and wrapped them over the "new" tubes to help prevent punctures.
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john(MI)
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 9:44am |
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Have you tried mowing in reverse the areas that cause this problem? Then everything should be chopped up before the fronts get to it.
Edited by john(MI) - 24 Sep 2018 at 9:46am
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rustyorange45
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 11:20am |
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Slime works well in tubeless tires, I put Slime in our zero turn at work and have had no more flats. I put Slime in our zero turn at home. My wife cut the sidewall of the front tire and broke the bead driving it to the barn. I took the tire off of the mower and aired it up. The Slime sealed the cut, I put a new front tire on it though. Tractor tires are another story though. Foam filling them is the only way I have found to eliminate flats. Expensive, but well worth it to save the time, aggravation, and expense of having them patched repeatedly.
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1953 WD45 WF/Model 90 Loader, Oxnard Rear Blade, 80R Mower, Model 209 Disc, WD Rear Mounted Scoop, Model 184 & 160 Rotary Mowers, 1952 CA NF/L306CA mower, 1953 CA WF/Model 8 Loader.
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chaskaduo
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 11:37am |
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What kind of foam are you guys using?
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DiyDave
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 5:54pm |
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Back in the 80's usedta help out an old farmer that had an orchard, and what he did was to cut up old truck tires, and made them fit over flat front tires, just barely. He cut the bead off, basically, and then would use the truck tire as a sleeve, over the tractor tire, then would air up the tractor tire, for a tight fit. The old orchard tractors that he used, I think they were IH's, had plenty of room at the spindle, for doin this. Don't know if today's tractors have enough room, to do this...
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garden_guy
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 7:43pm |
 ac hunter wrote:
You can have the tire repaired but my experience is that there are thorns hidden in the tire that haven't come through yet and will haunt you later. |
I suspect this will be the case, but I guess that's my next option. New tubes. And then reinforcement to keep it from happening again. :(
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Auntwayne
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Posted: 24 Sep 2018 at 9:54pm |
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Berrymans.
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Dad always said," If you have one boy, you have a man. If you have two boys, you have two boys". "ALLIS EXPRESS"
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VAfarmboy
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Posted: 25 Sep 2018 at 7:14am |
chaskaduo wrote:
What kind of foam are you guys using? |
I don't know what the stuff is called but the tire stores can foam them. I had the front tires on my riding lawn mower foamed because they were always going flat.
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chaskaduo
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Posted: 25 Sep 2018 at 11:17am |
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10 - 4
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1938 B, 79 Dynamark 11/36 6spd, 95 Weed-Eater 16hp, 2010 Bolens 14hp
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DaveKamp
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Posted: 25 Sep 2018 at 11:32pm |
Although it doesn't do anything to solve thorn-in-tire issues, I'll second Tim's note to weld a short piece of pipe to the rim to protect the stem. I used to use SLIME in my mountain bike tires... back when I raced in the NORBA championships up in like... 1990... in Chequamegon, Wi, I saw dozens of other riders drop out due to flats from downy hawthorn trees. I crossed the finish line with my Ritchie Quads looking more like something I'd made from a skinned a porcupine. They sealed up nice... but unfortunately, pieces that came around with the tire wound up carrying branches, so I was bleeding from my thighs and calves where they'd flail by... And between that, dirt, and sweat, I was hurting so bad that I didn't do very well. The guys that followed me thanked me for 'marking a path' down the proper trail (blood). I got an Amish buddy with an IH 656 diesel, and he laughs when people grumble about thorns... 
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JC-WI
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Posted: 26 Sep 2018 at 11:21am |
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Stan IL&TN
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Posted: 26 Sep 2018 at 12:04pm |
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I only have 10 acres to mow but over the years I keep an eye out for the thorns and steer around them. I then go back and hit them with a dose of Crossbow. It took several years but I have gotten rid of them for the most part. If you just mow over them they come back every time.
Edited by Stan IL&TN - 26 Sep 2018 at 12:05pm
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jaybmiller
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Posted: 26 Sep 2018 at 12:58pm |
Well I just spent from 7 until 2 today getting a tube into a front tire of the forklift. Removing tire/rim/drum/drive wasn't too hard but 1st guy was on holidays so trip to Brantford to get splitrim split,patched and new tube. 'minor' detour cause train bridge was out..sigh... Busted a gut (hiatal hernia)getting tire/rim assy back on. but we're 'up and running ' as they say... seems forklift found a carpenter's nail...... Jay
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3 D-14s,A-C forklift, B-112
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Never burn your bridges, unless you can walk on water
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wekracer
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Posted: 26 Sep 2018 at 5:57pm |
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We run slime in the fronts of the 6080. I pull a batwing with it. Only top them off once or twice a year
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