36" cut Gravely mower with 16x6.5x8 tires. I'd like a flat free solid tires but all the ones I see come with the new rims. My rims have a drive pulley bolted on so I can't change them. Goat heads are a major problem, so Slime is an option, not sure if my tires have tubes.
Commercial mower tire question
- Thread starter 930dreamer
- Start date
The solids are made to the rim and cant be installed on others. You can get the existing ones urethane or foam filled. Check with local forklift company about it. The downside is foam is hard and doesnt work as well and the urethane is heavy. Slime is your best option.
OP
The existing ones don't have tread on them. Can you put a tube in a tube-less tire?
An inner tube can always be used in a tubeless wheel or with a tubeless tire. While you will sacrifice rolling efficiency and flat-resistance,
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You can sort of. The problem is most tubeless tire rims have the valve stem located at a different place than if they are a tube type rim. So you stick a tube in it and it ends up pulling on the valve stem and eventually goes bad.
I dont understand if you meant tread vs thread? If the old tires are getting bald then at least replace them with a 4ply name brand tire like Carlisle or Kenda. And do both at the same time, because if you only do one side more than likely the tire will be slightly smaller or larger than the other. That leads to problems with tracking and not going straight.
Forever ago, I worked at OPE shops as a mechanic and we used to put tubes in tubeless tires all the time. I don't recall ever having one come back because the valve stem failed. I'm not saying it's the correct thing to do, but sometimes you have to do.... Maybe most of what we serviced already had the hole in the "correct" place to accept a tube.
OP
Discount tire told me that wont mount replacement tires with tubes.
Most tyre stores are just too lazy to deal with tubes.
There are arguments on cars as to which way is safest but we are talking about a mower. Even if it somehow caused a failure on a mower, it isn't going to kill anyone.
jblnut
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Ok I’ll bite. What’s a goat head ?
I have tubes in all kinds of tires that arent “tube type” tires. It works fine as long as you powder the **** outta the inside of the tire when you install the tube so things can slide and flex as needed.
Lawnmower tires are a ****** to change. Those little things cause more issues than anything else I run into lol
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OP
When you step on one of these, your world changes.
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jblnut
ALLIANCE MEMBER
That may just be worse than stepping on a Lego. That looks awful.
You need Tweels instead of tubes.
Yep. But it's deeper. This isn't something that a chain tire store is going to touch. The guys changing tires are mostly in their 20s and have probably never seen a tube before, unless they actually turned off their computer, left the house in daylight, rode a bicycle, and got a flat that their dad helped them change. I have a neighbor with a ~18 year old son and I've literally seen the kid only a handful of times in 18 years. Literally. Like five times. And I'm outside all the time. I guarantee that this kid cannot ride a bicycle, throw or catch a football.... But I'm sure he can fix my computer if necessary. I thought he died as an infant because I went 17 years without seeing him.
Yeah, chain stores have set policies or at least they say they do. My local independent tyre store will do things the chains won't but they are still lazy. For some reason they try to get out of balancing even when the customer asks for it. One example was "we don't balance trailer wheels".
Problem is that there isnt a "machine" to change small tires. Nobody wants to mess with them because there a pain. Regarding the OP's machine, we got to the point that we would pick the mower up with a forklift and change the tire with the wheel still on the machine. Why? because it was a bigger pain to have to remove the belts and everything to just get the wheel off.
I had the tires on my zero turn foam filled at the local tire store. No more flats, slightly rougher ride. The small tires are heavier, but not enough weight to matter here. We don't have to try to mow soggy lawns though.
I cut a couple of acres at my place and my son mows some of the neighbors lawns. So far, I'd do it again in a minute.
I cut a couple of acres at my place and my son mows some of the neighbors lawns. So far, I'd do it again in a minute.
5ubtle
Well-known member
My experience has been that it takes 5+ years to happen, but they all do it. I now drill a new hole in the rim where the tube stem goes.
OP
Junkman
Well-known member
Kubota sells a tire sealant that I have found to be better than "Slime".
Beerhippie
Well-known member
AKA Tribulus terrestris
They do have purty flowers:
They're the bane of the American West. Imported invasive from Eurasia, of course.
There's nothing as pathetic as watching a dog jump out of a rig and right into a patch of goatheads.