Flat tires on lawn mower problem

[rlwhitetr3b]

We recently moved to a wooded lot and our cub cadet lawn mower has become more of a lawn tractor than a lawn mower. In this role it developed a problem of constant flat tires. I tried a goop inter tube and the tire still went flat. I ordered some flat proof tires. When I installed them the hub was not as wide as the original and did not have bearings.

I'm looking for other options. Any BTDT stories?

 

[Kaizen]

i had the "need to air up before use" rear tires for a few years. Last year i just replaced them. had them delivered and mounted for about a hundred bucks. sooooooooooo nice not having to deal with them when i went to mow.

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

The tires are warn, but I think the thorns and broken glass might be more of the problem. Has anyone used tire liners?

 

[Dagny]

put a tube in it

 

[mrobins297aaa]

I got tired of always having to air up tires before use or even worse seeing the wife jump on the tractor and driving away with one tire flat.......she never checks anything.

I bought one of those HF small tire changers and have
been putting tubes in all the tires that leak.
I've did 5 so far and it's worked out great I still have a few to go.

 

[matt_i]

There may be a heavier duty/thicker wall tire. I would contact M. E. Miller tire in Wauseon Ohio, they specialize in all sorts of puller tires in addition to farm tires and could have a solution for you.

If you are bush hogging/cleaning up things may get better as you get closer to "finished lawn" status.

 

[turbowoodworker]

New tubes will fix that problem.

 

[stm317]

Spray foam:

 

[gungatim]

I've noticed the tires Ihave the most problems with have very thin sidewalls and will crack easily and pick up thorns pretty quickly.

my quads tires are much thicker in those areas, so maybe see if you can find some quad tires in your size to mount.

also use tubes, but that won't help much if the carcass is super thin.

one thing I did on an old sears garden tractor with rotted out side walls was take another tire, slice out the tread and side wall, stick it inside the old tire, then add a tube. it worked for a couple years until I finally found a decent replacement (this was a '60's tractor and odd sized tires).

lastly, if you can't find reasonably thick quad tires, you can get AG tires for mowers. my JDX540 has them and they are awesome. a bit pricey but nice and thick/stiff. I've picked up thorns but not had them puncture, while my old L130's tires were so thin I was constantly plugging them...

oh, and seal the **** out of the bead with bead sealer if you don't use a tube...

 

[BD1]

Check your existing, might be made in China or a import from somewhere.
Buy made in USA tires and it should help . Check the number of plys too. Today many lawn tractors have junk for tires and are thin. You make consider checking Amazon too. I bought Carlisle made in USA for my Polaris Ranger from them.

 

[Falcon67]

Around here tubes won't help. Mesquite needles will punch a hole in plywood or go right through your shoe sole like a hypodermic needle. Most of the professional / landscape people are getting their tires foamed. I replaced my fronts with solid units and I'm about to drop $160 to have the rears foamed. Dismount/patch/mount/maybe plug if it's a big one gets old after a couple of years and my time really is worth something. I keep the rider in the shop with the race cars so I have easy access to air. If I didn't have to air the damn tires, it could live in the garden shed on the far side of the yard.

So - good luck. Get one of the tire changers from Harbor Freight and a stock of patches/glue/etc from NAPA.

https://www.harborfreight.com/mini-tire-changer-61179.html

 

[Milton Shaw]

There are now solid tires with a web structure connecting it to the hub available for mowers that have a lot of flat tires. I see them on commercial mowers often so that flats are never a problem. You might check. The web structure gives the tire some give so that the ride is tolerable instead stead of very harsh from a completely solid tire.

 

[Jackfre]

You could have corroded rims. If I was you I'd use this as an excuse to buy a new Kubota tractor. A BX should very capably replace your Cub. I am here to help!

 

[joey1320]

Spray foam:

Great idea.

 

[jimp]

Slime and don't be stingy. We mow about 5 acres with a lot of hedge and locus trees. I look the tires over every once in a while, do the tire kick air check and pull thorns but my wife just gets on and mows.

Some of the thorn holes do bleed green when I pull them but only for a while, slime works wonders.

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

I talked with our local tractor supply store today. They suggested slime. I'm going to start with new tires and then add slime. I'll update this thread is I end up doing something else.

 

[txvwnut]

I had the same issue with my lawn tractor. I found the valve stems in all the wheels fit a little loose. I replaced them with small bore valve stems for automotive wheels and the problem went away.

 

[junkyardwarrior]

Tubes won't do anything if the tire has thorns already stuck through it, UNLESS they're removed. Putting tubes in with nails/thorns/staples/etc already through the tire will puncture the tubes. Same for rusty rims. They too will puncture tubes.

Slime works ok. PCC works better, but only works on tread leaks. Neither one of them will work for sidewall leaks. I had to put 2 new fronts on mine last year and I put a quart of PCC in each one (16x6.50-8)-they hold air just fine with a few nails and screws stuck through 'em.

People are funny about mowers. They'll gripe about cut quality but never bother to check air pressure. It makes a huge difference in cut quality if the tire pressures are off side-to-side. One of the oddities about working in this business is that tractor owners, when their $50,000+ tractor is broken, they show up and ask us to fix it. But when a $1500 mower breaks, you'd think the world was fixing to end because the grass can't get mowed. Weird.

 

[laser3kw]

go to a tire repair that deals with semi tires. See if they have an old inner tire "Flap" that they will give you. These are used on the inside of the tire to keep the tube from rubbing the rim. Take the flap and cut it down to fit inside your tire. Or double them up and put two in the tire. It will provide another boundary between the tire and tube.

 

[Codyboy]

I talked with our local tractor supply store today. They suggested slime. I'm going to start with new tires and then add slime. I'll update this thread is I end up doing something else.

Yeah I was tired of airing up tires too. Slimed all of them about 2 years ago, and haven't had a flat since.
Tires are mostly bald and sidewalls on rears are cracked and dry rotted.
I use mine to mow brush, grass, sticks and rocks. Whatever is in the way.

 

[In2toys]

foam fillem

 

[James-W]

I put tubes in the tires of my rider mower, but I checked the rims to make sure there were no sharp points of any kind sticking up. I didn't find any sharp points, but if I did I would have ground them down with a real small grinding wheel on my little air-powered grinder.

 

[Falcon67]

Slime and don't be stingy.

Some of the thorn holes do bleed green when I pull them but only for a while, slime works wonders.

Yea, well... I does work. HOWEVER - if you EVER unmount that tire for repair, you will be damn sorry you ever used that ****. It stays liquid in the tire, is extremely nasty and you'll play hell getting it all out.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

I put tubes in the tires of my rider mower, but I checked the rims to make sure there were no sharp points of any kind sticking up. I didn't find any sharp points, but if I did I would have ground them down with a real small grinding wheel on my little air-powered grinder.

That's a good point, the ones I've did I removed the tires from the rims and found there was some welding splatter in some spots, which I ground off with a dremel

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

I picked up my new tires today. They have a lot more rubber than the old ones did. I'm going to see how things go before I grab the slime for the reason above. The mower is a 2003, so I guess they did not owe me anything.

 

[redmondjp]

That's a good point, the ones I've did I removed the tires from the rims and found there was some welding splatter in some spots, which I ground off with a dremel

I've had to do this on several wheels for wheelbarrows, hand trucks, and riding mowers that originally came with tubeless tires, before I installed inner tubes. It's time-consuming, but after going through all of the work to install the tubes, I don't ever want a failure again.

The slime is only a temporary fix, whether used inside an inner tube or a tubeless tire, and is a huge mess to clean up eventually.

 

[Sevenhills1952]

2X this ◇

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