Taking a 38x18.4 wheel off the hub or the axle

chuckinnc · Aug 31, 2016

I need to remove 38x18.4 tire & wheel off the tractor, I need to swap it out with one on a junked tractor. I don't have help around like in the past, so Im wondering which would be the easiest, the hub is about 3" thick cast and weighs a ton, if I take it off that way then I have to slide it off the axle or if off the hub then loosen and remove all the rim bolts?

Tx Jim · Aug 31, 2016

Have you considered removing rim from cast iron center IE leave center on axle? Is tire fluid filled?

cool hand · Aug 31, 2016

Is the tire loaded with liquid ballast? What kind of equipment do you have to handle a heavy wheel? Offhand I would think it would be easier to remove the rim from the wheel center first.

rrlund · Aug 31, 2016

Are you changing the rim and tire,the rim only,or the entire wheel,center,rim and tire? If you're just swapping out the rim and using your old tire,take the tire off the rim while it's on the tractor,then change out the rim.
If you're changing the whole wheel,center and all,it's kind of a no brainer that you'd change out the whole thing. I wouldn't take off anything I didn't have to though.

chuckinnc · Aug 31, 2016

Changing the tire/rim/hub have a complete assembly on a junked tractor. I can do it either way just the tire/hub or whole assembly

chuckinnc · Aug 31, 2016

The loader is on the tractor thats down so no lifting avalible, only small tractor with boom pole and the tire was loaded but I
has leaked out now, the rip or tare was on the bottom, I think the other one maybe a dry tire, not sure

Goose · Aug 31, 2016

I'd see if I could hire someone with the proper equipment.

retired farmer · Aug 31, 2016

If you are going to do it all by hand get someone to help you, those things are heavy. Save yourself from getting hurt if it should happen to fall on you.

jacksun65 · Aug 31, 2016

Get some help or pay to have it done. Farmer I knew a few years back tried to do one in his garage. wheel and tire fell over on him and killed him.

PJH · Aug 31, 2016

You shouldn't try this without mechanical help. You won't believe how heavy and unpredictable they are. I had one get away from me inside my shop years ago. I escaped by the skin of my teeth.

I second Randy's idea - remove the tire from the rim while it's still mounted on the tractor. Then remove the rim, then the center (if there's some reason that the center has to come off too).

MSS3020 · Aug 31, 2016

im all for doing things myself... BUT it was so easy to call the Coop out when I slit a tire.. I think it was $160. bill back a few years ago for the repair..I even have a skidloader and passed on it..lol Good Luck

rustred · Aug 31, 2016

so why do u have to change the hub if your talking about a flat tire? seams that it just a complete rim and tire swap? and with both tires empty its not a big job, with a little help..
not sure, but it seams like your making your self more work than nessesary.

ss55 · Aug 31, 2016

If you have a tire truck do the work they can also fill the replacement tire with liquid ballast. That tire probably holds around 1000 pounds of fluid. If the other rear tire is also poor, it might not cost much extra to have them swap both tires in one trip.

rrlund · Aug 31, 2016

I'd change it all at once then. Otherwise you'll have to lift the center and hub up to get it on the axle vs just rolling the whole thing up beside it.

old · Aug 31, 2016

Last one I did was on my Oliver S88 and I took the rim off and left the heavy center in place. If you can do it that way your better off then having to handle that heavy center.

oldtanker · Aug 31, 2016

I just had a flat on an 18.4X38. I wasn't in a hurry so I removed the tire and rim from the hub and hauled it into the tire shop. They have a machine that handles tires that big. I got charged an hour labor and a patch. If I had called them out it would have been 3 hours labor. I had help too! No fluid!

Rick

Tx Jim · Aug 31, 2016

I've changed several wheels & rims some even loaded with liquid. I always recruited one or 2 helpers to balance tire & rim to keep it in upright position.

BarnyardEngineering · Aug 31, 2016

Okay, I for one am totally unclear as to what the exact issue is that you need to change the entire hub/rim/tire assembly.

You should really only change what needs changing. You already said the tire is bad, and since the calcium leaked out we can assume the rim is not in the best of shape, but...

Is the hub broken on the good tractor? If the hub is not broken, then I would only change the rim and tire. Still heavy, but manageable with your little tractor and boom pole.

Depending on the brand and model of tractor, you may have some trouble getting the hub off the axle anyway.

Dick2 · Aug 31, 2016

The only flats that we had were on the loader tractor, so we had no way to lift a tire. They 38" tires too, full of fluid, so we just called the tire dealer and they came with their equipment and fixed the flat. Too risky to try to manhandle one of those and you need a real good lift to handle a tire full of fluid. Better to let a professional deal with it.

chuckinnc · Aug 31, 2016

Yep, that was the way I done it in the past, no dealers around that have service trucks, with all the population explosion around here in the past 30years only part time farmers are left and a 2000 Ford is thought of as a BIG tractor.

rustred · Aug 31, 2016

at least if you let us know what u are actually trying to do would sure make this simple. talking about hubs and rims and flat tires. it is a simple process to change a tire .

Taking a 38x18.4 wheel off the hub or the axle

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