Re: Slime for tractor tires

Posted by Hal/WA on May 29, 2007 at 22:56:13 from (66.45.175.118):

In Reply to: Slime for tractor tires posted by john200981 on May 29, 2007 at 16:55:06:

I don't live in mesquite country, but I have had lots of problems with fron tires going flat over and over from multiple hawthorn thorns working their way into the tube.

After paying to have tires fixed many times, I had the front tires on my Ford 641D foamed. At that time the tires looked almost new, with negligible wear to the tread ribs, and no breaks visible anywhere, but I knew they were full of thorns. The foaming cost over $100, and all went well for about 5 years. It was sure nice to not have to fix flat tires. But then one of the foamed tires casings split apart between the tread ribs, and eventually about half of the tire came off and was flopping, leaving the smooth foam filler in the rim. It wouldn't turn well at all like that, so I had to do something. I ended up cutting the remaining tire and foam "doughnut" off to be able to reuse the rim. This was accomplished with a sawzall and prybars in about 2 or 3 hours of hard work. I replaced the damaged tire with the best new front tractor tire I could find in Spokane and just aired it up. Within a few months, that tire started going flat, so I added a whole quart of Slime for tube tires, and have only had to add air 2 or 3 times in the year since then.

Now the other foamed tire is splitting between the ribs, similar to what happened to the first one. Just why this happens, I am not sure, but I suspect that it occurs because the foam causes the tire casing to be affected by different forces than what it was designed for, since the foam is almost completely solid and doesn't give much at all.

I decided to try the Slime, because I have had good luck using it on my riding lawnmowers, which had similar problems from the hawthorn thorns. And I decided that foaming the tires was too expensive and probably put more strain on the tractor, since the air filled tires would cushion impacts much more. Removing the second foamed tire will go much faster than the first one did, since I know how to do it now. But I was disappointed in the foamed tires, since I thought they would last my lifetime as much as I use the tractor. Time will tell if using the Slime is a good long term solution to the flat tire problem. But it is sure a lot cheaper than foaming. BTW I decided that it was important to have quite a bit of Slime in each tire, to make sure the inside of the tube is continually coated. The times I have had to add air were when the tractor was not moved for a month or so. Good luck!

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