Loaded tire, now flat

[severtki]

I have a B3300su with loaded rear tires. One day I used the tractor to push some snow around, and then a few days later I took it out to snowblow early in the morning (pitch dark) and couldn't get any traction with it, everything just spinning around, and I had to leave it outside where it was. Came back a couple days to finally look at it and found some strange-smelling fluid all underneath. Checked all the fluids and everything was fine -- could NOT figure it out.

Long story short -- it was the liquid from one of the loaded rear tires, now flat. Can't think why this would have happened -- never hit anything, and it was a little cold but nothing we haven't seen before.

What is the liquid they use, anyway? Smells like burnt or rancid molasses or something, can't quite tell.

Anyway, it's going to be fun getting that thing loaded onto a trailer for repair, with the snowblower unit attached and with the access lane snowed in...

Or is this something I can likely do in place? Jack up the back end, somehow reseal the tires and refill with... what? Or remove the wheel and take it in to a tire shop? Seems like I'd never be able to get it back on with the added weight...

 

[85Hokie]

What you are really saying is the bead is broken AROUND the tire/rim and this is where the fluid came out?

The tire was flat and without realizing it - the rim spun on the tire?

That burnt smell - being "molasses" might be beet juice - aka rimguard. Expensive stuff btw.

IF bead is broken - getting air in that tire will not be fun .........
taking the tire will not be fun either...... but I think it is your best bet .....
Rim/tire off - drag onto trailer and haul to tire shop - do not fill it ! Get it back on the tractor and then come back to fill ! Two trips is not fun - but trying to get that tire with ballast on the tractor.... on the side of the road.... in the snow..... not fun at all!!!!!!!

 

[kubotasam]

The molasses smell is "Rim Guard" made from beet juice.
If bead of tire is still up on wheel you can fill with air and then deal with moving the tractor to a better spot to work on it.
If bead of tire is not on wheel you could jack it up and put a ratchet strap around tire to try to get bead to seat. Removing the valve core will allow more air into the tire to help seat the bead.
Other than that all I can say is remove tire and take it to a tire shop to have it fixed and refilled with rim guard. Depending on size of tire will require some strong people to put tire wheel back on. Be careful.

 

[severtki]

I checked my original invoice, and it is indeed "Rimguard". Sounds like nothing toxic or anything I should be worried about having spilled all over.

Bead is definitely off, tire completely loose around rim. I'm thinking the advice to remove the wheel and take it to a tire shop for reseating is good. Perhaps I should just have it filled with air for now, so I can manage to get it back on the tractor, then get it re-loaded later this spring.

 

[whitetiger]

Perhaps I should just have it filled with air for now, so I can manage to get it back on the tractor, then get it re-loaded later this spring.

That is a good thought. There has to be a reason it leaked so reseating the bead and airing the tire up would be necessary anyway.

 

[Dave_eng]

With ballasted tires the volume of air within the tire is small and it is easy to have the air pressure gradually drop and reach the point where use of the tractor can unseat the bead.

Before removing the wheel, try this one trick that has saved me on a few occasions.

With the wheel jacked off the ground, put a heavy duty ratchet strap around the center of the tire and crank it really tight. You will see right away if this pressure on the center of the tire will force the sidewalls towards the rim flanges.

You cannot damage the tire by putting pressure on it with the strap.

Have the tire valve away from the bottom where any remaining Rimguard will be sitting.

Try airing the tire. If the bead will seat it will be apparent very quickly. Once the bead starts to seat you need to gradually reduce the ratchet strap pressure as the air pressure builds within the tire.

If you find air is escaping too fast to start to seat the bead, next remove the valve core as doing so will allow air to flow through the tire valve much faster and may just be a big enough increase to overcome the initial leakage around the bead.

The bead will stay seated allowing you time to reinstall the valve core.

Dave

 

[marklbota]

You could buy a bead seater for $50-75 and seat the tire right on the tractor. Certainly easier and probably about the same price as taking it to a tire place.

 

[jimh406]

You should check to see if your dealer or local tire shop that does tractors to see if they know someone who will come to your place to fix the tire, and there are other services that will come to fill it. Assuming your tires are about the size of mine, they aren’t light.

Good luck.

 

[Creature Meadow]

For me I had my front tire go flat, had a screw in and the bead broke loose. I tried all kinds of ways to add air back to it with no luck. Even removed it and laid it on ground with uncle helping and after couple hours no dice.

Loaded in back of truck and carried to local tire shop 3 miles away. in 10 minutes he had it sealed and used some type of adhesive to help ensure bead stayed sealed. Fast forward 4 years and no problems. Cost was $5.00 gave him $10.00 and now give him all my tire business. My front tire much lighter than your rear but if it were my rear tire I would remove from tractor and carry to tire shop.

Good luck!

The idea to load tire later and just get tractor back to barn sounds like the way to go. Rim guard will add couple hundred pounds guessing to the tire thus making it even harder to get back on tractor and sounds like conditions with the snow just makes it all more difficult to work in.

Jay

 

[retired farmer]

I would try the ratchet strap thing first, can't hurt. It's worked for me several times in past years.

 

[jpmacie]

when i first got the loader on my tractor i had the rear tires calcium filled worked great till i went bushhoging and put a piece of metal in the tire getting it fixed and refilled cost me more than what i charged for the mowing job then when it happens again so i got brand new tires on the rear and had them FOAM filled NO more flat tires and since then i got new foam filled tires on front so i never worry about them

 

[DustyRusty]

I had a similar problem with my tractor, and I learned that the root cause of the tire spinning on the rim was that the rims are painted on the inside of the bead. The Rim Guard gets between the tire bead and the rim bead, and the tire looses its grip on the rim. What I did was to lay the tire on its side, and break the tire from the bead, and then I sanded the inside to roughen up the paint. Stood the tire back up, and refilled the tire with air. Lost very little of the Rim Guard and never had a problem with the filled tires after that. At the same time, I replace the rubber valve stems that Kubota used in the rims with metal valve stems.

 

[Henro]

when i first got the loader on my tractor i had the rear tires calcium filled worked great till i went bushhoging and put a piece of metal in the tire getting it fixed and refilled cost me more than what i charged for the mowing job then when it happens again so i got brand new tires on the rear and had them FOAM filled NO more flat tires and since then i got new foam filled tires on front so i never worry about them

While it will not help the OP in his predicament, I agree that foam filling tires has some great advantages. I have all 4 foam filled on the BX, and the fronts foam filled on the B.

If I get a puncture on the rear R4s on the B, I will likely get them foam filled as well. The cost will hurt though. But only once...

I have heard complaints of foam filling ending up causing a harsh ride. Never bothered me, but I suppose it may bother some.

 

[severtki]

OP here with an update. After several tries (air alone; ratchet strap + air; exploding ether, etc.) I was finally able to reseat the bead on the tire in the field.

What finally worked was using Murphy's Tire Soap (really goopy vegetable product, just packed it around the rims), ratchet strap, and removal of valve stem when airing. Took a couple tries to get enough of the goop in, but once I did, the bead popped right into place. Mine was a bit complicated because there was still a few gallons of RimGuard in the bottom of the tire just below the rim, and I think that didn't help anything.

So, I'm back in business. Just have to get the air-filled tire loaded again, which doesn't sound like anything I can do without a special pump for the beet juice. I'm probably OK to run with one tire loaded and one not for a little light work for a while, right?

Thanks to everyone who responded!