flat tires

[big james]

o.k. guys ,what is the best stuff to put in the front caster tires to stop up pin hole leaks , no fix -a -flat please .:angel:

[richard coffman]

Mmmm, Here in Utah, you'll find this stuff that looks green that's called Slime. you can find it at most tire dealerships and bike repair shops. we've used it in all our lawn care equipment tires and trucks. check it out and ask for a demo. from what I've seen, it doesn't styick to your rims and cause problems that the fix a flat does. :D

Richard Coffman/owner
Special Needs LAwn Services

[plow kid]

We usualy tube front casters and put some flat blocker from www.gemplers.com in the tube it'self , Also in a truck tire the good stuff will patch a 1/2" puncture ~NaTe

[joshua]

nothing better than running over a nail in green luchious grass and picking up a nail. i kept the nail in for 3 weeks because it was fall and had no time to get the tire fixed. it served it's purpose. slime does work good, a friend of mine is a mechanic and uses it all the time with no problems.

[David Haggerty]

Berryman TIRE SEAL-R

Get it at Tractor Supply (TSC) for $20/gal.

The best thing is those polyurethane tires.

You can find them at J. Thomas and other places.

Dave

[MOW ED]

Don't screw around with the sealants go to a tire supplier and have them filled with foam.

The foam will NEVER get a flat and you could pound a nial in the tire and still run. I had constant problems with the bead breaking off the frontr casters until I foamed them. It cost 25 bucks a tire but well worth it.

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Slime

I used to use foam filled and had to many problems.

[edward hedrick]

Green Slime, a tire dealer here sold a sealer looked like Pepto
Bismol. Worked well

[MOW ED]

LGF
I am curious as to what problems you had with foam filled tires. I don't have my drive tires filled with them because I know that they would be very heavy but I can't even imagine the downtime if my front casters weren't foamed.

Walker even makes a foam type of solid caster tire for the decks.

Just wondering what problems you have run into as I have had none.

[awm]

best thing imho is a plug,then uer done w it. takes about five min.
later now. :) yea im slowin up in my older yrs.

[Highpoint]

All front casters and front tires on riders filled with foam. Love it! Never go back. No problems. How can you have problems?:blob3: :blob4: :blob1:

[bridges]

Where do you go to get foam in your tires, and do you still have to put air in them?

[plow kid]

no one has listed the cons of foam filled tires so I will
rapid Tire wear on walk behinds, the drive tires wear out in a seasons time
when you have a tire "foamed" you have to replace the tire AND rim when they wear out
foamed tires ride rough as hell
can cause a rough looking cut because of roughness if a lawn is not 100% smooth
you cant air them down for those soggy days where you need the bigger footprint
on front mounts they can make the deck hop and skip in rough areas
added machine wear from bouncing around all day
operator disconfort due to the roughness

[Green Care]

Bridges

Ask your dealer or tire repair shop No you dont have to fill with air anymore.

[JSG]

J. Thomas Zero- Flat tires aren't nearly as heavy as the ones
filled at a tire shop. I only put them on the front casters and
other small tires. I can't tell the difference between these and
air filled tires. I've never had any luck with the so called tire
slime products. Plus they're not cheap.

[Highpoint]

Plow Kid. No hard feelings, Honest.

In reply to the cons,

First con as listed above: You do not fill the drive tires!

Second con as listed above: So what? We run these tires into the ground! IF you wanted to , you could use the old wheel again. It would just take some time to clean off the old tire and foam. We have wheels and tires going on the 4th season. We used to have flats on a regular basis. fixing a flat is not that all hard BUT you gotta figure your time and employees time and so on.

Third con as listed above: So what again. Back to first con. You do not fill the drive tires.

Foruth con as listed above: Whaaaat? Never had this problem.

fifth con as listed above: Refer back to first con.

Sixth con as listed above: I'll give you this one BUT i'll say that in terrain that rough, you should not be going full speed.

Seventh con as listed above: Honestly can't be that much more. Any one that has seen the awsome abuse these machines go through at the factory during testing will agree that bouncing is not a problem.

Eighth con as listed above: Your a lawn mower man (or woman) Get used to it. AND you don't fill the drive tires!:eek:

PROS: No more flats! Period.

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Hard on the operator in the Velke tires.

Yes they wear out much faster.

Had problems with the caster yokes breaking off. Got rid of the foam filled ones and yet to have a caster yoke break off again.

They DO have less give so the front of the WB does bounce more.

Have not foam filled any ZTR tires, nor any drive tires.

They do have their advantages:

Extra weight on the front end.

No more flats.

But I'll maby just stick with the front caster tires only, If the flat problems come back again.

And If I did get them again, Northern Tool and Lesco sells solid foam tires, Not the filled ones.

Nate If you wanted you could cut the old tires up with a sawzaw. That what I did to mine to put pnematic back on

Highpoint those were lagit cons, every one has different problems, I agree to them to a point.

But the Pro's out weigh them. No more flats.

Like I said before, if I start to have flat problems again, I'll switch to the foam tires, not the foam filled ones.

[big james]

I don't plug pin holes and I don't plan on filling them with foam because I like the ability to adjust air pressure ,Briggs and Stratton makes a tire sealer that cost 2.50 a tire on a front caster ,I think I will go this route ,I'm not one who has a lot of flats THANKS FOR ALL THE INPUT !:angel:

[David Haggerty]

You were being generous when you said Added wear on the mower.
Solid filled tires will break the frame on a mower, and NO the mfg'r won't stand behind it. They know what caused it to break.

The only solid tires with the suspension characteristics of air filled are solid polyurethane, like these:

http://www.j-thomas.com/Catalog%20Pages/Page%20173.htm

A set of them came on the decks of the Toro 580-D I bought last summer. They don't show any signs of wear yet! I liked them enough I bought a pair for the front of one of the 325's 72" deck. No flats and they're soft too.

For the drive tires I use Berryman's. It's reasonable cost, it works and no rim rust. Why stop leaks from holes only to have it leak around the rusty rim?

Dave

[Oldtimer]

We have tried most brands of gorilla snot in an effort to reduce the frequency of flats and have not found one that works well enough to recommend it's use over the rest. We sell Toro, eXmark, Walker & Wright so that gives us a lot of tires to test.

We are in the process of testing a foam filled tire that only adds 7 pounds to the largest Toro/eXmark front castor and has the same feel as an air filled tire. This foam filling is the closest to a pneumatic tire that we have ever seen and it will bounce just like it had 7 or 8 psi of air.

The only suspension a mower has (one exception) is the tires and when they are filled with a hard foam the frames can stress crack. I know of one city that is currently having problems with their large out fromt Z diesels due to filling the drive tires with a hard foam. The mowers are less than 1 year old and are falling apart.

My advice is to use your favorite sealant and wait for the low density foam fillings to become available. The down side of low density foam is that the tire is sold as a complete assembly for the same price as a factory assembly.

Jim Brazil
Seville Lawn & Power Equipment
Pensacola, Florida

sales@sevillelawn.com

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

I've been using slime in my rear wb tires for 3 years without a flat. I average about 3 flats a year on my Velke tire. What I did was purchase a whole Velke wheel assembly for about $40 and keep it as a back up. When I have a flat, it takes about three minutes to change tires. Drop off flat tire at tire center and pick it up whenever. No downtime or jogging behind the walkbehind.

LAWNS AND MOWER

[Esby]

I did the same thing, bought another velky assembly. It has been a time saver a good 4 times since I bought it a year and a half ago. I have had some problems with the front canisters going flat on my Lazer, but generally just use some Slime for a quick fix and go.

[TLS]

Yeah, those front "canisters" will get you every time... :confused:

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Originally posted by LAWNS AND MOWER
I've been using slime in my rear wb tires for 3 years without a flat. I average about 3 flats a year on my Velke tire. What I did was purchase a whole Velke wheel assembly for about $40 and keep it as a back up. When I have a flat, it takes about three minutes to change tires. Drop off flat tire at tire center and pick it up whenever. No downtime or jogging behind the walkbehind.

LAWNS AND MOWER

Why drop off flat tire at tire center? A velke tire/rim is a 3 peice set plus tire and tube. Buy a tube and replace it your self. $7.

If it's a Velke x2 it should have a linch pin 10 seconds to swap wheel assm.. lol

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

LGf-- The tire center I go to only charges me $5 to patch tube plus I tried doing it myself once and the 90degree valve is a pain to get back into rim. It's worth the $5 to have someone else mess with it. I have a single wheel velke that has a bolt going through the wheel. Takes me 2 minutes to find the tools and 1 minute to change!!!!

LAWNS AND MOWER

[LAWNGODFATHER]

$5 is not bad at all.

And yes 3 minutes for the 1 wheel velke.

You could end that problem by trying a soft foam replacement. Lesco or Northern Tool.

[Jason Pallas]

One suggestion - the front/smooth tread tires were going flat frequently - simply replace them with a turf tread pattern. We had this problem with some of the front caster tires (always going flat on the smooth tread style). We changed over to turf treads and they rarely go flat now.

[Aaron Klemme]

Originally posted by plow kid
no one has listed the cons of foam filled tires so I will
rapid Tire wear on walk behinds, the drive tires wear out in a seasons time
when you have a tire "foamed" you have to replace the tire AND rim when they wear out
foamed tires ride rough as hell
can cause a rough looking cut because of roughness if a lawn is not 100% smooth
you cant air them down for those soggy days where you need the bigger footprint
on front mounts they can make the deck hop and skip in rough areas
added machine wear from bouncing around all day
operator disconfort due to the roughness


You are incorrect about all the above. I am the owner of a large tire and automotive corporation other than my grass cutting which is a side job. We sell thousands of lbs of fill every month. The foam is manufactured by a co. called Arnco. They have a softflex foam that is like riding on sponges. Also you DONOT replace the rim! the foam and tire is cut off after they are worn out. This we usally charge about $10 to do. Then a new tire can be put on and reused. You also have the option to retread the tire at a fraction of the cost of a new tire and foam fill. The retreads generally last about twice as long. As far as accelerated tire wear that is also incorrect with the trueflex fill. Generally they last longer because not only can you run them further down but there is not chance of destroying the tire. For more info e-mail me. Don't be cofused you are correct about some of this stuff but I can gaurantee you that you also had the wrong style foam in your tires for the equiptmet that your running.

[1grnlwn]

I have to agree with Aaron. The type of foam makes the difference. I foamed my Dixon fronts with hard foam, And it is one harsh ride. I like slime for most applications. But single bar Dixon casters were always hanging up horizontal and blowing the tire off the rim slime oozes out grass sticks to bead and slime air leaks out after remounting (repeat). I have a competitor who foamed his drive tires (hard I think) scraped the side of a tree with tire and broke off the wheel. There was no give to the tire. If I ever have problems again I will take time to find soft foam.

[ADA]

I got some "Snot" from Tire Centers Inc. It was an industrial product that you put in like slime. The slower the tire rolled the more that had to be put in. I was constantly having flats running over thorns in the edge of my property. This has stopped all flats. This product was thicker than fix a flat but I can not remember the name. It was a greenish blue and looked to have small thread like fibers in it ( like they now put into concrete) Aaron do you know the brand name? I will call TCI and see if they can give me the name . A note on this I put some in a four wheeler tire and WHEW hang on when you get going. Go slow until is speads itself evenly around the tire it is like a bucking bronco. I don't have much experience with foam but the little I do have is that it will cure flats. Like everything in life use the proper product for the proper use.