Thought I'd share some misery (with a smile)

[Coytee]

John Deere 430 diesel lawn mower.  For last three/four years, has a constant front wheel air leak so it's flat every single time I go get on it.  That gets really annoying.

Though I have pictures, they're not on my PC so I'll just give the story.  I already have bead breaker, three (what I'll call small) spoons to pull tire over lip and a three/four foot spoon to pull tire over lip.  Bought the big tools to do the rear wheel on 1066.

I'm going to tackle this annoying flat on the riding mower so I bought an inner tube.  Saterday was the day.  I go out, start hacking at tire and can NOT break the bead at all.  Probably wasted 30 minutes before I said heck with that idea.

Pulled wheel off mower, took to (industrial) backhoe.  I've done this before....  placed wheel flat on ground, grabbed some 2x4's of say 25" length.  Set them on tire close to bead and lowered stablizer to push them down and VIOLA....  break the bead.

Except the stupid SOB sprang back without the bead as much even moving.  I decided I needed a more perpendicular angle (I'm on hill so it was a bit sideways pressure).  I reconfigured the wood maybe seven times.  Each time, having to climb into machine to operate the lever...get down, adjust boards, jump in move again....stop, jump down, adjust.....  totally wore me out AND didn't budge an inch.

Ok, how can I get a more vertical application of pressure?  Raise bucket, put the bucket blade down and configure boards standing on end, laying flat, stacked two high, using cross boards above them so one board is pushing the two singles....

I was at this for probably 1 1/2 hours and I DID get the tire to break the bead.  Great....now I can try to wiggle one of these tools in there......

 

It was NOT going to happen.  This thing was tight as tight can be.  Finally I asked myself why am I fighting this?

Already had the tube.  Got in into car, drove to Firestone and he said they normally don't do mower tires,  but he'd see they can do if I can  leave it.  It's in a  town opposite way I normally go for work so figured I'd eat lunch, go to store for wife and return.  Did so and on return, saw the poor employee fighting this SOB wheel for literally 90 minutes (and they have those pneumatic tire machines)  About 5:55 (they close at 6:00) guy brings wheel to finished area so I walk in.

Manageer said they had wondered who was sitting in the car for 90 minutes.  Gave  tire back and refused to charge me.  Just ask that next time I'm needing tires, to give them a thought.

I hadn't expected at and had no cash.   I might be back there next week....I want to slip the worker $10 for his efforts. I felt bad for him BUT that convinced me if they had a hard time, there was no way I was going to get it with bare hands and the  weenie tools I had.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

I would personally rather change combine tires than small mower tires. The combine tires are less frustrating. 

[junkandcattle]

Youngest son bought a screw type bead breaker that works fairly well. He also bought a a set of spoons. I already had some bigger ones.  When he is home he always wants to fix a random implement or trailer tire. He bought some 11 x 16 tri ribs to replace some cracked ones. Well one blew out before it got replaced.  It was cold and muddy of course.  65 years of sometimes not so smart ideas led me straight to the tire shop. Went to settle the score and he said I owed 12.75. YAHOO 😀

[lotsaIHCs]

Lawn mower tires are some of the worst! Floppy sidewalls and tough beads make them hard to break loose. I'd much rather work on car, pickup, semi or tractor tires.

[mark60]

i spent more time than i am willing to admit trying to break the beads on an atv tire ended up cutting it off with a sawzall and angle grinder for the beads not fun but i got it done.

[TomH]

I hate lawn mower tires, just had one last week. Pump it up and the next day it was totally flat.I added 6 OZ of Slime and so far it’s held air all week. 
This stuff works great in mower tires.

[yellowrosefarm]

I know this sounds redneck as can be, but on a lawnmower tire like that, break one side and pour a half a quart or so of motor or transmission oil in there. Used or new. Air back up and drive around some. I had one that I could air up and watch it go flat. With the oil, I haven't added air for over a year. Probably have a dozen with oil in them here now. No clue why it works, but it does.

[iowaboy1965]

1 hour ago, yellowrosefarm said:

I know this sounds redneck as can be, but on a lawnmower tire like that, break one side and pour a half a quart or so of motor or transmission oil in there. Used or new. Air back up and drive around some. I had one that I could air up and watch it go flat. With the oil, I haven't added air for over a year. Probably have a dozen with oil in them here now. No clue why it works, but it does.

Probably softens up the rubber and allows the side walls to self heal a bit? 

I have 2 rears and a front on a differnt garden tractor that need tubes or replaced. I fought fronts on moms  cub when I replaced them. Like you say the sidewall springs back. Frustrating 

[Big Bud guy]

https://yourtireshopsupply.com/product/65/trc6-texas-refinery-tire-sealant-txc6?srsltid=AfmBOoq98HgsbIXrJwtVfkM_CVADxpXQ4R4WbryZvdjq0M8raNeKlW9f

 

We use this.  Have used it on tires on the swather and air drills. Works reasonably well 

[mmi]

18 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

We use this.  Have used it on tires on the swather and air drills. Works reasonably well 

TRc has decent products.BUT YOU pay $$$$ for all the BRASS to have perks.

Our distributor use to take 2-4 trips yr and new cadillac every 5 yr . (when gas/oil was < $1)  just for meeting the sales goal.

used drums of neats foot on all the 6/4 -hitch tach

Last grease was $5 tube  and order GOT entered as case/144  vs CARTON/12

[stronger800]

I’ll put air in a tire that I use exactly One time before it gets fixed or replaced.  

I have a 34 year old mower with original tires that still look good, but use to need air every spring.  I bought a gallon of that green slime stuff a few, or maybe ten years ago, and just pumped a random amount into each tire. Haven’t put air in them since. 

[New Englander]

I have a 16.5' batwing finish mower that has 10 small tires. I found the best bead breaker is an ordinary bench vise. Tip the wheel slightly so one side is on the fixed jaw while the movable jaw is against the bead tight to the rim. It works every time for me. After breaking the beads drop the wheel horizontally and clamp the hub in the jaws. I use my motorcycle tire spoons work well. Installing: Use Ru-Glyde and you can push the first bead on by hand. The second or top bead when clamped in the vise clamp a vise grip on the edge of the rim so the bead doesn't follow you around when spooning it on. Using this method and the actual tire change takes less time than R&R from the machine.

Breaking large tire beads I use the bucket teeth of the backhoe as it can pull in close sort of like the Coats 10-10 machine I used as a teen at Firestone. I put the rim on a piece of plywood to avoid beating it up.

I've seen guys wrestling with little tires without clamping it down and it looks like the monkey screwing a football.

[Lazy WP]

I’m one of those rare people who likes working on tires. Last week wife was complaining about the front tire on the zero turn going flat before she got the yard finished. Thankfully Bushhog used decent tires AND she had ran it flat long enough to break the bead. 
Took the tire off and cleaned the dirt and rust off the rim. No love, the valve stem was leaking. Break it back down and replace the valve stem. Reinflate it and the entire sidewall has tiny bubbles. By now I am getting frustrated. Brand new 32 ounce bottle of green Slime is now only a quarter full, but she has mowed the lawn twice since and not complained about a flat tire. Might have gone overboard with the Slime but I wasn’t doing it again. 
Next day I tackled a super single semi tire on an OLD wheel. ALL STINKING DAY and the bolt didn’t go all the way through!! Good for the tire, not for me. 

[1256pickett]

14 hours ago, Coytee said:

I hadn't expected at and had no cash.   I might be back there next week....I want to slip the worker $10 for his efforts. I felt bad for him BUT that convinced me if they had a hard time, there was no way I was going to get it with bare hands and the  weenie tools I had.

Donuts are usually appreciated more than cash from my experience. 

[Ihfan4life]

3 hours ago, Lazy WP said:

I’m one of those rare people who likes working on tires. Last week wife was complaining about the front tire on the zero turn going flat before she got the yard finished. Thankfully Bushhog used decent tires AND she had ran it flat long enough to break the bead. 
Took the tire off and cleaned the dirt and rust off the rim. No love, the valve stem was leaking. Break it back down and replace the valve stem. Reinflate it and the entire sidewall has tiny bubbles. By now I am getting frustrated. Brand new 32 ounce bottle of green Slime is now only a quarter full, but she has mowed the lawn twice since and not complained about a flat tire. Might have gone overboard with the Slime but I wasn’t doing it again. 
Next day I tackled a super single semi tire on an OLD wheel. ALL STINKING DAY and the bolt didn’t go all the way through!! Good for the tire, not for me. 

Had a leak in a trailer tire. Boss’s son said he could put a plug in it. Still leaking. Had the truck scheduled to go into the shop anyways so decided to look at the tire when it was there. He put the plug NEXT to the hole in the tire by making a NEW hole in the tire😂

 

[oleman]

I have some heavy duty, deep  c-clamps that are used for metal fab and small wheel repairs, and the large bench vice, still a pain in the ***. All large tires go to the tire shop, local farm tire store has some tire guys that make 13.6 X 28 10 ply, look simple even on a rim that has been mounted for 20 years. Last tractor rear tire I had worked on was $40, best entertainment show I have seen in years. 

 

[yellowrosefarm]

2 hours ago, Ihfan4life said:

Had a leak in a trailer tire. Boss’s son said he could put a plug in it. Still leaking. Had the truck scheduled to go into the shop anyways so decided to look at the tire when it was there. He put the plug NEXT to the hole in the tire by making a NEW hole in the tire😂

 

That's actually not uncommon. Some stuff doesn't go into the tire square to the surface. When you go digging around with the rasp and think you are following the hole straight down, you end up making a new hole. The original hole is at an angle coming out inside some distance from the entrance. Not saying that's what happened here, as knucklehead ingenuity knows no bounds.

[Ihfan4life]

3 hours ago, yellowrosefarm said:

That's actually not uncommon. Some stuff doesn't go into the tire square to the surface. When you go digging around with the rasp and think you are following the hole straight down, you end up making a new hole. The original hole is at an angle coming out inside some distance from the entrance. Not saying that's what happened here, as knucklehead ingenuity knows no bounds.

Knucklehead ingenuity mixed with bullheaded behavior 🤕 was the culprit behind that 

[Rawleigh99]

I HATE those little tires!

[Board Shortener Tom]

22 hours ago, mark60 said:

i spent more time than i am willing to admit trying to break the beads on an atv tire ended up cutting it off with a sawzall and angle grinder for the beads not fun but i got it done.

I've used those same tools for something similar! 🤣🤣

[Coytee]

Well.....  unexpectedly here's the rest of the story.

Got the wheel mounted and front yard cut.  Next day, I looked at front tire to gloat that it still held air.  The FOLLOWING day, leaving for work, happen to glance again and it is yet again, flat as a pancake.

I get home from work and go look at it.

Think tire stems.  Tire stem for tubeless tire is mushroomed a bit at the bottom with a ridge that might act like a grommet where the steel from the rim slips into this slot and the stem is held in place.  The stem for a TUBE, might be straight and not have this mushroom at the bottom.  (mine was straight as I happened to specifically notice that when I was preparing to drive it into town)

I got home, glanced at tire, presuming the fine lad who did the work must have pinched the tube and put a small hole into it.....  until I noticed the mushroomed  bottom of the tire stem .

In that moment I realize that little twit lied through his teeth.  He just put tire back together, did he squirt some slime or other in there?  (tire would go flat over night and this held for two days so it was "better", but not fixed.  So this twit put tire back together and kept or tossed my perfectly good, brand new tube that I brought to them.  I was absolutely livid and trying to figure out how am I going to walk into that location, hopefully FULL of potential customers and have a chat with the manager.  My voice can carry without me yelling so I was going to be firm and let him (and all their present customers) know exactly what that twit did.

So with those thoughts dancing in my head, I take tire off planning on this morning, taking it by the co-op.  Get there and I'm next.  15 minutes later, dude grabs the tire and starts his process.  He comes over to me (I was in the garage with two other customers)....he comes over to me and said he found a tube inside the tire but, he also found two stems.

What??  I'm having hard time wrapping my head around his words....I can comprehend a tube in there but how do you have two stems?  There's only one stem hole.

That twit that said he fixed the tire, lied to me and lied to his boss.  He took the brand new tube, STUFFED it inside the tire, stem and all.  Then, through the "tubeless" stem, filled the tire back and handed it over.  So he buried the evidence.  What this moron was thinking is totally beyond me.  I did however, feel slightly better because at least now, we had the already paid for tube and I didn't have to buy another one.

Guys at Co-Op, fix tire, properly situate the tube and got me out the door.  Charged me $8.50 (I was totally willing to pay more).  Now what do I do???? Rather than drive the 20 minutes to the Twits location and potentially creating a scene.... I called instead.  Got the manager on the phone.  I was still appreciative of what they did for me (or what he thought they did) then I explained the disappearing tube that was stuffed inside the tire and pointed out that his employee liked to both myself AND, lied to him, the manager.  Let  him know the tire is now properly fixed and whatever he does or doesn't do, now that he knows what his twit did (didn't use that word), is up to him.