Uh Oh, wife was on the tractor....

jwstewar

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Let me start by saying I've had a slow leak in the left rear tire of the tractor for years. It started when I ran a piece of barbed wire through the sidewall. That was probably in 2005 or 2006 somewhere around there. I took it in to Dad at the tire shop (Dad was in the tire business for 40+ years and knew his stuff) and since I had the washer fluid in it, he didn't want to break it down. He said we could plug it. So that is what we did, but it still always had a slow leak in it. In the summer time I could probably go 4-6 weeks between having to add air. In the winter, every couple of weeks. I just knew to keep an eye on it. Anyway, with the back story complete.....

I get a call from Monica. She sounded all worried. Since it was nice yesterday she was hauling some dirt into our new barn. She said that water started gushing from the back of the tractor and the tractor just started leaning over. She then saw the left rear tire was flat. I told her no big deal. So I go home last night, eat dinner, and set out to get the tractor back to the shop. I walk over to take a look at it. Yep, completely flat and the beads are completely unseeded. First thought was, can I drive it back to the shop. Hope, tire was flopping too much and I was afraid of hurting the sidewall. So I go back to the shop, get the gasoline air compressor, jack, a couple of rachet straps, and a flashlight.

You can see from the first picture how much the tire is off the rim. Take note of the rim. This is a 2003 tractor and the tires have been loaded with Windshield washer fluid since 2004 or 2005. There are no signs of any rust whatsoever.

I lower the rototiller to the ground and I use my little floor jack and raise the tractor up. First thing I try is just to put air into the tire. That didn't work. I then have my son hold the chuck and I tried pulling the tire forward. That wasn't working. So I throw the one strap around the middle of the tire. See second picture. Even with the pulling of the tire again. Still didn't work. So then I loosened the strap and moved it to the inside edge of the tire. I then put another strap around the outside edge of the tire. See the last picture. I then proceeded to crank those suckers down. Still wasn't working. I pulled and tugged on the tire. I then dropped the jack and drove the tractor forward just a bit and jack it up again. There I was able to pull what used to be the bottom of the tire up against the rim a bit better where it was "deformed" from sitting flat. I then actually also rotated the tire on the rim a bit. Hit it with the air chuck again. Finally it started taking air. I then proceeded to loosen the straps before I got too much air in it. Meant to get another picture, but by this time I was so muddy, I didn't want to touch the phone any more. So Keagan drove the tractor back to the shop and I drove the truck back to unload. I told Monica since we lost all of the fluid and will have to reload the tire, now would be the time to take it to get it fixed correctly. Then I will bring it home and reload it. I guess time to start watching who has winter formula windshield washer fluid on sale....
 

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jwstewar

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Oh, BTW, not sure if it was still up this morning or not. But I know that I will probably have to let the air out of it again and clean around the rim good to make sure all the dirt and mud are cleaned out good so that it isn't leaking around the rim. I knew that it was pretty much impossible to do that last night with how muddy everything was and how it was sitting.
 

jwstewar

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The tire ended up leaking back down pretty quick. I didn't mess with it a few days, I let it sit flat a few days - big mistake. When I took it off the rim and started drying the inside of the windshield washer fluid, the rag caught something. It was another piece of wire in the side wall. I pulled it out and put a patch over it. I decided while I had it apart I was going to patch the old plug as well. Did that, couldn't get it to retake air. Ended up having to take it into the shop where Dad used to work, they had to take their Cheetah Blaster to get it to take air. We then put the tire in the tank, it turned out my patch over the old plug was still leaking. At that point, I left it for them. They were supposed to put a plug/patch in, but they didn't and the manager wasn't sure what they did, but it wasn't leaking anymore. It has so far held air and that was on Friday. I've actually used the tractor quite a bit since then, probably about 10-12 hours on it moving dirt for our new barn. It is a bit weird with only one rear tire with fluid in it. It reminded me real quick of why I put the fluid in originally. Now I just need to find a sale on Winter Formula washer fluid and buy about 25 gallons.:dancing:
 

bczoom

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Somehow I missed this thread until now.

Glad it's fixed.

A couple things I'd do as a consideration for you.

It's dangerous so be careful but when I have a bead broken and the straps aren't working, I use an ether blast. (Starting fluid). Here's a youtube example.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ1k0WuNspk[/ame]

For the windshield washer fluid, can you make your own? It's basically adding methanol to normal WW fluid (or water). Hardware stores and performance shops should have it by the gallon.
I don't know how many gallons you need for that tire but here's 5-gallons for $38 which actually seems a bit high to me as I thought it was closer to $3 per gallon. Just mix with water.
http://www.nelsonpaint.com/T08-5Gallon-Pail.html

I believe -20 degree fluid is about 35% methanol.
 

jwstewar

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I'm trying to talk Monica into letting me buy a Cheetah Blaster. Found one on Craislist for $120. Looked new.


I figure if I watch around, I will be able to find the WW fluid for less than $1.50 per gallon. I believe last time I put about 25 in each tire. So should only cost about $40. I'll probably end up catching it as the stores start switching over to summer formula. Me, I just run winter formula year round in both tires and the washer reservoirs on the cars :wave:
 

bczoom

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I have a lot of denatured alcohol, methanol & ethanol and would make my own but it would cost too much to get some to you. If you head east over the state line anytime, I could give you a bunch.
 

jwstewar

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Thanks Brian, I'll keep that in mind. If I haven't filled it by mid-May, I may look you up. We will be at a goat show in Springfield, Ohio so I would actually be fairly close to the border. It would also be nice to meet you after all these years of talking online.
 

bczoom

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We will be at a goat show in Springfield, Ohio so I would actually be fairly close to the border.
I'm to your East (in PA). Springfield is still west of Columbus so you'll still be over 250 miles away from my place. A trip to Youngstown, Boardman or North Lima Ohio would get you close to where I am.
 

jwstewar

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I knew you were in PA, but for some reason I was thinking Indiana, guess I had a brain fart this morning. Well, there is a goat show in Wooster as well, that is getting us closer.
 

jwstewar

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I stopped at Rural King last night to pick up some supplies. They had winter formula Washer Fluid on sale for $1.39 a gallon. I picked up 10 gallons. I need around 25 or so, only got 10 because A.) the cart was full B.) with the bad roads we had, I didn't really want to throw any more weight than that in the trunk of the car.
 

jwstewar

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I ended up using a couple gallons of my stock pile of washer fluid that I had for the tractor. But we were at Rural King on Saturday and they had summer formula on sale for 99 cents a gallon. Thinking it was all I went to look at winter formula, it wasn't on sale, but they didn't have much of it left. So I ended buying all 16 gallons of winter formula they had left. Went home and reloaded the tire. I was able to get about 20 gallons in the tire. I swear last time I had put 22 or 23 in each one before. Anyway, it is in there now and I moved a bunch of dirt then Saturday and Sunday. Sure was a nice feeling get the tractor back "even". The thing that is weird, I don't understand how this 150 lbs or so in the tire can make the tractor feel even more stable than the 500+ lb tiller on the back, but between the tiller and tires, the little tractor can put the power to the ground and move a lot of dirt.:starbucks:
 

bczoom

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Glad to hear you're well balanced again. You had me worried for awhile there. ;)

About this time of the year when it's common for warm and cold to hit each other, I can see condensation on the outside of the tire, exactly where the fluid is filled to. Same thing on the bulk fuel tanks so I can easily check level.
 
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