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**Please welcome Deborah from Grace Garden and Homestead. I am a tiny-winy jealous of this farmer’s wife since she gets to farm 500 acres alongside her husband. 500 acres! Can you believe this? It’s like owning the whole USA. It seems like we share the love of the land as well as the love for tractors, LOL. Today, she will teach us how to patch a tractor tire.
When you get a flat tire on your tractor, it basically shuts you down. At this point, you’ve got two options. The first option is to wait for someone else to fix it—which can take a day or two and hundreds of dollars…
The second option you’ve got is to do it yourself—if you know how. This option saves you not only valuable time but money as well—a lot of money.
On average, we fix 6-10 tires a year on various tractors and implements on our 500-acre family farm plus the custom work we do for others.
An implement tire fix would be about $20-40 depending on who we take it to. One of the larger (non-fluided) tractor tires would cost us $300-400 to have someone else come out and fix it.
Obviously, it’s important for us to fix our own tires as often as we are able. This is a skill I highly suggest anyone who owns a tractor should gain.
After you get your tube out of the tire, you will need:
Inflate your tube until it’s firm.
You can either listen for a leak after turning off your air compressor or use the dish soap solution to find your leak.
To use the dish soap method, put an inch or less of Dawn in your spray bottle and fill the rest with water. Warm water works better because it mixes with the soap quicker, but cold will work too. Swirl the soap and water together, and then take your spray bottle to your tube.
Use a broad spray to spray the tube until it is wet. (If at any point you find the leak to be obvious, you can stop spraying.) Look for bubbles emanating from one spot on your tube, that is your leak.
If your leak is slow, you may need to put more air in your tube to find the leak. Using the least amount of pressure that will still result in finding the leak is a good practice, as using too much pressure can not only blow up your tube but also increase the size of your hole.
Mark your hole with chalk, crayon, or whatever you have.
Now you’re going to have to let the air back out by removing the valve core (with your core tool).
At this point, find a smooth, flat, clean area on your driveway or in your shop to move your work to.
Use your buffer to remove the glaze from the tube around your leak. Do an area slightly larger than your patch. Don’t over-buff or you will ruin your tube. Keep your buffer moving quickly and stop when it becomes black in color. Ten seconds is usually more than enough.
Apply the glue to the buffed area in a light layer while making sure it covers the entire area. Don’t stick anything to it, and let your glue dry. Really. This can take awhile in cool conditions. Go get a cup of coffee if you’re doing this in cold weather.
Once your glue has dried, it will still be slightly tacky when you touch it, but it won’t transfer to your finger.
Take the backing off your patch and center the newly exposed side of your patch over the hole in your tube. Now very firmly (yup, really) roll your stitching tool back and forth over the patch, starting in the middle, and working your way out.
You need to do this in various directions until the clear plastic coating detaches from the front of the patch.
This plastic coating may not completely come off, but rather just come loose in several spots. Once this happens, use your fingers to gently remove and discard it. If it doesn’t pull loose easily-keep stitching/rolling until it does.
Now, something caused the hole in your tube. Any debris between the tube and tire, a nail through the tire, a wrinkle in the tube caused by too large of tube for the tire… All sorts of things can deflate your tire.
Examine the inside of the tire itself carefully for the cause of the hole. Remove any objects inside of, or poking through the tire. If a hole through the tire is discovered then follow the same procedure to patch the inside of the tire. This is not done to keep air in, but rather to keep debris out, as even sand grains will eventually wear a new hole in your tube.
Now you can reassemble your tube and tire, install your valve core, and inflate to the proper pressure.
I don’t recommend checking the integrity of your patch by inflating the tube outside of the tire as this will stretch the tube beyond normal circumstances and could potentially compromise the integrity of the glue/patch bond. It shouldn’t, but it could.
Congratulations, you’ve just saved yourself a couple hundred dollars. Go ahead and get back to work.
Lee
Hi! I’m Lady Lee. I help homesteaders simplify their homesteading journey while still producing a ton of food! I am a single mother of four, I was born in Israel and raised in an agricultural commune called a Kibbutz. Now I homestead in central NC.
We want to help you fix a flat tire on your lawn tractor.
If you do not feel that you understand these steps, or can perform them safely, consult your tractor dealer or local mechanic. Also always consult your tractor owner’s manual for model-specific information.
Time to get started.
Lawn Inspection
First and foremost, take a walk around your lawn and do a quick inspection.
Look for hard or heavy objects that could propel themselves from the mower blades. Your blades run at speeds of up to 170 miles per hour. Those blades could propel an object fast enough to punch holes in your tires or cause other damage.
Tractor Inspection
Every so often, shut down your tractor and check the tires.
If you notice you have a leaking tire, it likely has a hole in it from a sharp object that was originally in the lawn.
You can perform minor tire repairs at home. (Note we said “minor.”) This would allow you to finish mowing your lawn.
Afterward --- make sure to take the leaking/flat tire to a repair shop and get a professional repair or replacement.
The best method to repair tire holes depends on the size and location of the hole.
Locating the Hole
Finding the hole can be very tricky.
You may not be able to see it.
To find a small hole in your tractor's tire:
Now you have found the hole(s).
If not, you will need a tire professional to take over at this point.
Let’s assume you found the hole(s) and continue forward.
Tire Repair
First --- if you do not feel comfortable repairing the tire hole – do not. There are trained professionals that will take care of everything for you.
Small Hole
If a hole is less than 1/16th of an inch in diameter, you can likely repair the hole with a tire sealant.
Here is how:
If this does not work --- speak with a trained tractor tire professional
Larger Hole
If a hole is more than 1/16th of an inch in diameter, use a tire plug to repair it.
Here’s is how:
If this does not work --- speak with a trained tractor tire professional
Adding Air
To add air, you will need to purchase an air compressor and tire gauge.
Once you have an air compressor --- you can add air to the repaired tire.
First --- check for the pounds per square inch (PSI) rating. This tells you the maximum air to add to a tire. This rating is embedded on the tire's sidewall, near the rim.
Use a tire gauge to check the tire pressure through the valve stem.
Gradually add air to inflate the tire to the correct psi.
If you accidentally overfill the tire --- press your fingernail on the metal pin, in the center of the valve stem to release some air. Then use your tire gauge to check the PSI again.
After you reach the proper PSI, listen for any leaks.
If the tire is fixed, you can resume the tractor’s operation.
If this does not work --- speak with a trained tractor tire professional
Hopefully, this brief article has helped you understand how to repair a flat tire on your lawn tractor.
If you need any further help or have any questions about flat tires, tractors, implements, or anything else, please contact your dealer, local mechanic, or call us at 602-734-9944. Please ask about our current new and used tractor supply.
Team Tractor Ranch - #1 Tractor Dealer in Arizona. We sell and service most major brands of tractors including Yanmar, Kubota, John Deere, TYM, Mahindra, Kioti, Case, New Holland, Massey Ferguson, Ford, Deutz, Case IH, Farmall, International Harvester, Branson Tractors, LS, Shibura, Claas Tractor, McCormick Tractors, Valtra, Solis, YTO, Montana, and Nortrac.
Let's start with the fact that a tire puncture on a modern car still needs to be noticed. Therefore, the driver needs to monitor the force on the steering wheel, the noise from the wheels and the tire pressure indicators on the instrument panel (if any). If a punctured wheel is not noticed in time, the tire will be completely chewed up and the issue of its repair will be removed: only a replacement.
But we will proceed from the fact that the puncture was noticed in time. If there are signs of a flat tire - the car is pulling to the side, a rumble or rhythmic noise from the side of the wheel, wagging the stern - you need to gradually reduce the speed and slowly pull over to the side of the road in a safe place.
Dealing with a flat tire right on the roadway is dangerous, you should not do this.
Not in all cases the driver can solve the problem of a flat tire on his own. But you need to try to find a puncture or air leak in order to immediately decide on a strategy for solving the problem.
The old but sure way to check with saliva at the valve hole is known to all drivers: make sure that the air does not try to blow out moisture with a bubble. If he still tries, the spool failed. If you don't have a spare, try to stop the air from escaping through the damaged nipple by prying the cap with a thin tool, as if trying to pull it out. The measure is temporary, but often effective.
Do not rush to immediately extract it into the light of God.
First of all, do not rush to dismantle the flat tire in order to repair it or change it to a spare tire. Try to determine the intensity of the air leak. It may be easier to pump up a flat tire with a compressor or pump and drive to the nearest tire shop, where professionals will take care of it. In some cases, for example, if two wheels are damaged with one available spare tire, only periodically pumping up a better preserved tire and you can get to the service station.
“Promising” in this regard is a leak at the place where the tire fits on the rim and a puncture on the tread - usually such damage does not lead to an intensive release of air, that is, by pumping up the wheel, it is quite possible to get to the workshop.
If the decision is made to have the wheel repaired on site, follow these tips.
When it comes to dealing with a flat tire, don't forget about safety. First of all, you need to put up an emergency stop sign at the back of the car, as required by traffic rules and common sense.
When using a jack, be sure that the machine is fixed in the air securely. Tighten the wheel nuts (or bolts) with the machine on the ground.
Another season of changing shoes is approaching. And you may remember that on one of the tires after the last winter/summer there is a jamb - a small bump. I don’t want to run to the store for the sake of one new tire. We understand. Or maybe it looks even better if repaired?
Yes, not every wheel that meets with a nail, rebar sticking out of the ground or a sharp stone on the road is considered damaged. Everything, of course, depends on the scale of the damage and its location on the tire itself. Some are easily repaired, while others are simply impossible to do - the tire can only be sent to the trash.
A bulge on a wheel, referred to by drivers as a bump or bulge, is the most common tire sidewall defect. It appears due to a collision with an obstacle or after falling into a pit, more often at high speed.
The threads of the sidewall carcass are easily damaged by impact, and the tire at this point can no longer hold the load and air pressure - swelling appears. A small bump sooner or later turns into a big one, and driving with such a defect is dangerous - the wheel can shoot at any moment. At high speed, this is fraught with loss of control, departure from the road and a rollover.
The quality of roads in Kazakhstan contributes to the appearance of bulges on tires
Some types of bulges are repairable, although this is a temporary measure. Not a single patch can restore the factory rigidity. Ideally, change the tire.
Special cord patches can extend the life of a tire with a herniation, even if the swelling has appeared on the tread. The sidewall is a different story. If the swelling appeared at a distance of more than 40 mm from the side, it can be repaired. If not, then the wheel needs to be replaced. Blisters on low profile tires are most often non-repairable.
For maximum safety when riding with a repaired bump, insert the tube. This is an inexpensive and reliable solution. On our market, you can find cameras made in China and Russia, the latter are slightly more expensive, but also of better quality.
The elimination of a side cut is a serious operation, therefore, as in the case of a bump, you will have to go to the professionals. We need cord patches, fortunately in our time they are of different sizes and with a different number of layers. And if you do it wisely, then you can't do without special tools and vulcanization.
A cut, by the way, can not be healed in all cases. If the gap is in the shoulder area of the tire, it is unlikely that anyone will undertake to repair it, since no guarantees can be given here. However, our Kulibins take on even the most difficult cases, cutting out parts of the sidewalls from the tires and even weaving the cord on their own.
Tire overhaul.
We wouldn't put such a wheel on ourselves
Low-profile tires can be repaired, but more difficult. A tear in the sidewall is easier to seal on tires with a medium or high profile.
Sometimes a cut is confused with a pluck. This is when the outer layer of the sidewall caught on something sharp, a tear formed, but the frame itself remained intact. There is nothing wrong with that, although the drivers at the tire fitting company successfully repair the cut, for which they take it accordingly.
If a piece of rubber remains on the sidewall, then glue it with ordinary superglue (101st). If it came off, then it is better to cover it with raw rubber and vulcanize. Leaving the pluck bare is not recommended, because the tire carcass, often consisting of a metal cord, will quickly corrode.
In Europe, defective or used tires are perforated before being sent for scrap to prevent their resale and possible operation. But they don’t know that we have such holes on the sidewall patched once or twice
Cuts and hernias are not the only possible damage to the side of the tire.
You can also spoil the side ring, in the process of changing shoes, for example. If it’s for garlic, then such a tire is already dangerous. Sooner or later, the tire pressure and the load in motion will start to squeeze the rubber off the rim - a wheel explosion can occur.
Repair of this ailment is taken if the wire ring - the base - is whole. There are no special technologies and materials to correct this particular problem, but most often craftsmen use a two-component composition for chemical (also called cold) vulcanization. After mixing, the mass is pressed into a fat-free damage. Compound manufacturers recommend waiting 72 hours before mounting a tire. Of course, our masters do not pay attention to this condition - they put the tire right away. And it’s good if the wheel is flat because of this at night in the parking lot, and not on the road.
If the side ring tears are barely noticeable, but the wheel still deflates, then you can use a special liquid - a bead seal designed to seal a tubeless tire.
These seals have been used in motorsport for some time. In particular, in the American Formula D Drift Series, drivers used compounds to keep the tire on the rim even with minimal tire pressure. Now they are banned.
Pay attention to the left rear wheel of the Nissan Silvia S13. Due to too low pressure, it was literally taken off the disk under load
Every schoolchild faced this problem when patching the tube of his bike after hitting something sharp. Repairing a car tire puncture with your own hands will also not be difficult even on the road. But for this you will need a pump (or compressor) and a universal tire repair kit with harnesses. All this is sold at any car market or gas station.
Repairing a tire on the side of the road with harnesses
The process is simple. If we are talking about the front wheels, then in most cases the wheel can not even be removed, it is enough to turn the steering wheel in the right direction, find the puncture site and carry out repairs.
First, the hole is cleaned with a helical awl from the set. The tourniquet itself is smeared with glue and tucked into the eye of the awl, after which it is inserted into the tire hole. With a sharp movement, the tool is removed, and the tourniquet remains in place and clogs the hole. The tails are cut with a knife, but not at the root, it is recommended to leave about 20 mm. The tire is inflated and checked.
Sometimes a nail or self-tapping screw clogs the hole itself, remaining in it. If you see a hat in a tread, do not rush to pull it out. While the pressure is holding, move to vulcanize. And sometimes they drive with a screw in a tire for weeks.
Repair of a puncture at a tire shop
Punctures are also repaired with harnesses at a specialized service, although among professionals such repairs are not considered long-term. After a few months, the flagella dry out and can let air through. There are more advanced methods like cold and hot vulcanization.
The latter is more reliable. In this case, the hole is sealed with an elastic patch, and the funnel from a foreign object is filled with a special compound. After that, a vulcanizer is put on the tire, it heats up the rubber and solders it.
In addition to the plaster, the puncture is also repaired with special cord fungi. Craftsmen process the puncture site: drill it and treat the surface with a tool to roughen it. Then the repair area is lubricated with glue (it is also called cement) and a fungus is introduced. This is done from the inside of the tire. The cap of the fungus is rolled, and the excess legs are simply cut off from the outside.
Puncture repair with sealant
With the advent of tubeless wheels, and later run flat tires, many automakers began to abandon spare wheels. Instead, repair kits with compressors are supplied with the machines.
A repair kit is essentially a bottle of pressurized sealant. Later, such spray cans began to appear on the shelves of ordinary car dealerships.
This method has not taken root in the CIS, because the condition of the roads makes it necessary to have at least a stowaway in the kit, but it can also be considered as a method of repair on the road.
Jack up the car and pump sealant through the nipple into the damaged wheel. Next, you should spin the wheel, then pump it up, lower the car and drive a few hundred meters. If the tire tightness has not been restored, repeat the procedure.
For commercial vehicles, cutting the tread with a special device (regrower) is a common thing. Moreover, such tire retreading is provided by the factory (marked REGROOVABLE on the sidewall) to increase the service life. But there are entrepreneurs who undertake to deepen the grooves in tires for passenger cars. But they are not intended for such an operation.
Often used tires for sale are “refreshed” in this way. Be careful!
What is the danger?
The worst option is that the retreaded tire will shoot out on the road, because when deepening the grooves, the master can damage the undertread layer. Such a tire will not be able to hold pressure at some point. There will be a boom! At best, the tire will indeed last a little longer, but is the game worth the candle? We think it's not worth it.
How is cutting made?
A regrower is used to cut the tread. Roughly speaking, this is a large soldering iron with interchangeable tips of various shapes. It goes through rubber like a knife through butter.
If the tire is for passenger cars, then it is worth taking on a regrower only in one case - when part of the tread pattern was welded with "new" rubber during repair. This is where threading comes in handy in order to restore the grooves and symmetry of the tread.
