Go Bottom

Leaking tires

View my Photos
Hal DeWitt
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 22 New Brunswick, Canada
TractorPoint Premium Member -- 5 Tractors = Very Frequent Poster

2002-11-10          44841


I have a 1 year old B7500 with R4 tires. The tires are loaded with calcium. I read some postings on tire pressure and thought I would lower the pressure in the rear tires. They have been extremly hard since I purchased the tractor. The first thing I discovered when I went to remove some air was that the tires were completly full of fluid. With the air value at 12 o'clock I let out fluid until I started to get just air. I adjusted the air pressure visually until I had a fair bulge in the sidewalls. The next morning I noticed fluid on the garage floor and discovered both wheels were leaking around the rim. The only way I could get the leaks to stop was to increase the pressure back to about 20 pounds. Hard tires again. Any suggestions. Whole unit is new with only 180 hours.



Reply to | Quote Post Reply to PostQuote Reply | Add PhotoAdd Photo



Leaking tires

View my Photos
DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
TractorPoint Premium Member -- 5 Tractors = Very Frequent Poster  View my Photos  Pics

2002-11-10          44845


Sounds like someone filled your tires while they were lying flat instead of standing up. 100 percent fluid is not a good thing. If it was me I would let enough water/air out to where the tires were nearly flat and the rims were almost touching the ground and then I would refill with air to establish the right size air pocket in the top of the tire.
As for the fluid seepage, my 4100 did the same thing and I never exactly figured out why. They never went flat, but they would occasionally weep fluid around the valve stem hole. Best I can deduce is that when filled, there is some fluid that gets between the tire and the tube and eventually it finds its way out.
This is one of the reasons I gave up on CACl and went to wheel weights; you just can’t keep the stuff off the rims even with tubes.
One of the doctors I used to work for had an expression he used (off the record) when a patient would call and report they had bleeding and it wouldn’t stop. He would shrug and say “ALL bleeding stops.”
And so does all fluid leakage from tractor tires.
After establishing the correct air space, I would try about 10 psi in a 1300# tractor’s rear tires and wait for the seepage to correct itself. If you can stop the leakage by increasing the pressure then the tubes are not leaking. You are just getting the same mystery fluid I got.
Might want to price out some Kubota wheel weights while you are waiting. Mark
....


Reply to | Quote Post Reply to PostQuote Reply | Add PhotoAdd Photo



Leaking tires

View my Photos
BudG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 15
TractorPoint Premium Member -- 5 Tractors = Very Frequent Poster

2002-11-10          44847


I doubt if he has tubes in his tires. Kubota would have to pay for them on a new tractor.
I have a B2400 with 6 ply R4 tires, they are tubeless. They also leak under low pressure. I have antifreeze up to the axle. I took the antifreeze out once to clean the bead and rims, but put it back in and bought tubes. Now I want to take the tires off, and leave the wheels on ( if I can ) because of the brackets for the wheel weights. If the air is all out of my tires they look like they are full, not enough weight in the tractor to flatten the tires.
Bud ....


Reply to | Quote Post Reply to PostQuote Reply | Add PhotoAdd Photo



Leaking tires

View my Photos
DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
TractorPoint Premium Member -- 5 Tractors = Very Frequent Poster  View my Photos  Pics

2002-11-10          44853


maybe you should get some tubes then? ....


Reply to | Quote Post Reply to PostQuote Reply | Add PhotoAdd Photo



Leaking tires

View my Photos
TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
TractorPoint Premium Member -- 5 Tractors = Very Frequent Poster

2002-11-11          44859


I'm guessing tubeless. I haven't heard the experiences of anybody running low pressures in industrials. However, I'd look for a load chart for the tires and see what the minimum pressures are. I know R4's are much stiffer tires than AGS or my Turfs. There's a chance that low pressures under weight would break the bead off the rims and allow seepage.

Minimum pressures for R4's may be greater than Ags and Turfs. I know that 4-ply R1 and F2 rear tires for my Ford each have 20 lbs. minimums on their charts, but there's no indication if lowers pressures are OK.

Too bad I couldn;t find full load charts any longer at the Firestone site at:
(http://www.firestoneag.com/products/databook.asp).
It's still a pretty good place to nose around for tire stuff. The site does list max loads at a pressure. The max loads for industrial/construction tires are 45 to 60 pounds while the max loads for R1's are around 14 pounds. I'm guessing that a tire intended for 60 pounds of pressure might not work well at 10 pounds.
....


Reply to | Quote Post Reply to PostQuote Reply | Add PhotoAdd Photo



Leaking tires

View my Photos
Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
TractorPoint Premium Member -- 5 Tractors = Very Frequent Poster  View my Photos  Pics

2002-11-11          44861


Mark, with the pumps we use to fill tires today if the foellow filling them is not paying attention it is very easy to overfill tires. We do put tubes in when filling Kubota tires. We know there is a cost to this but the benifits as seen here are numerous. ....


Reply to | Quote Post Reply to PostQuote Reply | Add PhotoAdd Photo



Leaking tires

View my Photos
DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
TractorPoint Premium Member -- 5 Tractors = Very Frequent Poster  View my Photos  Pics

2002-11-11          44867


Seems a little irresponsible or cheap for a dealer to fill tires with a salt solution and not use tubes.
I am glad you do the right thing Art.
I would bet that most consumers would be willing to pay the extra cost of tubes if allowed an informed choice.
After all they just spent $20K on a new tractor, why would 50 bucks worth of innertubes bust the deal? ....


Reply to | Quote Post Reply to PostQuote Reply | Add PhotoAdd Photo


   Go Top


Share This







Member Login