Lots of snow, need to plow, FLAT tire!

[Melensdad]

Well I went out to plow some snow this morning. Made 1 pass down the driveway and when I shifted into reverse and drove backwards the tractor started vibrating. Huh? Never had that happen. Drove forward all was normal. Drove backwards and vibrated again.

Visual check and all looked normal.

OK note to self, don't drive backwards

Make another pass and all seemed normal until I got to the end and needed to do a 3 point turn. Again started to vibrate when backing up, but this time was even worse.

Another visual check, still looked normal. Backed up a bit more, all of a sudden the tractor is not level. Huh? Visual check #3 and the rear tire has broken its bead and is dead flat. OK this sucks, at the far end of the driveway, snow mound in front of me, rear blade has snow tucked up tight and a flat tire.

OK now what? Well I used the hydraulic top link to put some down pressure on the rear blade to take a bit of pressure off the flat tire, scooped up a bunch of snow in the front bucket to add some weight to the front end and use the front tires as a fulcrum point to further reduce rear weight. Balanced well enough, I was able to drive back (more like creep) to the garage. Of course all my tools were in the workshop, not the garage. Damn.

Get the tools and get MOST of the studs off, but 2 are stuck. No pry bar/breaker bar. Try a hammer against the socket wrench. Of course its cold outside, hands are really cold, so every blow against the wrench also hurts like hell. 10 minutes later I'm sweating but the last to are free. Not sure what kind of pressure they had on the air hammer at the dealership but damn it was about 100# too high.

The wife got her car out. Mine is not, but I should be able to get out. Tire is in the rear so I can take it to the shop. Damn.

Why do breakdowns always happen on the days when the weather is bad?

[PBinWA]

Originally Posted by B_Skurka

Why do breakdowns always happen on the days when the weather is bad?

Why do Snowblower shear pins always break when I'm a mile from home in the middle of the storm?

Why do I always get stuck late at night (also about a mile from home and at the bottom of the hill)?

Why does the electrical switch for my ROPS light not work at night but then works fine the next morning?

[BigAl]

That sucks . I hate flat tires . I waded into a bunch of blackberry's one time and when I backed out , I had a pitch fork ran through the front tire . I keep a tire plug kit in the shop incase I get a flat anymore , but if you broke the bead ....... oh goody .

[Melensdad]

Well I just left the local "fix it" shop. They can't help me out. Not only did the bead break but the valve stem came out and is now lost. So I need a new valve stem and the size I need is bigger than the "fix it" shop had in stock. I'll head to a real tire store and see if they have the right size in stock.

It was kinda funny to watch the big burly tire tech go out to the truck and try to pick up the tire. He sort of grunted moaned and said WOW that is heavier than it looks!

To which I replied, well now you know why I left it in the truck and had you come out to take a look at it!

[bczoom]

Bob,

Do you have any farm equipment tire repair places around you?

I have one about 10 miles away and they have trucks that come to your place to fix the tire. The trucks are "stand-alone" and can do most anything right in the field (literally, the field...).

This time of year, not much is in the fields planting or harvesting so scheduling wouldn't be an issue. I'd bet someone would get to my place within an hour.

Outside of a $30-50 driving charge, the services are at the same (or near) the rate as if it was done in the shop.

[Melensdad]

Originally Posted by bczoom

Bob,

Do you have any farm equipment tire repair places around you?

Yes, but...

All the farm equipment places are south and I had to drive north today. I knew the local tractor shop could do it, but I also was not sure I'd be able to get there before they closed.

But I got it fixed. 3rd tire store I went to. The cost was only $11.23 but the time wasted made it a big PITA.

[danocheese]

When I was much younger and not quite as stupid I had a rear go flat on my Massey 65. No problem I will jsut take it of and haul it twenty miles to town.

Two hours later I have a tire that is a little big for the ranger loaded up. Head to town. Guy comes out and says Yep that will be $2 and spins a new valve stem on. Inflates the tire and says have fun getting that thing back on. The tire was full of calcium chloride. So two hours later I have the tire monted again and off I go. I stopped and bought two more valve stems later and do you know what 14 years later I have never needed them.

I don't talk about front tires.

[Ice Queen]

My sympathies, I hate flat tyres. I have one on the snowtrac, but I am not too worried, lots of time to fix it as we are unlikely to have any snow so shan't want it until the rally season, so will be able to mend it in the warmer weather. Incidentally a bit of heat on the stuck bits will often help to free them.

[Dargo]

I can't recall if I posted any pictures or anything about it, but last winter, during our coldest stretch, I got busy at backfilling around my new barn. With the ambient air temps about -4 the ground was hard enough that I wasn't leaving any ruts in the yard. However, there were some previous ruts from the week before I had to cross. I hit one a bit too hard (obviously) and blew a tire and crushed the rim. Being out in the middle of nowhere I got to fix it on the spot. The ground was frozen enough that I used my 5 ton floor jack (a real joy to carry around) to lift the back of the tractor. Being that the tire and wheel weighs several hundred pounds and there's no way to get a forklift out there, I had to fix it where it sat. I spent hours with a 8 pound brass sledge hammer beating the rim back to being round and a portable 12v compressor. Believe it or not, the bead held my newly repaired rim and held air on the first try and has not leaked since. Still I recall how much fun it was working out in -4 temps with a constant 15mph wind. At least I didn't have snow to deal with.

Speaking of snow, I'm heading out now to meetings in the Indy area and then up to Rensselaer, IN. I'm assuming there is snow that direction? We have no snow here and have only seen about 1/2" all season total. I generally like snow, but I have a feeling if there's snow up around where I'm going, it's just going to make me late for scheduled meetings.

[Melensdad]

Brent, I moved a fresh 8" of snow off my driveway this morning and it is coming down VERY HEAVY right now. Traffic up here is a mess, I ended up driving backroads and side streets to get my daughter to school . . . and can't figure out why they didn't cancel classes???

Rensselaer is about 40 miles south of me so I'm not sure where the 'snow line' runs and if today's storm gets there or not. I suspect that it does because we are in near white out conditions in the rural areas due to blowing. I'm in Merrillville now and its just a mess up here.

I was in Lebanon (just north of Indianapolis) on Monday, there was NO SNOW south of Rensselaer through Lafayette to Lebanon. What little snow there was seemed to be spots in the shade and those ended near Rensselaer.


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Oh, and as for the tractor tire, I was feeling lazy last night and was almost dumb enough NOT to reinstall it. That would have been a mistake. Fortunately I got myself moving after eating too much dinner and put it back on. Air temps were about -2. I did fire up the torpedo heater in the garage, which didn't even get the area warm enough to melt the snow off the tractor while I worked on it, but the blast of warm air did make it reasonably bearable to remount the tire.

[deerhunter]

Good Morning--sounds like a bad day...My 35hp diesel had a hard time starting this morning also. I am new at this and not very computer savy, so I'm not even sure this is getting to you. If I may change the subject, I have sent a couple of messages on snow cats and can't find them in the site--do you know if they are there and where can I look for answers? I send a message on Monday and another today. Have a good day

[Melensdad]

Originally Posted by deerhunter

If I may change the subject, I have sent a couple of messages on snow cats and can't find them in the site--do you know if they are there and where can I look for answers? I send a message on Monday and another today. Have a good day

I see only 2 posts in the system for you at this time. One is in the WHITE MOOSE thread and the other is the one just above this reply.

I suspect that you hit the wrong button at some point? Forums are sort of tricky for people who are not used to them. Give it a bit of time and you will be a pro at using this one.

BTW, welcome to the ForumsForums.