Flat riding mower tire

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shan2themax

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One of my riding lawn mower tires is consistently flat. It will stay unflated while in use, but is flat by the next use. I don't see anything in the tire. What can I do to keep it inflated? Does the fix a flat stuff work? I don't want to have to remove it and take it to a tire place of I don't have to.
 
It is a common problem. What I would do is buy a tube and put it in.
 
I use fix a flat and it does work unless your bead is gone.
 
One of my riding lawn mower tires is consistently flat. It will stay unflated while in use, but is flat by the next use. I don't see anything in the tire. What can I do to keep it inflated? Does the fix a flat stuff work? I don't want to have to remove it and take it to a tire place of I don't have to.
There are 2 basic solutions, but the general/assumed fault lies with tires mounted on painted rims.

bud mention 1, and the other common fix is to apply a gasket sealer, like PERMATEX, to the rim.
 
I saw another solution, I wish I had seen before I bought new wheels for a hand truck. You drill two holes in the tire big enough for a tube from a can of Great Stuff to slip into. Two to give the air a place to escape. Then you proceed to fill the tire up with Great Stuff from both holes. I might not do it on a riding mower but it would be a perfect solution for a wheel barrow or hand truck with pneumatic tires. I wound up replacing the tires when I couldn't find replacement tubes locally on the hand truck.
 
I saw another solution, I wish I had seen before I bought new wheels for a hand truck. You drill two holes in the tire big enough for a tube from a can of Great Stuff to slip into. Two to give the air a place to escape. Then you proceed to fill the tire up with Great Stuff from both holes. I might not do it on a riding mower but it would be a perfect solution for a wheel barrow or hand truck with pneumatic tires. I wound up replacing the tires when I couldn't find replacement tubes locally on the hand truck.
Won't the foam get mashed down with a heavy weight especially with a had truck or wheelbarrow? As far as the fix for the mower tire I'm with havasu. I'd put a tub in it. That's what I did with my wheelbarrow. Otherwise I'd take it off the mower and air it up and put it in water and find the leak. It could just be the valve stem leaking. Might just need to tighten the core. If its the bead, peal he tire off and clean it up and put it back on. I wouldn't take it to a shop. Small tires like that aren't that hard to take off the rim.
 
SLIME is the best stuff. My rider was always going flat until I started to use Slime in it. I did have to add more Slime over the years but it lasted 15 or more years when I got rid of it.
 
Won't the foam get mashed down with a heavy weight especially with a had truck or wheelbarrow? As far as the fix for the mower tire I'm with havasu. I'd put a tub in it. That's what I did with my wheelbarrow. Otherwise I'd take it off the mower and air it up and put it in water and find the leak. It could just be the valve stem leaking. Might just need to tighten the core. If its the bead, peal he tire off and clean it up and put it back on. I wouldn't take it to a shop. Small tires like that aren't that hard to take off the rim.
I saw it on the internet so it must be true. I've never tried it. But I'd think on a wheelbarrow or hand truck it would be OK. You can buy wheels for both that are essentially foam filled. They aren't solid rubber. https://www.harborfreight.com/13-in-flat-free-tire-with-steel-hub-61606.html
 
I saw another solution, I wish I had seen before I bought new wheels for a hand truck. You drill two holes in the tire big enough for a tube from a can of Great Stuff to slip into. Two to give the air a place to escape. Then you proceed to fill the tire up with Great Stuff from both holes. I might not do it on a riding mower but it would be a perfect solution for a wheel barrow or hand truck with pneumatic tires. I wound up replacing the tires when I couldn't find replacement tubes locally on the hand truck.
My friend had a scrap business and was always driving his skid steer over sharp metal and going thru tires all the time. He also used it for snow removal. He took his tires down to a place and had them filled with some kind of poly. It reminded me of what super-balls were made of as a kid. The tires were super heavy but that kind of helped with snow removal and wasn’t a problem in his junk yard. He came up to help me plow out a old friend of ours place and I looked over and his tread was totally gone and he was driving on the poly fill material. The side walls were still there and some of the thread had inverted and was sticking out to the sides. He told me he needed new tires but he never had better traction so he was going to wait till spring.



You got me thinking about Great Stuff and I found a video and this guy says don’t use the regular or the window and door stuff but use the wide gap filler. I also found a video on a service that does something similar.



For me a trip to Tractor supply or even Harbor Freight for a tube is still simpler and about the same cost as a can of foam.



I built a pull behind mower deck once out of a old mower deck and it rode on two wheelbarrow wheels. One of them stopped holding air and I needed to get the grass cut right away so I opened the rims that were a split rim and filled the inside with some old corrugated swimming pool hose I had in my junk pile. About 5-6 turns and clamped the rim back in place. Finished the grass with the tire that was a little lumpy. Next week rolled around and I thought why not go again. I used that stupid hose filled tire until the engine gave out on the mower. Back then I was mowing 2 acres and having the extra 4’ cut off to the side of my 4’ mower deck really made the job go fast plus being able to run the pull behind under tree limbs and skid around a tree trunk was great. Last year I inherited a Cub Low-Boy with a 6’ deck I took off and just use the tractor for plowing snow. I have a JD mower with a 42” deck and only mow less than ¼ acre that I could easily mow with a push mower. I keep looking at that 6’ Cub deck that is in perfect shape and now that I have a welder could build a dandy pull behind using nice big tires. No use or need for it but sure would be fun to build. Lots of people are buying them now to pull behind their little 4 WD off road things.



Well here are the videos.







 
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