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Putting Tubes in tubeless lawn tractor tires, has anyone done this to help with flats?

I got 2 tires one front and one rear, I have tried fixing and have taken to tire place to have fixed and still leak.

I reckon I am looking for if anyone has done it and where you could get tubes at?

blue06van said:

Putting Tubes in tubeless lawn tractor tires, has anyone done this to help with flats?

I got 2 tires one front and one rear, I have tried fixing and have taken to tire place to have fixed and still leak.

I reckon I am looking for if anyone has done it and where you could get tubes at?

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That's real common during mowing season and I would expect done on a daily basis.

I order my tubes from the local farmer's CO-OP but they can be purchased at most any establishment that looks like they would have something like that. Farm stores, NAPA Auto etc.

Great Thank You

How do you figure out what size you need for the tire?

This is a common practice for repair shops. It is used most often when the tire is good, but you can't get the bead to seal properly to the rim. As SandBur said, you should be able to get them at a wide variety of places. Go by the size of the tire.

blue06van said:

Great Thank You

How do you figure out what size you need for the tire?

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You give the place of where you are buying the tube your tire size and they should be able to know what you need. One size tube will fit differant sizes of tires.

If something goes thruogh its more trouble to pull the tube out to patch it though. I tried the same thing, and in the long run I just went, and bought some new tires from mgrassroots.com. I have bought several sets from him, and he has add matched any price so far. The first time you get a hole in the tire, and tube its a pita to have to brake the tire down, and pull the tube out.

Tubes are pretty expensive now-uh-days. I know it has been a few years since I bought an inner tube, but I know they were less than $5 each then. Now they are around $20 a piece. That's almost half the price of a new tire pre mounted on a new rim. :confused2:
Make sure to clean up any sharp areas inside the tire and rim so they can't poke a hole in your new tube. One of those valve stem tools only costs a couple of bucks and is pretty handy. And be careful not to poke or pinch the tube when you are trying to get the tire back over the rim.

`The first thing to do is find the leak. I find my tire leaks by putting the tire and wheel into a tub of water with about 20 psi of air. Then go from there?
Hole in tire thread I patch it, around valve stem replace stem. tire bead leaks, clean wheel with wire brush and install tire bead sealer on tire bead., if the wheel itself leaks then I install a inner tube or hole in the side wall of the tire a inner tube. This is the way I repair tires in my shop and as a rule have good luck.

Bob E said:

Tubes are pretty expensive now-uh-days. I know it has been a few years since I bought an inner tube, but I know they were less than $5 each then. Now they are around $20 a piece. That's almost half the price of a new tire pre mounted on a new rim. :confused2:
Make sure to clean up any sharp areas inside the tire and rim so they can't poke a hole in your new tube. One of those valve stem tools only costs a couple of bucks and is pretty handy. And be careful not to poke or pinch the tube when you are trying to get the tire back over the rim.

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Yep I noticed the price increase too they have went up quite a bit. I bought one last year for a guy, and for the 20x10x8 in my area was $23 plus tax. They used to be like $12.

reynoldston said:

`The first thing to do is find the leak. I find my tire leaks by putting the tire and wheel into a tub of water with about 20 psi of air. Then go from there?
Hole in tire thread I patch it, around valve stem replace stem. tire bead leaks, clean wheel with wire brush and install tire bead sealer on tire bead., if the wheel itself leaks then I install a inner tube or hole in the side wall of the tire a inner tube. This is the way I repair tires in my shop and as a rule have good luck.

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Absolutely correct. You can get tire bead sealer at an auto supply like NAPA.
Make up a solution of dish soap 1 part to 3 or 4 parts of water and brush it around the rims. With the tire under pressure, the bubbles will appear,but not right away. Give it some time and air it up a little strong to 15 or 20 PSI and the leaks will show up.
With all the aluminum wheels [just give me steel,please] on autos these days,sealing a tire with bead sealer is a skill worth learning.

Thank you all

What are slime filled tubes? Are they worth the extra dollors?

slumlord said:

Absolutely correct. You can get tire bead sealer at an auto supply like NAPA.
Make up a solution of dish soap 1 part to 3 or 4 parts of water and brush it around the rims. With the tire under pressure, the bubbles will appear,but not right away. Give it some time and air it up a little strong to 15 or 20 PSI and the leaks will show up.
With all the aluminum wheels [just give me steel,please] on autos these days,sealing a tire with bead sealer is a skill worth learning.

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I agree with this, but the only thing missing clean the wheel its self where the tire bead goes real good with a steel brush. I use a brush in a hand grinder.

I should also state that once this tractor is back up and running , it will be located at my girl friends parents lake house 3.5 hours away and 1 hour from closest town.
I need this to be rock solid with the ablity to worked on with limited resources: ie tools and parts.
The property is 1.5acres on a hill leading to lake that normally only gets visited once a month, some times more.
I dont have a trailer so bringing it back and forth to house to work on is difficult.

If you clean the bead area of the wheel off, rust, dirt, etc, and shoot some paint on it will usually do the trick. Have you considered 4 ply tires instead of 2 ply? But as mentioned if you put the slime in there it should seal itself as long as the hole is not to big.

wjjones said:

If you clean the bead area of the wheel off, rust, dirt, etc, and shoot some paint on it will usually do the trick. Have you considered 4 ply tires instead of 2 ply? But as mentioned if you put the slime in there it should seal itself as long as the hole is not to big.

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I've not had any luck with slime. It left little green spots on my floor as it continued to leak, didn't hardly slow the leak. More plies is my thought. It's what worked for me. But mounting new tires on a mower wheel is not for everyone. Being financially challenged, I had no choice. But there are options. A friend who is an old tire guy wanted me to use latex paint. Said it works better than slime. Then there's foam filled, they also make a liner, goes between the tire an tube. It was me, I'd look for 6 ply online, unless the thorns are really bad that ought a do it. If you do decide to mount the tires yourself you're in for a heap o fun. But don't take my word for it, check you tube. Mounting mower tires. Spoiler alert, it involves either expensive equipment and or fire. You probly wasn't using them eye brows fer nuthin nohow! Good luck! :drink:

Bob E said:

Tubes are pretty expensive now-uh-days. I know it has been a few years since I bought an inner tube, but I know they were less than $5 each then. Now they are around $20 a piece. That's almost half the price of a new tire pre mounted on a new rim. :confused2:
Make sure to clean up any sharp areas inside the tire and rim so they can't poke a hole in your new tube. One of those valve stem tools only costs a couple of bucks and is pretty handy. And be careful not to poke or pinch the tube when you are trying to get the tire back over the rim.

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My interest in using a tube in a tubeless tire is saving money and time. I just finished mounting a tubeless Carlisle 20X10-8 for which I paid nearly $70 and which arrived in such a malformed condition that I couldn't set the bead myself. I had to take it 20 miles into town where the repairman had to use a "bead blaster" to make it happen.
Except for a hole in the sidewall of the tire which was too big to patch and which Slime wouldn't fill, the tread was fine. Call me ignorant, but I didn't realize that I could use an inner tube on a tubeless tire. We go and grow, right?
I see that I can get the right size Slime inner tube for under $20 on Amazon and that's what I intend to do, next time. I can set the bead with my compressor and have done with it.

blue06van said:

Putting Tubes in tubeless lawn tractor tires, has anyone done this to help with flats?

I got 2 tires one front and one rear, I have tried fixing and have taken to tire place to have fixed and still leak.

I reckon I am looking for if anyone has done it and where you could get tubes at?

Click to expand...

I've found the cheapest permanent solution is to get one of those foam canisters from the local car accessory retailer and squirt the foam in. Lots of car manufacturers supply a canister instead of a spare wheel & tyre, they are intended only as a "get you home" solution for cars, but it's OK to leave the foam in for low speed work like mowing.

I have had excellent service from Gemplers (check on the internet) with anything to do with tires, tubes, and tire repair tools, and many other things. They have an excellent tech staff to answer questions about tires, tubes, wheels and etc. They ship as soon as the order is received, and sometimes I get my order next day. They are in Wisconsin, and I am in Michigan. I am very pleased with their parts and service.

We put tubes in the front tires on our ZG326 Kubota. We have still had to patch then regularly. I am seriously considering going back to tubeless with about a half gallon of slime in each tire. At least if it starts to show a leak it will be easy to find and plug.

I went to harbor freight(online and brick stores ) and got a small tire changer to put tubes in all my mower tires,:smile: they have tubes also, it works good with a little dish soap on the beads you can get the tire to shapen up by putting 2x4s between the beads for a day or two just cut the wood a little bigger then the width of the wheel and use a strap around the tire when putting tire on:thumbsup:

I just had the shop put some tubes in the tires for my father's Storm 2410 blower.

One of the tires would not hold air.

I have one of those hand cleaner dispensers like in store rest rooms. The liquid soap used in the dispenser is the best thing I have found to make mounting and dismounting tires easier. I think Goop hand cleaner would work good.

I put tubes in all 4 of my ZTR's tires. I found them on eBay.

one good thing about tubing a tire is that it will make the tire last longer then if you just put a new tire on every time on goes
flat In my shop we put bout 10-20 tube in people tire in the summers season so it is a very common thing to do to most outdoor
power equipment

I'm a fan of foaming it'll get you the most out of your tire sure might give you whiplash but ehh

Ralph said:

....................... I just finished mounting a tubeless Carlisle 20X10-8 for which I paid nearly $70 and which arrived in such a malformed condition that I couldn't set the bead myself. I had to take it 20 miles into town where the repairman had to use a "bead blaster" to make it happen...................

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I found "Bead Blasters" $300.00 price was too high for me, so I made one from an old Freon tank, a 2" ball valve and a little MIG welding.

1) Hook up air line to valve stem of tubeless tire to keep bead seated once you blast it.
2) Stick flat end of 2" pipe between wheel and tire and blast it.

It works great. I pressure tested it to 200 psi and do not fill it to over 100 psi when I use it. I have tried may methods of seating a tire bead, but nothing else has ever worked this good.

CAUTION:
1) Don't try welding on a pressure tank unless you are somewhat of an expert welder.
2) Do not point nozzle towards anyone. The noise is deafening to anyone close to the end when discharged.

Click photo to enlarge.

Harbor Freight has a tube that is 18 x 8.5.

The tire on my mower (Craftsman KT2000), I am having an issue with shows 18 x 9.5.

Would I be able to use this tube on this tire to go from Tubeless to Tube. It has a hole in the sidewall that I cannot seal. Had a plug, I removed tire and put on a patch, that didn't hold. Then I inserted a new plug, that is not holding either.

Thanks,
John

If it is the tube i looked up the description shows a 18 x 8.50/9.50-8 so it will also fit the 9.5 width tires.

It will be a bitch to stretch over the rim but apart from that it will be fine.
The thing to watch is the valve does not pull back through the valve hole.
Tubeless rims have their valves around 1/3 the way up the side and tubes usually have the valve on the centre line
This means that the tube will be twisted sideways and will try to pull back into the tyre as it gets inflated till the pressure pushes it out.
Thus it is a good idea to slip a nut on the valve before you inflate the tyre.

bertsmobile1 said:

It will be a bitch to stretch over the rim but apart from that it will be fine.
The thing to watch is the valve does not pull back through the valve hole.
Tubeless rims have their valves around 1/3 the way up the side and tubes usually have the valve on the centre line
This means that the tube will be twisted sideways and will try to pull back into the tyre as it gets inflated till the pressure pushes it out.
Thus it is a good idea to slip a nut on the valve before you inflate the tyre.

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I use a 4-way valve stem tool when installing a tube in my tires. I slip tube in tire push stem through hole then attach the stem tool.

For anyone that doesn't have a valve stem retaining tool handy in his tool arsenal, there is a good quick inexpensive way to make one. It doesn't matter if the stem goes back inside because it can usually be retrieved.

SeniorCitizen said:

For anyone that doesn't have a valve stem retaining tool handy in his tool arsenal, there is a good quick inexpensive way to make one. It doesn't matter if the stem goes back inside because it can usually be retrieved.

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4-way stem valve tool is only $1.49 at Auto Zone p

Rdr202 said:

4-way stem valve tool is only $1.49 at Auto Zone p

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Not many live across the street from Auto Zone. Example : I'm about a 60 mile round trip but I wouldn't step through the Auto Zone door again if I did lived across the street.

Usually I find if you remove the valve core & use an air duster with a large hole, the air will enter fast enough to make a seal on the beads.
Some times I need to pu a strap around the tyre and even jiggle it back & forth to get the beads to touch some thing solid & take.

The reason for the small air tank tyre inflators is to prevent injury to the tyre fitter .
Most tyre shops and a lot of workshops will have a large air receiver on the end of the compressor .
Mine is around 100 gallons.
So if some thing goes wrong, 100 gallons of air at 150PSI will instantly try to become 100,000 gallons of air at normal atmospheric pressure which is effectivly a bomb.
It is ot odd for a tyre shop to have compressors running 200 psi so the fitters can not draw air faster than it can be supplied and you don't want to be around when that lets go.