Foam filled tires

[jr1983]

Has anyone got any experience with foam filled tires? I am not talking about green slime I'm talking about solid puncture proof foam fill. Is it expensive? Can it be done at home?

 

[moresmoke]

Its expensive, heavy, and rides horrible. Needs to be done by a shop that is set up for it.

 

[Philip d]

Had them on a feed cart,all of the above but they don?t go flat if you stuck them with a fork.

 

[jr1983]

I was thinking about it for some small brush cutting equipment. Any ball park ideas on what it would cost for a 750-15?

 

[Kansas4010]

I bought a tractor a couple years ago that had the front tires foamed. I hated them. They bounced the front end around so bad driving down the road it difficult to drive and extremely uncomfortable. It would bounce enough the front end would come completely off the ground and head the tractor to the ditch. They are also extremely heavy. It looks like the previous owner had problems with the wheel bearings and hubs on that tractor. I can't say for a fact it was because of those tires but I bought new tires and haven't had any problems since. They are a little 5.50 x 16 tire and weight easily as much as the 10.00 x 16's on my jd 4430. I would never want foam tires personally.

 

[BillinCentralMO]

Was having a lot of flats on front tires of 806 with loader. Foam filled them twenty years ago. No more trouble. I don't drive on highway much. They are really heavy. Two men just to roll one tire. It was about two three hundred dollars twenty years ago. I'n sure it is hard on the front end.

 

[Steve@Advance]

It has to be done at a shop that has the equipment.

You don't want to try to save an old ratty tire by foaming it, get new ones or at least good ones.

It is very heavy.

It is expensive.

We had the fronts foamed on a Ferguson TO 35. It gets mostly used for mowing, so the added front weight works well. Before foaming it was constant flats, mowing in mesquite thorns. It didn't really seem to change the ride that much, just some high speed wobble in high gear.

I don't regret doing it, it has worked out well.

 

[Dan in North Houston]

I had the fronts done on my small JD 850, and they are great. They are 5.00 x 15, and it cost about $50 per tire for the foam. If I remember correctly, it cost $1 per pump stoke of foam, and each stroke added about one pound, so it added about 50 pounds to the tire. I needed some more weight on the front, so that was fine. This is the second set I've had on this tractor, the first set of front tires wore out and started de-laminating. The foam may have contributed to that, but those tires were 25 years old before I had them foamed, and they lasted 10 years, with a lot of use in brush-hogging some pretty grown up land, so I'm still satisfied. This tractor is small enough and slow enough that I don't notice any difference in how it rides when transporting down the road.
I don't believe I would use the foam on a big front tire, it would be very heavy and I don't doubt the ride problems that others have mentioned. I have the re-treaded 18 ply airplane tires from Gensco on the front of my 4020, and they are also great. I've had them 7 years with no problems, they still look like brand new.

 

[Ande]

I sell Woods cutters to my county every year, all have foam filled. No flats. Customers are starting to buy them. Price depends on the equipment I assume

 

[Texasmark1]

I have rough terrain. Ive tried numerous things to soften things including running low air pressures. Tires, especially front idlers have a hard time staying on the rim. On one of my ZTs I decided to go with FFTs up front. Tires come on wheels and everything is solid. It's like rolling on a brick. If you can stand that..........

I put one on my wheelbarrow and OK fine.

 

[MSM]

I would go with the heavy ply airplane tires. Not so hard on the front end components and a much better ride

 

[ptfarmer]

Google "Tireject", slime is junk! To foam fill a single 7.50x16 I was quoted $375 by a place that foam fills tires so I got the Tireject sealer.

 

[PJH]

I've used an airplane tire on the single front of a JD 630. The first one lasted 35 years or so without a single flat. I replaced it with a new one not too long ago, then I felt a little frisky and mowed in under a big locust tree on a neighbor's field. Next morning it was flat - four holes. I should have known better - those thorns are nasty. I guess I'm lucky I didn't puncture a back tire.

I don't think I'd want foam in a big tire like that.

Years ago, a friend found some steel wheels to fit the back of his Ford tractor, for mowing around locust trees. I was out there a few days later and it was in the shed with both front tires flat.

 

[ohiojim]

had them on the front of my kubota L3400 for awhile, they ride really rough but if you're mowing thorns it's worth it. they are pricey.

 

[Texasmark1]

What's a safe distance from them.? Have a new neighbor and looking at haying his property this summer but lots of trees in certain areas. Kinda figure if you stay outside the drip line you should be ok.

On the thorns, they get you in areas where you already mowed? What kin of mowing device did you use......shredder towed behind you or dis-drum-sicklebar out to the side??

Comments would be appreciated.

 

[BigPapa53]

(quoted from post at 08:26:54 02/05/19) I've used an airplane tire.......

I’ve seen several mentions of using airplane tires. I searched the web on them a few weeks ago and all I found were already mounted. I can’t imagine an airplane wheel fitting my 3000.

Where are you finding these tires? What do they cost? What kind of wheels are you running them on?

-Scott

 

[PJH]

Mark, if you walk around them, you'll find small pieces of broken limbs, complete with the three inch thorns, well outside of the drip line. The wood is brittle and breaks off easily. I have some in my pasture, and the cattle might kick them out there, but somehow they are there.

Yeah, they get you in areas where you've already mowed. The thorns are nearly as hard as nails and they stand up like a little girl's play jack, so think how much you straddle with your tractor, then next time you don't hit the exact same tracks and find the new ones.

I'm a small timer and mow hay with a NH 451 sickle mower, but I mow other areas with a shredder. It doesn't seem to matter what you're using.

I'm gonna cut the tree on the neighbor's place. It's on a tight corner and the limbs hang out 20' from the trunk, so I mow on three sides of it. It's always a mess when you cut one - there's thorns laying everywhere. I plan to use a leaf rake to police the area, but still bet I'll miss some.

 

[Leroy]

Just a question on that. Could they have only been filled partillay full so all the weight was on one side? If like that I could compair it to a car tire not being ballanced correctly. Have no actuall idea as never saw a foam filled tire that I know of.

 

[PJH]

Scott, my son works in a local auto repair/tire repair shop. He found the bare airplane tire with no rim for me at a reasonable cost. I think it was a retread, but I could not see any defects or seams. I don't have the receipt before me, but it seems like it was around $100, tube extra. Mine is odd - 11.00 X 12 and has a take-apart rim - the kind that is bolted together in the middle. The tire itself is made in Great Britain. Check with your local tire dealers. Here's a picture after a recent bout with locust thorns.

 

[shinnery]

On the aircraft tires check out http://www.genscotire.com/

 

[Texasmark1]

Thanks PJ. Looks like the neighbor will have to look elsewhere. Tire problems would way outprice any assumed gain from the operation.

 

[Kansas4010]

Partly I'd say you're right. This was my first and hopefully last experience with foamed tires. The ones I had if you feel the tire you can tell there are uneven spaces where the foam didn't completely fill the tire. The other thing is there is no give at all with the foam. Think about riding around on steel wheels that aren't nice and smooth.

 

[hd6gtom]

I had dozens of them filled when I owned my tire shop. They work very well, yes they are heavy. They have no air in them, when filled they are 100% full. Mostly filled skid loader tires. We also sold a few of those old aircraft tires. They cut the inside of the beads down. They are very rough and eat up tubes within a weeks time. You need to spend at least an hour per tire with a buffer cleaning up the mess that is created when they cut the bead.