Tube in tractor tire

[lobsta1]

I have an old Cub Cadet lawn tractor. How difficult would it be to install a tube into the front tire? It is a 15 x 6 x 6 tire.The
actual O.D. of the tire is 14 1/2".
Thanks
Al

 

[quads]

Shouldn't be too hard at all. The hardest part will probably be breaking the bead. Your local farm store should have a tube to fit it.

 

[johnsopi]

It a PIA to get the tire back togather, not that bad.

 

[SolarAndWood]

A spoon makes this a lot easier. TSC has them for $25. However, if that is all you are going to use it for, most of your local tractor shops will do the job for $10.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Dish soap or Murphy's oil soap helps a lot with seating tubes and getting the tire back on the rim.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

You can use one of those bike tire removal tools as well....find one at a bike shop for less than $5. (Looks like a thick butter knife with a hook on one end)

 

[quads]

To install a tube, you won't need to take the tire off the rim. Just break the bead, put the new tube in, pump it up.

 

[f3cbboy]

sometimes its a good idea to put some kind of powder in the tire so the tube can movein the tire and not bind.

 

[Highbeam]

Like quads, I would suspect that the tire is flexible enough with a wide enough tread that you could just squeeze the bead of the tire together to slip the tube into the inside of the tire. Meaning, you won't need to pull the bead over the rim but just in towards the center. If you do have to pull the bead over the rim then be sure not to pinch the tube while putting the bead back on.

I've succesfully plugged tractor and mower tires with a plug kit. The rat tail style plugs that you shove in from the outside.

 

[lobsta1]

Just got back from TSC with a new tube. Couldn't see buying a tire iron as the last time I put a tube in was for my bicycle back in the 1950's. I have a feeling that I will have to pry one side over the rim.
Al

 

[fossil]

You shouldn't have to pry the tire over the rim, just break the bead loose and collapse it in, as others have said. Get the tube in there as neatly as you can, and since the stem (probably) doesn't have flanges on it to lock it into the wheel, when you get the stem protruding out where it belongs, put a little hose clamp on it from the outside to hold it in place...otherwise, you risk pushing it in & losing it in inside the tire when the time comes to inflate it. I've found that a woodworker's strap clamp or a ratchet tie-down cinched around the perimeter of the tire is very helpful to encourage the tire to reseat in the bead when inflating...essential when you're staying tubeless, but also helpful when installing a tube. Rick

 

[drizler]

If you havent already done it try putting some talcum powder in there all over the tube before you shove it in. That will make it easier to put in and let it slide around freely and settle in without kinks and folds. If also keeps it from being pinched by the rim to some extent. There is no special way to put it on just plaster it up all over as best you can. It helps a lot.

 

[Gooserider]

If you havent already done it try putting some talcum powder in there all over the tube before you shove it in. That will make it easier to put in and let it slide around freely and settle in without kinks and folds. If also keeps it from being pinched by the rim to some extent. There is no special way to put it on just plaster it up all over as best you can. It helps a lot.

Might want to be careful to make it "tire talc" as opposed to bathroom or baby talc - the tire stuff is pure, but the bathroom stuff tends to be perfumed, with an oil based perfume that may attack the rubber and cause it to degrade over time... Or at least so I've been told in some of the older books that talk about tire changing w/ tubes.

Gooserider

 

[lobsta1]

I apologize for not following my own rule & posting an update. As it turned out, there was no way to insert the tube until I popped one side of the tire off. Once I did that, the tube went in pretty easy. Hard part was getting the tire bead back over the rim. I ended up using two old metal handled water pump pliers.They were thin enough & slippery enough, that I was able to pry the bead over, while kneeling on the tire. Actually went pretty easy once I figured it out.
Thanks everyone.
Al

 

[johnsopi]

It a PIA getting tire back on.A lot of sweating.

 

[JustWood]

Like quads, I would suspect that the tire is flexible enough with a wide enough tread that you could just squeeze the bead of the tire together to slip the tube into the inside of the tire. Meaning, you won't need to pull the bead over the rim but just in towards the center. If you do have to pull the bead over the rim then be sure not to pinch the tube while putting the bead back on.

I've succesfully plugged tractor and mower tires with a plug kit. The rat tail style plugs that you shove in from the outside.

I hate tubes and plug everything! Never had one fail either!
Prolly saved thousands in tire repair costs over the years with a couple of $50 kits and extra plugs at 50 cents a piece.

 

[Gooserider]

Plugs are good if there is a single puncturing object, you can find it and get it out w/o damaging the tire carcass to much... Trouble is, I'm told a lot of ope equipment leaks are caused by harder to find failures like a breakdown in the tire-wheel seal, or age related failure of the air-tight lining inside the tire... My OPE guy says that in those cases, a tube can be a better approach.

The other method I've seen used a few times with success is the good old can of "Fix-a-Flat" - if it works, it does a good job, and seems to last pretty well. The downside is that if it doesn't work, any subsequent repairs get really messy... A bike shop I used to help at would charge extra for any tires that came in w/ the stuff in them, just because of the extra cleanup it took...

Gooserider

 

[SolarAndWood]

Slime has worked about half the time on rim/dry rot stuff for me. Fix a Flat always seems to fail when a load is put on it.