Ford 3000 tire decision

I'm trying to make a tire decision on my Ford 3000. The tread doesn't look too bad but there's some pretty significant cuts and weather cracking throughout the rears.

The tractor is new to me and has been in my garage getting miscellaneous repairs before it goes into service at my family land 3 hrs away. Where it's ending up is not an ideal location for tire changes - pretty primitive. I noticed the left rear looking very low today. It's like the little amount of driving back and forth between the driveway and my garage jarred something loose and now it's losing air out of the middle of one of the "valleys" in the tread - and fairly rapidly.

Anyhow, these are fluid filled 13.6x28 R1s and I'd want to replace them with the same if that's the route I choose. I bet the tires and tubes are 15+ years old. The rims are probably pretty rough underneath.

Anyone have a strong opinion about how to move forward? Replace the tube and tire or just the tube? What's the estimated cost of each route? [code:1:8a1d4c21d6][/code:1:8a1d4c21d6]

If you are on the back side of your property and 3 hrs away,
If you have a blow out, it's going to be rough getting it fixed,

As my tires were looking about like yours, I just bit the bullet and had new tires and tubes installed, they filled them with tire fluid that does not
rust the rims,

Many times the tube may be leaking fluid inside the tire, possibly rusting the rim before you ever see it on the outside,

Cost was about $900 for a set of 12.4x28 good looking 8 ply rated tires,
If you plan on keeping the tractor for a few years get tires,

I just loaded it on the trailer, they even smoothed out a few rough spots on the rims for me,
Brought it home and was able to sell the old tires for $100 one had a large boot in it,

It's very difficult to load and unload a rear tractor tire on the back side of no where, could fall on you,
Just my humble opinion!

If.... you have access to air, electricity, and water.. always park the tractors next to it. Put a two gallons or more of slime in each rear tire, and half a gallon in each front. we live in an area of mesquite thorns and thats a fact of life. So slime and "working" the tractor is good. But parking the tractor with a hole on the top side of the tractor, for long periods of time, means it might slowly go down... So.. the ranch rules... ALWAYS bring tractor up to barn, even if for lunch.. as when you get back,, it could be flat... and this ESPECIALLY means the hay balers, mowco, rakes etc. Not only will they be flat, they will pop the bead loose making it almost impossible to air back up.

Anyone who screws up,, gets to go pull the tire and get it repaired... so its a lesson you never forget. Just like checking all the fluids, greasing it and airing up all the tires before you go out... You lean life's rules pretty young...Some of the equpment has to be partially disassembled to get the tire off.....

As to your tires.. Slime could get you by fine.. but if you ever get a rip in the tube from driving on it flat.. it absolutely will not work. When the tire starts throwing off hunks of rubber and exposes the tubes,, time to replace them.. Or the tire starts to rip due to too many thorns, time to change it. Old hard tires actually resist thorns better than new soft rubber tires. Rice tires with the extra tall lugs are fantastic in thorns. 22 ply aircraft tires are now on all the fronts and on all the balers and other equipment, and only have flats every couple of year or so on the small tires, but the rears... need lots of slime, and need a bit of air every month or so.

Probably best to replace them, changing a loaded tire is dangerous when doing it by hand, tire, wheel and fluid can be over 500lbs.
You'll want to have the tires removed then clean and inspect the rims for needed repairs or replacement, then paint the insides of the rims with a good rust prof paint, I use black frame paint brushed on for a good heavy coat.
Go back with the 13.6x28 or step up to the 14.9x28 but don't go smaller, I've had way more issues with not having enough traction than having to large of a tire.

If I had the cash I'd get a new set from the guys selling on that auction site. $900 delivered on new rims. That's half again as much as I'm into my 3400 for so I picked up a used 13.6 for $150, new tube for $50 and spent a week over the summer restoring one of the CaCl ruined rims before getting it back on the tractor.

(quoted from post at 09:04:23 11/24/16) If I had the cash I'd get a new set from the guys selling on that auction site. $900 delivered on new rims. That's half again as much as I'm into my 3400 for so I picked up a used 13.6 for $150, new tube for $50 and spent a week over the summer restoring one of the CaCl ruined rims before getting it back on the tractor.

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I got a quote to have four new tires put on. They'll come do it in my driveway. The brand he quoted was Akuret. Four tires, tubes, labor etc = $970

Some of the new foreign tires will crack and rot in 5 years or less. You might ask the forum for experiences with that brand. Sometimes new tires are worse than the old tires... depending on the type of rubber and how the carcass is made. Other brands seem to be ok... or at least fair... I would check.....Just saying.

(quoted from post at 09:17:18 11/26/16)
Some of the new foreign tires will crack and rot in 5 years or less. You might ask the forum for experiences with that brand. Sometimes new tires are worse than the old tires... depending on the type of rubber and how the carcass is made. Other brands seem to be ok... or at least fair... I would check.....Just saying.

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From what I'm reading, this particular brand seems to be in the upper end of the review spectrum. If anyone has experience with the Akuret brand please post an opinion! Thanks guys

My distasteful experiences are with tubes. Seems the local "have any tire for any application" 4th generation tire business uses Korean tubes. I
bought some several years ago and no problems. All my tractor tires are US built other than my 2016 Branson which has Korean Industrial
tubeless. The Titans on my 6530 Branson are 9 years old. The 6 ply rears are like new and no cracks. The 10 ply fronts are showing some
slight rings around the end of the tread at the centerline of the tire but no biggie.

I'm running Kelly-Springfield Powermark 2000 13.6x28s (tube type) on both my 2000 and 3000 Fords and would not choose any other size. Been on since 2005 or before and still look like new; tread holding up extremely well and no cracks.