Foam filled tires?

I keep seeing tractor ads with mention of the front tires being "foam filled".

What is this and does it work?

If it does work and it keeps the tires from going flat, where can I get some?

you ever driven a tractor with steel wheels??? if so you know what foam feels like driving...better off with airplane tires and slime.
another added bonus of foam...when tire wears out you cant get it off rim without alot of sawin and cussin.

It is exactly what it says,the tires are simply filled solid with foam.lots of folks around here do it now especially on construction equipment thats prone to a lot of flats.Farmers and landowners who have to deal with locust trees like it also,I my self have had as many as eight flats a day so its a lifesaver once in a while.Most of the time ,the folks i know who use it mount a new tire,the tire folks will then drill a few holes in it and start filling it with foam when it comes out the holes its full.Most use a new tire simply because you cannot remove the tire after its foamed unless you cut it of the rim ,or throw the whole thing in a fire and burn it off.The drawback is of course a rougher ride,harder on front ends and things.Because tire is for all intents and purposes a solid tire .Most dont do the rears simply because of the costs but it can be done,but expect some traction loss,because you lose tire flex.a better option there is to bite the bullet and buy logging type tires (read expensive!),they offer much the same tread patterns as ag tires but have 16-20 ply ratings.but they do afford SOME flex to improve traction. As for the where check the larger tire places around you,one that does a lot of truck,or construction equipment tires should be able to do it.its fairly common these days.

usually a hdpe foam.. kinda heavy.. adds a lil ballast.. makes for a hard ride on asphalt

no air inthe tire.. so if in thorns.. no flats.. etc.

lotsa tire stores will install it. I know some guys that have used low density expanfing foal from an insulation spray can to do similar with a set of tubed tires, with not as good, results.. but some results..e tc.

soundguy

best thing I ever did to skid loader tires

kinda not what it sounds like,..it's liguid rubber pumped into your tire,..will elimanate any future flats, heavy as h*ll, and rides rough...other then that it's great..LOL

Dave we have that done for hundreds of customers. I never heard anyone complain about it. It makes your front tires very heavy. Any farm tire shop can fill them or knowes someone who can. With your 3 rib tires you can still steer the tractor, with the implement tires you loose your turning. Someone here said put airplane tires on the front. We tryd that on several applications and had nothing but trouble, the tires themselves rubbed holes in the tubes. We took it in the shorts on them, removed them, and had the customer put new steering tires on, we paid for the foam fill. The people we got the airplane tires from would not take them back, we wound up paying big bucks to dispose of them

(quoted from post at 09:35:37 03/07/12) I keep seeing tractor ads with mention of the front tires being "foam filled".

What is this and does it work?

If it does work and it keeps the tires from going flat, where can I get some?

Click to expand...

It's pretty much what it sounds like, the tire dealer fills your tire up with foam so you can't have flats. On my lawn mower I have 10 deck wheels that were going flat all the time. I never knew why, I don't have thorns, sharp rocks and the tires were not being cut or damaged. Two years ago I took them in to the tire dealer, had them filled @ $10 each and the problem was solved. They have a little give to them but not much.
On a large tractor tire I would be concerned about the rough ride and the stress put on the tractor as well as the cost.

Don't try to use great stuff foam from a can. I filled a plastic ball bat with it for the grandkids and the foam wouldn't set up inside the bat. Go figure. So there must be something sepcial about the foam used in tires.

I just got a quote from a tire shop.

For a 5.50 x 16 three ribbed tire on the front of my 641 Workmaster it will cost $97 per tire. They said it will take a couple of days as well.

Decisions, decisions....


BTW, DScott, that is one serious looking mower you got there! :wink:

This has been discussed before--you might want to search thru the archives.

I tried foam filled front tires on my Ford 641D. There are lots of Hawthorn trees on my property and I was continually having flats in the front tires. The tires looked like new, but had many thorns in them that would work through and puncture the inner tube. Finally the boss at the tire store suggested having them foamed. It cost somewhat over $100, and at first I really liked them. No more flats, but no more "give" in the tires, so the tractor rode way bumpier.

It was nice to not have to fix flats all the time. But after several(probably about 5) years, one of the tire casings started ripping in the sidewall and the tread could then move around. After a couple of weeks, the casing had ripped enough so that most of the 3 rib tread was flopping around, until it started catching on the front axle. I then cut the flopping tread section off, leaving a very out of round tire that was part tread, and part the smooth "donut" of rubber foam. It turned very poorly that way and the tractor became more or less unusable.

So I ordered the heaviest duty new tire I could find and started trying to dismount the old tire and "donut". I ended up cutting a section of the "donut" out wit my Sawzall and also used it to cut away the rest of the tread. With all the tread off, I could get the "donut" to come away from the wheel and with that out of the way I was finally able to pry the tire beads off the rim. It was a LOT of effort to undo foaming that tire!!!

But I got the tractor usable again. It handled funny with one foamed tire and one air filled one, but I used it that way. Within a few months, the other foamed tire casing started to fail the same way the first one did.

With this one, it took less tire to undo the foaming, because I didn"t have to figure out how to do it. It still was a LOT of effort to get the rim ready to accept the new tire.

I still have lots of Hawthornes, but when I mounted the new tires, I added about a quart of Slime to each of the tires before I put them on the tractor. That must be nearly 10 years ago. I haven"t had a flat tire during that time, although I do need to add some air a couple times a year.

I decided that my experiment with foamed tires was fairly unsuccessful, and I probably would not do it again. I suspect that the good looking and fairly new tires I foamed were not engineered to withstand the forces that having a very solid "donut" inside them caused.

On the other hand, Slime is not very expensive and seems to work pretty well for my situation. The tractor rides better and will turn when I ask it to. I think the air filled tires being able to "give" some is also lots easier on the old tractor than the almost totally solid foamed ones were.

I first thought that foaming the front tires was the best modification I had ever done to the 641D. I thought that the foamed tire, which probably had 90%+ tread, would probably last for the rest of my life. But it didn"t work out that way. Maybe my front tires were of poor quality, but they were only about 10 or 15 years old.

If you have your tires foamed, I sure don"t know what your experience will be. It is nice not to have to waste time and energy fixing flats, and foamed tires will do that for you, assuming they were done right. But it is pretty expensive and causes some unintended problems. Slime is easy and cheap and has worked well for me...Good luck!

i filled the two fronts on a narrow front mf-150
biggest problem i had was soon as i hit road gear
the front end about shook clean off it.they must of
been way out of balance.sold the tractor before i
tried to have em balanced.also a pretty rough ride
no more give.but then again no more flats.
RICK

Local Goodyear tire dealer has a kevlar sealer that stays somewhat pliable. IIRC it was called Meyers. Comes in a 5 gallon bucket with a hand pump. Put in it all 4 tires on my zero turn. No problems since.

Should be OK for the front of your tractor. Probably not too cost effective for the rears, but then again neither is the regular foam.

BTW. I do a lot of rougher mowing, tree rows, so I was picking up twigs in the tires every so often.

Rick

for what it is worth i have heard of people putting a truck tire flap between tire and tube to stop tire punctures

I've worked as a mechanic for over thirty years. We use to have tires filled on forklifts and numerous other industrial machinery. Foam filled tires get flat spots after sitting for over 24 hours. There isn't much give in the foam either which I've seen many rims crack around the lug bolts that had foam filled tires on them. Then when you want to replace the tire after it wears out which happens sooner on foam filled tires you may not be lucky to find some one that wants to cut it off the rim. These are just a few things I've seen over the years. I did have my small 4" front tires filled on my rider since they kept breaking the beads loose from the rims when turning.