solid tires

have a 345 john deere mower and the first owner put solid rubber in the tires , and it is a big job trying to cut them off, anyone have an easy way.

If it has the standard 23 x 10.50 x 12 tires and 12 x 8.5 rims they go clear back to the JD 100 series: 110,112,210,212,214,300,312,etc. I would just get a different pair of rims. That foam filled tires junk the rims. New they are $105 each.

If you want to keep the rims you have I have seen guys use a gas powered chop saw with a diamond blade. They split the tire cross ways and then dig the old foam/tires out. Even then the rim usually gets damaged.

The tire store uses a sawzall with a blade with no teeth in it to cut out the solid tires. After seeing what they cut out, there is know way I would put that stuff in a mower tire.

What I did to remove the foam from my 641D Fords front tires was to use a reciprocating saw to cut the casing all the way around, revealing the "doughnut" and getting the tread out of the way. Then I used the saw and eventually a chisel to cut all the way through the doughnut to the metal, allowing the removal of the doughnut in one or two pieces. Then the beads can be removed with tire irons the same as any other tire and it should not ruin the rim.

The first one I tried, I spent a lot of time trying to cut the steel reinforced bead with the reciprocating saw. While I believe that it COULD be done, and sure could be done with a cutting torch, I doubt that it could be accomplished without damaging the rim. It is much easier to attack the doughnut first, remove it and deal with the beads the normal way. And doing the second one took about 1/4 as much time as doing the first one when I didn"t know what I was doing.

Would I have ag tires foamed again? Probably not, as it was costly and the ag tires did not last nearly as long as I expected them to with the almost totally solid foam in them. It was also a LOT of work removing the foamed tires. When I replaced the tires, I bought the best ones I could find, with the most ply rating. I also put about a quart of Slime in each of the tires, in the new tubes. Now I need to add air about once a year, and haven"t had a flat since I changed the tires. I suppose that must be nearly 10 years ago. Slime is good stuff, in my opinion. Good luck!