Tractor flat tire

got a 28" tire flat. Was a little low the other night so added some air. Today the tire was flat, all air gone. What did I do? Valve seems to be ok. Never had one go flat like this before. Tire has hard a slow leak for some time but never went flat before. How many cans of stop-leak will it take? Haven't had a chance to air it up & look for leaks yet.

Well if it has a tube in it then stop leak will not work anyway. If it does not have a tube in it then the stop leak will ruin the rim. Stop leak is made for radial car tires and even then it is supposed to be a sort term thing to get you off the road than have it fixed correctly. Most tire shops will not remount a car tire that has stop leak put in it.

Now they do make thing for long term leak protection IF IT IS TUBE LESS. Slime is a common brand name. Many of the four wheeler guys use it.

I would use neither one. I would just take the tire off and fix the leak. I would bet that it has a tube in it so make where the valve is on the tire. break it down and remove the tube. Pump the tub up and look for the leak. You may have to slowly run water over it to find the leak. When you find the leak hold the tube up against the tire. Line the valve up to your earlier mark. Look in the tire for what caused the leak; like a nail or piece of metal, maybe a thorn. Remove whatever caused the leak and patch the tire. Then just put the tube back in the tire and remount it.

Maybe the easiest thing is just take it to a tire shop and have them fix it. Should cost in the $75-100 range. IF it is loaded then you more than likely don't have anyway to pump the fluid out anyway. So just bite the bullet and have it fixed.

It could also be moisture in the valve stem. We get that a lot up here int he north this time of year. Moisture turns to ice and forces the valve open.

Sounds like you should just be thankful your tire wasn't loaded with calcium chloride water.

Sounds to me like the valve may have not closed all of the way. Air it up and then wet your finger and hold it over the valve lightly and see if you see any air bubbles. A new valve core is a lot cheaper than a tube and a lot less work to put in.
Zach

Sometimes the tube will have a removable core section, that unscrews from the rest of the stem. These are made of brass, and if the tube has ever had CaCl in it, the brass can corrode. 1st thing to do, is to spit into the schrader valve, and see if it blows a bubble. If the lalve is leaking, try pulling out the schrader valve, with the core remover tool. If it's clean, put it back, and check for leaks, as above.

The tubes just rot out over time. You just need to take it apart and replace that. I would bet you have a real mess in there if you have added stop leak.

You may have run over a nail, or something sharp. Here in my state we have a plant called Bougainvillea. It will punch through a tire if it is run over just right, and another plant I call a puncture vine which will also go through a tire. My tire shop charges 35.00 to repair a flat on that size tire. May have to bite the bullet and have it repaired. Stan

One that size is not that bad to deal with, have to figure out what you may have to break the bead with, on my ole 850 ford, if one goes flat and drains itself, LOL, I dismount it and can chock the tractor safely, use the loader to push a 4x4 onto the bead, breaks the seal, then a couple of appropriate tire spoons, taking little bites so as not to tear the bead, you can move it over the rim, inner, outer relatively easy, most tire guys leave them on the axle, break the bead there. I only do it to use the loader. I use Rim Glyde from Napa to lube the bead. You can check the tire over inside, check the rim, what have you, re-mount tire, install or stuff in the tube, use the tool for the valve(tsc sells it, gemplers too etc + any spoons you'll need) pull it through the hole in the rim. I forget, the order of things been awhile, maybe its one bead over the rim, then the tube, connect valve tool, pull it through etc. Once both beads are over, the tube situated, inflate partially, enough to expand it out, then deflate, allowing any wrinkles to straighten out.

I used to shy away from doing tires, just call the tire guy, good fellow, independent small business, but expensive. So I watched him carefully the last time, which was '04. I've had to do a couple of tire repairs since, last one was a truck size tire on one of our spreaders, I'm no expert, but am glad I learned enough to be able to do these, its really not that difficult, a 2nd hand is desirable when possible, it has saved me a fair amount of money and all the repairs are still in service. It may not be for everyone, there is a learning curve, tricks to using the tools, like the spoons, but I think its a good thing to know in a pinch and now I own the minimal tools needed for a repair, keep spare tubes etc.

With over 40 old tractors I have that often. First thing I do if I can not find an air sound is change the valve stem end core and all. There is two types. Take the old one with you or buy both types. Several times I have bought the wrong one and had to go back after the right one.

Next I do what stated a few times below if that does not work.

If I had a rear tractor tire that had not been filled with liquid and that started having a slow leak, I would go to Harbor Freight and buy a quart of Slime for tube tires. Then I would follow the directions, add the whole quart of Slime to that flat tire, and then air it up to the proper inflation. Then I would drive the tractor around for a while or do a job with it, to make sure the Slime gets distributed properly, so it gets a good chance to seal the leak. The I would park the tractor and see if the tire goes down over several days.

Slime won"t work for large leaks, and I don"t see how it could work in fluid filled tires very well. But in my experience Slime works very well for tube or tubeless tires used in slow speed applications that have been having problems with slow leaks. Slime is not very expensive and is a heck of a lot easier to install than it is to tear down a tire, remove the tube, fix whatever is leaking and succeed in getting everything back together without creating NEW leaks.

Where I live there are lots of Hawthorn bushes with thorns that can and will puncture tires. I haven"t had any trouble with tractor rear tires, but for years I fought flats on the front tires of every tractor I had. I even had a set foamed, but that is another, longer story. Then I discovered that Slime would keep air in the front tires well enough so I only end up adding air about once a year. I am quite sure that the tires continue to get new thorns in them, but the Slime keeps sealing the new as well as old holes. Cheap, easy and effective!!! That is my ideal repair. Good luck!

Could be as simple as the stem core not closing up as it should. I would first air it back up and then take a mix or water and dish soap and pour a little on the stem and watch for bubbles. If you see bubbles replace the core. No bubbles then pour the mix on the tire and watch for bubbles. You may find you run over something and have a small hole in the tire where you ran what ever over and also know you have a hole in the tube

All previous suggestions are excellent and can be used with varying degrees of success. However if the tractor is to be used for field work, loader work, tillage, etc and you essentially have to depend on its availability, i. e., no other machine/tractor..I would tear the tire down and find the reason for the air leak. Whether you are a full time farmer or "weekender", nothing is more frustrating than scheduling to use a tractor only to find it can't be placed into service.