Re: Foam filled tires?

Posted by Hal/Eastern WA on March 07, 2012 at 17:53:31 from (67.5.117.129):

In Reply to: Foam filled tires? posted by 641Dave on March 07, 2012 at 08:35:37:

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!

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