Moderator Man With A Camera Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: The Great Pacific Northwet, in the Land Between Canada and Mexico |
Saturday was mow day. I got the mowers out, fueled and checked, Mrs. Racer took off in the rider, I on the L260. Just wrapping up my second lap of the outside, made a turn to take one more lap before running a back and forth pattern and the steering felt heavy.
I looked at the right front.
Flat.
Shut off the PTO, raise the mower deck, head for the shop. Grab a chuck and the air hose, start putting air in it.
It leaks.
Duh.
The tractor has had turf tires since not long after it was new, probably put on by the dealer for a customer with lots of grass to mow, a school, small town, some rich guy, who knows?
The tires and wheels have been off and on a few times since the early 1970's. Not sure if the tires are that old, but they are old just the same. The rears are in pretty good shape, so I have to guess they are fairly new.
The fronts however, were cracked on the sidewalls and tread roots.
It looked like the sidewall finally failed enough, the tube pooched out a bit, and the broken sidewall pinched it, causing a puncture.
So I jacked it up, put stands under the axle, and pulled the fronts wheels off. The rims are the two piece type, bolted in the middle. I removed all the bolts, and tried to remove the halves.
No joy.
The beads were rusted to the rims at the seats.
So I tried a little air in the tube.
It was looking pretty scary when I decided it was beyond the scope of the tools I have, so I tossed them into the pickup and headed to town, and the tire shop. Of course they didn't have any new tires, so I had to run to another town and pick up a pair.
Back to the first tire shop, pick up my now nekkid rim halves, and tubes, and head on my way.
Then my buddy called and wanted to know if I wanted to go for a ride in his convertible (I told that story).
A hundred bucks a tire, twenty bucks for each tube, and ten bucks to dismount the old tires.
$250.
A sunset ride in a classic muscle car.
Priceless.
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And when I got home I mounted the new tires, bolted the rims together, put them back on the tractor, and went to bed.
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