Man, I am WHIPPED (and sore)!!!!

This morning I feel like I got into a fight with a thousand pound steer! Man, I am sore!

Yesterday afternoon I needed to fix a flat on the tractor. Tire came off the rim too. Got the tractor jacked up and the rim unbolted and on the ground (a chore in itself). Then the battle began. Got the irons out and went about taking the rim off the tire. This is a big tubeless tire and it's not a split-rim either (so those of you who know tires will understand how difficult this is). I struggled for nearly 2 hours to get the tire off the rim, just brute strength...everything I had. Finally got it off, but no puncture. WTH??? So then I horsed the rim up and started looking it over. The wife had been driving the tractor when it went flat, and it scared her when it happened because she had a couple large round bales on the forks, so she didn't really know what happened. By this time it's dark.

I get the lights out and I'm looking the rim over in the dark and I see that the lip of the rim is bent in this one area. She must have gone over a rock when the tire came off the rim. Dammmit!! So I spent the next hour or so with a sledge hammer and some metal shaping spoons pounding the rim back to true. Rim looked pretty good when I was done (aside from a little grinding I had to do to smooth things out after pounding on it so long).

Spent the next two hours putting the tire back on the rim. Just brutal, brutal, work. Finally got the tire all the way back on, and got the whole wheel and tire up on a spindle stand and got ready to set the bead. Got the air hose ready and...OH CRAP!!...the valve stem apparently got pushed out of the rim into the tire!!! I tried for over an hour, prying and anything else I could think of to grab that valve stem inside the tire to no avail. I'm getting really tired now and I don't need this problem at all! I tried everything, but there was no way I could get my hand inside the tire to grab the stem. I had no choice...time to take the tire back off the rim again...all that work for nothing!!

Spent the next hour or so struggling with all my might to get the tire off the rim far enough where I could get my hand inside the tire far enough to get the valve stem, and then prying the tire down far enough to get enough clearance to get the valve stem back inside the rim. BTW, this involved picking up this monster tire about 15 times! I won't bore you with the brutal struggle to get the tire back on the rim again, but it was basically a repeat of above. By now, not only is it dark (has been for few hours), but now it's also getting pretty cold and I'm soaking wet from sweating on this beast. I get the tire back on the rim, get the tire back up on the spindle and get ready to set the bead again. Double check the valve stem just to be sure it's there. It is...we're good to go; time to air it back up. ....but WAIT!

As I'm standing there lubing up the bead with some more bead lube (essentially thick soap) I notice a rough spot on the bead on the back side of the rim, then another...and then another. (this is the side of the tire which has been facing the ground this whole time). I flip this behemoth over and inspect the bead. The whole bead just below the lip of the tire is jacked up!! SON...OF...A...B#!!!! I don't know if it is a casting defect in the tire, or if somehow the bead got damaged, but this tire isn't going to work...not ever! (certainly not safely anyway) ...S#!

By this time it's about 11:30pm, my coveralls are crunchy with sweat-soaked ice, I'm freezing and I've exhausted every fiber in my body. All for nothing! I swore the whole time I was never going to give up, but not having a brand new tractor tire sitting around I had been defeated in the end, and there was nothing I could do about it. I used my last ounces of energy to pick up all the tools (and there were a bunch by this time)...and had to call it a day. Went inside, took a shot of schapps and crashed on the bed.

Hooked up the truck to the big trailer this morning and my lovely bride reminded me I needed to get plates on the trailer. Gawd...what the heck else can go wrong??? Now, before I can go to the tractor dealer and get a new (and expensive) tire, I get to have the joy of going over to the DMV first and playing their fun and games for a couple hours...only THEN can I go get another tire....and then do it all over again

Sorry for a story without a happy ending, but they don't always end happily, and Murphy's Law is in full effect this time!!!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


Ummm...pussy...

So...is it new rim and tire...or just tire...?





YouSir

a reply to: YouSir

Just a new tire. The rim should be fine.

Tire probably weighs about 300 lbs. I'm guessing and the rim probably weighs about that much also (without the ballast weights, which I took off and neglected to mention). So it's a 600+ lb monster to wrestle with. Yeah, I'm gettin' to be a pussy in my old age!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Im just glad you didn't go all 50 Shades on us, man...



Seriously, you are tough as nails. We all know it! I appreciate getting a glimpse into your life.

a reply to: AboveBoard

Im just glad you didn't go all 50 Shades on us, man...

I'm guessing you're referring to the movie, but I didn't see it. What does it mean? Did someone go off the deep-end in the movie?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

By reading the thread title and noticing it was you, my first thought was that you made chili so potent that it made you sore!

I think you should rest now.

a reply to: Finspiracy

No, not chili. I only took 3rd in the contest.



(I guess I should update that thread).

1st place went to a newbie (good for him!), and he made some decent chili. I didn't like the 2nd place chili at all. On the bright side, a couple judges said they scored mine highest, and several entrants said the same. Oh well, there's always next time.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's life in the fast lane...and you know you love it, at least, I know you do.

I forgot to mention that I went through almost the exact same situation fixin' my wheelbarrow tire a while back.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I chuckled over the valve stem. I hate it when I'm into a large pain int he ass process and forget the very first, easy, obvious and cheap but very significant part.

Here in Mich I think triple chin Engler (former Governor) or what's her face (former Gov) made the decision to go with life plates. That was a one time huge tax to try to solve budget shortfalls, but I still have my life plate on my trailer.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk

a reply to: AboveBoard

Im just glad you didn't go all 50 Shades on us, man...

I'm guessing you're referring to the movie, but I didn't see it. What does it mean? Did someone go off the deep-end in the movie?

Whipped and sore. I will say no more...

Context is everything.

ETA - it was a crude joke. I never saw the movie or read the book either, I just know enough to make lame comments about it! (It's the kind of thing some in here would think was hilarious- BUT, wrong crowd I guess... 😳)

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


Ummm...yeah...I knew I didn't need to add /sarc to that with you...


Thankfully the last time I had to wrestle with a tractor tire...I just took the damned thing off...rim tire wheel weights and all...and took it into town on the trailer...The shop I take them to does the calcium chloride/antifreeze so I let them mess with it...








YouSir

originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's life in the fast lane...and you know you love it, at least, I know you do.

I forgot to mention that I went through almost the exact same situation fixin' my wheelbarrow tire a while back.

Yep, them wheel barrow Tyres can be a bitch, I feel yah

a reply to: AboveBoard

Sorry, my brain was just slow (as is the rest of me this morning). I guess my title was a little bit risque' depending on the reader's viewpoint!

a reply to: Raggedyman

This is just a liiiiiiiiiitle teency, teeny-tiney, bit bigger than a wheelbarrow tire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!

I just skimmed through the OP but couldn't make much sense of it. Some keywords that stuck out to me:

Rim
Lube
Sweat soaked
Hooked up

So basically you had a good time?

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

Yeah...a blast! It was a "load" of fun!

Ahem.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I am surprised Murphy had time to get to you. He follows me around with his foot up my butt.

Your farm/ranch stories always crack me up. Life is never dull when you have livestock...
a few decades ago, my husband and I went through something similar, we had to put a giant patch in the giant tire. It took 2 days... and we were young then.

Last year I was helping the neighbor with some firewood, out in the middle of the woods with the (same) tractor and an old manure spreader, turned into a wood cart. I hear psssssssss. sh!t. hauled ass to get out of the woods, made it across the soybean field, across the creek, and that was that.
I don't think I need to reiterate that I'm an 'old' widow now.
I called the local farm tire place the next morning. cost me almost $600 for them to come out in the field and put a new tire on. ouch.

I was waiting for you to strike oil or something.

"Kin folks said Jeb, move away from there."

Or get AAA tire service.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

You have my sympathies, I've changed tires on two wheels but on a tractor? i'm not surprised you are whipped.

The moment you mentioned the valve stem I winced because if you screw that up...let's just say there will be a lot of cursing and sweating. When I change tires I use butter knives and pliers, I can't begin to understand how hard it would be to change a tractor tire.