New tire

So about two years ago one of the tires on my 1953 Super C tractor finally blew out. It took months to find a used one of the proper 11.2 z 36 size at a decent price.



In Oct 2014 I located one in Arizona and had it shipped to me. By the time it arrived winter was well underway. Changing these tires is, according to the factory repair manuals, since the tire and wheel weigh well over 150 pounds empty, is a 2 person job. Therefore doing it alone took a awhile,

At last when the job was done towards the end of the spring 2015 I took the tractor out for a test drive. I barely managed to complete one circuit of the house before the other rear tire blew out with a whoosh. Said tires are kept filled with a chloride anti freeze mix to increase the rear end weight by about quarter ton on each tire/wheel, so a blow out is a wet affai



Needless to say this did not mske me happy and viewers of my videos will now understand why in 2015 I mowed with a walk behind DR mower instead of just using my 6 foot bush hog being pulled behind my tractor. Both flat tires are or were original Farm Chiefs sold on the tractor to the original owner more than 60 years ago (worth noting that the tires on my pick up truck (which at the request of an inspector because they are finally beginning to show cracks) I will finally be changing out later this week were made in 1997)). So I can't complain too much I guess. Like everything else International Harvester made or sold those tractor tires were made to last and they did. One gave 60 years of hard use before finally leaking and the second went 61 years.

This tim, not also needing a new wheel like I did for the last flat which was salt corrosion related, I decided to locate a new wheel of the proper pattern and size. Alas Mohawk Tires vanished in the 1970s and International Harvester ceased operations as a tractor maker in 1982. It seems in all the world only one company still markets that size of tire and it ain't cheap. So the tractor got a second year off while I pondered what to do. I had even placed the tractor up for sale at one point but new buyers backed off when a little research showed them the cost of a brand new tire to replace the one with a blown sidewall (my hand easily fits into that whole and I will check for snakes when removing it). So last week I bit the bullet and ordered a brand new tire online for only $550 online (which price is $100 cheaper than the J Deere dealer wanted for one of the same make).

Add another $60 for a new inner tube. I will whenn installed probably use a pure glycerol based automotive anti freeze rather than a chloride based mix like the original owner did. That way the next owner of the tractor won't have to ever worry about the steel wheel corroding a half century from now.

Yesterday in the middle of the storm which brought tornadoes and floods (3 Virginians killed by a tornado, one person drowned in a flash flood and still thousands without electricity) my new tractor wheel arrived. A tip of my hat to the driver of the freight liner who delivered it cross country.



This time around the process of mounting it on the tractor may be a little slower as this time I have to mount the tire on the wheel first. Having done the task once before I don't anticipate too much trouble pulling the old wheel off this time. It is similar (but harder) to changing a truck tire but I am already pondering the installation of the rubber onto the wheel and may wuss out and ask J Deere to do that piece for me.