OT: Filling ride on mower tyres with expanding foam.

[Happyoldgit]

We have a fair amount of lawn grass here and our decent size ride on mowers suffer from frequent punctures, the cause is usually bits of hawthorn, blackthorn etc from our hedges that get missed from the tidy up after hedge cutting / flailing. We've tried different tyres, fitting tubes and filling them with loads of tyre sealant but none have been effective. You would think the tyre sealant would be the answer but I think the trouble is that the mowers don't go fast enough in use to disperse the sealant into the punctures quick enough. Basically I think the tyres are pretty rubbish, even the expensive ones.

I've watched videos on YouTube showing people filling mower tyres with expanding foam but results seem mixed. Anyone here attempted something similar with successful outcomes? 

[Arjan]

Interesting.....

We have not been successful with ant-puncture foam here for the mower.

Thing died now so not too worried...

You need to distribute the stuff inside the tire evenly and that seems to be the challenge.

For the wheelbarrows we use solid tyres

[David Sparkes]

Just out of curiosity, is the requirement for 'high' speed rotation a one off (per wheel), or is it needed immediately after the air space is penetrated (which I appreciate cannot be seen, until it's too late and the tyre goes flat)?

Regards.

[L19MUD]

9 minutes ago, David Sparkes said:

Just out of curiosity, is the requirement for 'high' speed rotation a one off (per wheel), or is it needed immediately after the air space is penetrated (which I appreciate cannot be seen, until it's too late and the tyre goes flat)?

Regards.

Immediately after as the sealant stays liquid until exposed to air and therefore goes to the bottom of the tyre and needs to be spun to spread all the way to the edges and the entire circumference. I suspect the problem is two fold on the mower tyres as they don't go round fast enough or have enough pressure in them

 

I would think expanding foam is a bad idea personally as foam is not very resilient to deforming and coming back into shape, you could end up with a very bumpy ride! Not to mention if it is a failure it will be a nightmare to remove the foam

[steve b]

There is a specific foam for filling mower tyres or tractor mounted topper wheels etc. , my 8' topper has two castor support wheels filled with it - no air needed . 

The ride on is air only .... 

 

Steve

[Simon Smith]

What sealant do you use? We install Linseal in the workshop, and find it very successful. Most customers who buy a bottle and find it doesn't work simply haven't used enough of it. Obviously it can't fix cuts, sidewall damage or leaking beads, but works every time with thorns. It won't work in tubes either.

[steve b]

www.foamfilledtyres.com. - small family business called Demaine Ltd

Steve

[ThreePointFive]

The foam filled tyres section of the above website appears to be in latin, something along the lines of "love is pain". Not sure I see the link myself.

[geoffbeaumont]

17 minutes ago, ThreePointFive said:

The foam filled tyres section of the above website appears to be in latin, something along the lines of "love is pain". Not sure I see the link myself.

Lorem ipsum is traditional typesetters "holding" copy, still used in the digital world. Basically they've never actually put any final copy in the page and put their site live regardless...

The copy is Latin based junk, it doesn't actually make sense (which was the original idea - it couldn't be mistaken for finished work). These days it's instantly recognised as a placeholder by anyone who works in a trade that uses it.

[Happyoldgit]

On 7/14/2022 at 12:34 PM, Simon Smith said:

What sealant do you use? We install Linseal in the workshop, and find it very successful. Most customers who buy a bottle and find it doesn't work simply haven't used enough of it. Obviously it can't fix cuts, sidewall damage or leaking beads, but works every time with thorns. It won't work in tubes either.

 

Yep, Linseal OKO is the one we've used and plenty of it too. We've had success with it in other things but as above I reckon the mowers are just too slow to get the stuff distributed about quick enough.

[landroversforever]

I wonder if there is any kind of option akin to an RC car's tyres where they use varying grades of foam? 

[sgnas]

I have the same issue, everything in the hedge produces sharp pointy bits.

You can get solid tyre/wheel assemblies. They are spendy.

Kenda and maxxis do puncture resistant tyres with Kevlar. The standard ones have very little in the construction compared to a car tyre.

Some take the same size tyre as a haybob, but would be impossible to fit by hand.

If you happen to have the right size tyre/wheel they are the same as go cart wheels. You can get 2 part wheels. These don’t stop punctures but make patching the tube much easier.

You can get a thick rubber band to line the tyre. The thorn then has to be long to get to the inner tube.

I had access to quality rubber and made my own bands. Not 100% puncture proof but has dramatically reduced incidence.

[steve b]

The tyres on the topper are perished to hell but still flexible as they would be with air in and stay firmly on the wheel while supporting the rear end of it . I bought it like this so can't comment on who supplied/filled them but it does work . 

A half finished website is nothing unusual , a call will determine more ? 

......just got another puncture on the ride on here so now thinking about it myself 

Steve

[Ed Poore]

Simple solution shove a Hayabusa or Fireblade engine into the mower to achieve the required rotational wheel speed.

😄

[smallfry]

When I worked in the plant industry, we had a rep come and give us a demo of foam filled tyres. This stuff retained the characteristic of an air filled tyre, and did not solidify like aerosol foam would. It completely fills the tyre and cures to a closed cell sponge rubber.

The demo consisted of driving a treated dumper truck along a scaffold board with 12mm diameter spikes in it. Worked a treat and very impressive although quite expensive as I recall. Apparently it was, and probably still is, used to bullet proof tyres on some military and diplomatic vehicles. We had several vehicles treated, along with a quite a few commercial ride on grasscutting machines, plus a couple of domestic ride ons 

Trouble is, I cannot remember for the life of me what is was called.

[landroversforever]

1 hour ago, smallfry said:

When I worked in the plant industry, we had a rep come and give us a demo of foam filled tyres. This stuff retained the characteristic of an air filled tyre, and did not solidify like aerosol foam would. It completely fills the tyre and cures to a closed cell sponge rubber.

The demo consisted of driving a treated dumper truck along a scaffold board with 12mm diameter spikes in it. Worked a treat and very impressive although quite expensive as I recall. Apparently it was, and probably still is, used to bullet proof tyres on some military and diplomatic vehicles. We had several vehicles treated, along with a quite a few commercial ride on grasscutting machines, plus a couple of domestic ride ons 

Trouble is, I cannot remember for the life of me what is was called.

This kind of thing? https://www.redstoneuk.com/Puncture_Proof_Tyres.html

[Happyoldgit]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has problems. The diesel industrial mower that I used to run was often plagued with punctures too. The two ride on's I have now aren't tiddly domestic jobs, I think one has a 40" deck, the other may be 48" so medium size jobs. The out front deck one has poxy little 14x5.50 - 6 tubeless on the back which are only 2 ply. I put another new tube in it yesterday but it won't be long before that too will require patching or replacing.

My topper tyre is made up of sections of reinforced rubber set on edge into the rim - imagine a giant abrasive flapwheel but without the abrasive. It's used beside hawthorn, blackthorn and other thorny, prickly hedges that have been flailed the arrangement works well. Other implement tyres do ok but they are generally full of sealant and often travel a bit faster than the lawn mowers. 

[smallfry]

21 hours ago, landroversforever said:

This kind of thing? https://www.redstoneuk.com/Puncture_Proof_Tyres.html

Doesnt ring any bells, but the Redstone products appear to be supplied as special tyres that are fitted in the normal way ?

The stuff I remember was applied to existing tyres fitted to rims, which were then deflated, and ISTR by drilling them and filling.

It worked really well, and the tyre could be worn right through the cords until the foam was exposed.

But yes, punctures in domestic ride on mowers and smaller (and bigger) commercial stuff has always been a real big problem. It used to help a bit by fitting 4 and 6 ply tyres, but this didnt cure the problem completely.

We had a little Wheelhorse ride on, but I got rid of it because of the constant punctures from the Briars and Pyracantha (Firethorn) in the garden, so just use a normal walk behind now, an ancient Mountfield that I bought for £5 in 1999, it lives outside and its still going. Once I get it started that is !