Tire Problems

[swstout]

After 12 days of heavy rain storms I got back to work today. First job was a Insect Guard Spray job. Had a flat tire on my sprayer after about 30 minutes. Went and got a new tub and had it fixed. Shortly after I started again the other tire went flat. These are 2 of the 4 flats I have had this season. My question, I was looking at solid rubber tires for replacements. A local shop, "The Lawnmower shop" carries them in just about every size. While there I bought a refurbished 25 gallon Fimco LG 2500 sprayer. It had the solid rubber tires on it. Has anyone else switched and is there any advantage having the pneumatic tires over the solid rubber tires. Steve

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[turfmaster]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by swstout After 12 days of heavy rain storms I got back to work today. First job was a Insect Guard Spray job. Had a flat tire on my sprayer after about 30 minutes. Went and got a new tub and had it fixed. Shortly after I started again the other tire went flat. These are 2 of the 4 flats I have had this season. My question, I was looking at solid rubber tires for replacements. A local shop, "The Lawnmower shop" carries them in just about every size. While there I bought a refurbished 25 gallon Fimco LG 2500 sprayer. It had the solid rubber tires on it. Has anyone else switched and is there any advantage having the pneumatic tires over the solid rubber tires. Steve I have not switched yet however I am thinking of going to solid rubber tires on the front casters of my ZTR. Tired of them damn flats. I don't see any advantage over having air tires over solid rubber other than weight.

About the only thing I can think of is possibly slightly more shock absorption. But I don't expect that to be an issue. I don't think you would ever notice the difference. But now that you have a sprayer with each type of tire, see if you can tell the difference.

The benefits of the flat free tire are obvious and I doubt I have to spell it out for anyone.

[picframer]

Haven't had a flat on any of the equipment....yet.

Steve these come, at least I think, tubeless, I carry tubes for every size we operate in the event of a flat, if given the choice and I had a flat on a tow behind I would go solid. If it is something I am riding or driving I put a tube in and a can of that no more flat stuff. I have had one flat on a tractor, was pulling the bigger sprayer and the employee went on some shale, it spun a bit and poked a hole.

Congradulations on the sprayer. I will give you guys a tip, these Femco sprayers have two very fine filters, the Organic Fertilizer sometimes has very small particles which will plug the sprayer after about 60 +/- gallons, strain everything you put in with those paper paint funnel filters, they are around $7.00 for 250, you will never have an issue again. Something I started doing two weeks ago when a sprayer plugged.

Andy

[swstout]

Originally Posted by picframer

Haven't had a flat on any of the equipment....yet.

Steve these come, at least I think, tubeless, I carry tubes for every size we operate in the event of a flat, if given the choice and I had a flat on a tow behind I would go solid. If it is something I am riding or driving I put a tube in and a can of that no more flat stuff. I have had one flat on a tractor, was pulling the bigger sprayer and the employee went on some shale, it spun a bit and poked a hole.

Congradulations on the sprayer. I will give you guys a tip, these Femco sprayers have two very fine filters, the Organic Fertilizer sometimes has very small particles which will plug the sprayer after about 60 +/- gallons, strain everything you put in with those paper paint funnel filters, they are around $7.00 for 250, you will never have an issue again. Something I started doing two weeks ago when a sprayer plugged.

Andy

It is the tow behind equipment tires I am tlking about. These have been tubeless tires that I could not break the seals on to insert the tubes in a reasonable time frame. Cost wise, it has been cheaper to take them for repair (about $7.00 per tire). The solid rubber tires, new, are about $15.00 each.

Steve

[picframer]

Originally Posted by swstout

It is the tow behind equipment tires I am tlking about. These have been tubeless tires that I could not break the seals on to insert the tubes in a reasonable time frame. Cost wise, it has been cheaper to take them for repair (about $7.00 per tire). The solid rubber tires, new, are about $15.00 each.

Steve

Then I would go solid bud, doesn't matter how rough the ride is for them it will not have any impact on you on the tractor. I had thought at one time of putting a tire brake down device in the trailer but there is a chain in the city that does these small tires for ten bucks, they have shops everywhere so I never bothered.

I have found most places, if you inform them you are a contractor, they will take you right away as they want your business and I get a cut at pretty much every store.

[swstout]

Originally Posted by picframer

Then I would go solid bud, doesn't matter how rough the ride is for them it will not have any impact on you on the tractor. I had thought at one time of putting a tire brake down device in the trailer but there is a chain in the city that does these small tires for ten bucks, they have shops everywhere so I never bothered.

I have found most places, if you inform them you are a contractor, they will take you right away as they want your business and I get a cut at pretty much every store.

Bought 6 solid tires for my old sprayer, my dump tariler, and my seeder. 4 worked thetires for the dump trailer have a different size axel (maybe 1/16th inch larger). I'll change them tomorrow.

There seems to be a lot of people getting out of the lawn care business judgeing by the amount or used equipment at the Lawnmower Shop. Had nothing there 2 weeks ago. John, the owner goes over them cleans and adjusts them and then resells them. I got paid for 4 jobs today and may go "shopping" tomorrow.

Steve

[Steve]

I got paid for 4 jobs today and may go "shopping" tomorrow.

What are you looking to get?

[andyjoneslawncare]

Originally Posted by swstout

Bought 6 solid tires for my old sprayer, my dump tariler, and my seeder. 4 worked thetires for the dump trailer have a different size axel (maybe 1/16th inch larger). I'll change them tomorrow.

There seems to be a lot of people getting out of the lawn care business judgeing by the amount or used equipment at the Lawnmower Shop. Had nothing there 2 weeks ago. John, the owner goes over them cleans and adjusts them and then resells them. I got paid for 4 jobs today and may go "shopping" tomorrow.

Steve

Thanks for the tip. I should go check out the used stuff and see if I can find a deal on anything. Maybe its from people upgrading at the start of season? There are two ways to look at it. There could be more people in the industry because of layoffs, downsizing, etc, or there could be less because not as many people can afford lawn service now. Its the combination thats really hurting the industry, but you're smart enough to stay ahead of the game with your other services. At $15/tire I can't think of a reason not to get them. Do they make solids for back tires also? I'm assuming they'd be more pricey? Has anyone tried that green Slime stuff? I heard it fills the tire so it cant go flat but I think its around $10- $12 a bottle anyway. So far I've been able to get away with fix-a-flat and topping them off with a regular bike pump and haven't had to put air in for about a month now, but for a while it was almost daily. So many thorns and fence panels with nails in the grass, etc.

Originally Posted by andyjoneslawncare

Has anyone tried that green Slime stuff? I heard it fills the tire so it cant go flat but I think its around $10- $12 a bottle anyway. So far I've been able to get away with fix-a-flat and topping them off with a regular bike pump and haven't had to put air in for about a month now, but for a while it was almost daily. So many thorns and fence panels with nails in the grass, etc.

Slime is an excellent product. Works very well. I sell the 16 oz bottles for about $8.99 and like you said, the 24 oz bottles, which is the recommended size for lawnmowers, sell for about $12. They have a tubeless product and a tube tire product along with tubes prefilled with slime and several other products. Check out their website.

I would recommend going with Slime if you are having problems with thorns and nails. One bottle will do the average lawn mower tire. It will immediately stop leaks in tires if you hit thorns and nails. Just the centrifugal force will push the Slime to the bead area of the tire and at the moment the nail or thorn pokes through the sire, the Slime is right there to seal up the tire, immediately. Slime "Repairs punctures up to ¼" (6mm) using Fibro-Seal™ technology".

Good luck,
Eli