Can't Find Tire Leak

[mcvoss]

Hey Everyone,

I am embarrased to ask this. I have a slow Leak in a Rear JD D130 Tire. It takes 2 days to go completly flat. I've taken it off the mower. I can't see anything in it and I have gone over it multple times w/ soapy water and I still can't find the Leak. I also soaped up the valve stem and bead but nothing. Tire is in great shape. If I find the leak y thought was to use a plug.

Any other ideas? All the lawn shops around here won't repair will only replace the tire. I thought about filling the bathtub up w/ water and checking it that way, pretty sure the wife wouldn't like it but I'm losing ideas.

My last resort, which I don't want to do is add slime. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,

MIchael

 

[ILENGINE]

With a leak that slow slime won't have much effect. Best option is while you have the tire off the mower. Just soap a small section say 1/4 of the tire and just keep an eye on that area to look for a small patch of bubbles. Then move to the next section. Really slow leaks can be hard to detect and tend to make really small bubbles. Doesn't hurt to also check the side walls really well at the same time. I have had times were I would soap a section and then walk away for a few minutes and come back and recheck. Good luck.

 

[mcvoss]

With a leak that slow slime won't have much effect. Best option is while you have the tire off the mower. Just soap a small section say 1/4 of the tire and just keep an eye on that area to look for a small patch of bubbles. Then move to the next section. Really slow leaks can be hard to detect and tend to make really small bubbles. Doesn't hurt to also check the side walls really well at the same time. I have had times were I would soap a section and then walk away for a few minutes and come back and recheck. Good luck.

Thanks, I'll recheck. Thanks for letting me know about the slime. What do you think about the bathtub idea, I used to submerge an intertube in the tub when I was a kid. Mom didn't appreciate that but I always found the leak.

I see you're in Beecher, my wife and I grew up in Decatur.

Michael

 

[StarTech]

Last resort...Find a tub big enough to completely submerge the tire and rim assembly. Then fill the tub completely with water. This will even show up a rim internal weld problem. Rare but does happen.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

I'd submerge the entire thing.
I remember i had a truck tire that would slowly go down over a week or so.
took it to a local shop and they submerged it in a tank of water and kept it under for an hour, every so often,i'm talking maybe every 6 or 7 minutes, a few bubbles would come from the base of a raised tread.

 

[GrumpyCat]

Time to either buy a new tire or put Slime in the tire you have. Slime is high viscosity and will seep very slowly through wherever your leak is located. You may never see Slime on the outside of the tire. It may totally fix your leak.

 

[StarTech]

But later have mess to clean up and rust to remove. Just cleaner to install an inner tube vs the slime mess.

You however have remove the thorns, screws, and nails.

 

[Rivets]

As someone who’s had to repair more than my share of tires where Slime or other sealing products have been used, it is not a cure all and you definitely will have a mess if the tire has to be removed in the future. I inform customers that if I find it there will be at least an extra 1/2 labor to do the job. I had one customer tell me “NO SLIME” when replacing 4 tires on his UTV. When I found SLIME in first tire called him to inform him what I found. Didn’t believe me. Told him to come in and I’ll take the next tire off in front of him. He did and when he saw the inside he got on his phone. Found out his som-in-law had put it in when he found thorns in it while using it. Ended up with 4.5 hours of labor plus cost of the tires. Neither him or I were happy campers.

 

[Tiger Small Engine]

But later have mess to clean up and rust to remove. Just cleaner to install an inner tube vs the slime mess.

You however have remove the thorns, screws, and nails.

There are better products on the market than Slime, and they have their place, mainly when dry rot is the issue.

If you install a tube, as soon as you hit a nail, thorn, glass, etc., you are back to square one. Plus you have to deal with the inner tube as well as the flat tire.

 

[StarTech]

There are better products on the market than Slime, and they have their place, mainly when dry rot is the issue.

If you install a tube, as soon as you hit a nail, thorn, glass, etc., you are back to square one. Plus you have to deal with the inner tube as well as the flat tire.

Yes but that happens even with new pneumatic tires. I got a neighbor that I installed two new tires and within a week had three flats. It is cheaper to patch inner tubes than buy new tires. Once he got rid of the thorn sources no more flats.

But I did something along during the time and that is the 24 x 10.00 requires a tube smaller than the one Carlisle says goes in that size tire as several other customer had tube related problems.