Carriage Bolts Extend The Life Of A Tractor Tire

Carriage Bolts Extend The Life Of A Tractor Tire FARM SHOP Tools 31-2-37 Dale McIntyre, Orangeville, Ill.: A couple dozen carriage bolts and an old bald car tire, helped Dale McIntyre extend the life of a tractor tire for another year. The Orangeville, Illinois, man explains that one of the tires on his F-20 Farmall was old and had a small tear in it, where the tread met the sidewall. He only used the tractor weekly for moving snow and yard work, so he couldn't justify purchasing a new tire. When the tear got up to 1 ft. long, he decided to get creative. With his knife he cut out an 18 by 12-in. piece from an old car tire, which included the tread and a couple of inches of each sidewall. He sanded the edges to bevel them out so they wouldn't damage the tractor tire's tube. He slipped the piece of tire inside the tractor tire and drilled 3/8-in. holes every couple of inches, about 3 in. from the edge of the patching material. He slipped 1 1/2-in. long, 5/16-in. carriage head bolts through the holes from inside the tire and tightened washers and nuts on the outside. "It looked a little strange," McIntyre says, but it worked. After a year he found a good deal on used tractor tires and took the patched tire off. The tube and tire were still working just fine, McIntyre says.

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