One of the issues we’ve run into with our little Kioti CS2410 tractor, Wiley, is his front tires not holding air.

The tires are just rubber tires on metal rims. No tubes. So if they’re underinflated or hit something, we’ve found that the seal between the tire and the rim can start to leak.

We added a tube to the front right tire back in our first winter here. The left front tire we left mostly alone, just checking it and reinflating it regularly.

But after Wiley got stuck at the start of the month, the front left tire wouldn’t hold air at all.

So we popped it off the tractor, took it to the tractor dealership and asked them to put in a tube.

Removing a tire from a Kioti CS2410 is relatively straightforward.

First, with the tire and the tractor still on the ground, we loosened the nuts. Keeping the tractor on the ground ensures that your tire won’t spin while you’re trying to undo the (often very tight) nuts.

We found a normal tire iron was too big for the nuts. Instead, we used our socket wrench with a 5/8 socket.

Once all five nuts were loose, we raised the tractor up with a jack under the front axle. (If you’re on uneven ground like we are, it’s smart to stabilize your jack by putting it on a board).

Then we unscrewed the nuts the rest of the way and lifted off the tire. Super easy.

Wiley did a balancing act for a few days (we stuck some wood under the axle so we weren’t relying solely on the jack) while the tire was at the repair shop.

Once we got our newly tubed tire back, attaching it to the tractor was pretty straightforward.

The hardest part was getting the holes perfectly lined up so that the nuts would screw in straight. It was helpful to have two people, one to hold the tire and the other to handle the nuts.

Once we had the nuts finger tight, we lowered the tractor back down onto all four wheels and removed the jack. Then Matt tightened the nuts with the socket again. Like with any tire, follow a star pattern when you’re moving from nut to nut, rather than going around in a circle.

And that was it. Then Wiley got to go for a little run on his new wheels.

I’ve learned that a tractor–even a small one like Wiley–is indispensable on a farm–even when we’re not farming. We’re very happy to have him back in working order and to not have to worry about flat tires any more.