You like this kind of tank. Worked for couple of ranchers that have them. Most ice I have ever seen on one was about 6 inches, but that was just a couple days ago and this was the first time that tank was chopped this winter. We have pitched more ice this winter, than we have for the last couple of winters.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

How do you cut it? I have four big tires from scrapers. They left them by the county road when they rerouted it and never came and picked them up. Burned one....burned for four days. It was an accident.

I wanted to cut them for scrapers for the Bobcat scraping concrete pads. Now want to make a horse powered scraper for other uses.

God bless.

Might make some water tanks now too!


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

I have always been leery of using tires for either feeding or watering livestock, afraid of what might be leaching out of them and into the water/feed. The only use I make of tires is to stand them up to surround the heated metal water tank in the barn where the horses/donkeys used to back up to the warmth and let loose with their poop. A daily cleanup and refill of an 8-foot water tank in the dead of winter being totally unreasonable, I tried various things and found that regular size tires up against the tank work very well. They are held in place by a securing strap all the way around. Yes, once in a while one of the more acrobatic critters will manage to drop poop into the water, but that is very infrequent. Most of the time the poop will land on top the tire and can be scraped off.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

That is all we use for tanks. We have 10 right now. Ours come with half or at least the sidewall cut out… most ar 8 footers. We put a cement ring in the middle to protect the float from cows and calves… we put a new one in this fall that used to set at a windmill and it is too big with too much rise in the center.. can't get the inlet and float low enough into the water to protect it from as much cold as it needs… we plan to change it and hopefully dig a deep hole in the ground and placing a culvert, standing on end, under the center of the tank and then set the tank over that so the heat from the earth will help keep the float thawed out in the winter.. we are having a dandy winter. Snow, cold, wind… about like I used to remember them… wish i had more hay on hand...


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Nora I figure we been drinking out of rubber lined rimmed cups and mugs for years not to mention our kids rubber sippy cup lids and its ok so far. as well as the rubber in them is supposed to be eco friendly which is why they grind them and put them in playgrounds now for mulch for kids to play on.

Cutting the tire you can do it a couple ways. I cut the top out of mine which is a bias tire (so no wires) with a chainsaw. The secret is not to try and cut through the tire at once, but rather walk around the tire using the tip and old take 1/4 or so at a time. this keeps the rubber from getting hot and melting back together and being messy. So it was a cold 18 degrees out when I cut mine and that made the rubber nice to cut and quick to cool. But I did have to walk around the tire about 10 times to get all the way though. took me about 30 minutes or so. I also read people have good look with a sawzall with either a wood blade or the best reviews are the fire and rescue demolition blades. They drill a starter hole in the side wall and start the cut inside the holes. most people have a trickle of water running on the blade as well to keep it from getting to hot and ruining the blade.

As far as cutting the tire in half that's a bear. it takes longer to cut through the rim bead with a sawzall than to cut the whole top out. The best method in my opinion is a quickie saw or demo saw whatever there called in your area. But use it to get through the bead which is about 6 inches of wire reinforced rubber then switch to the sawzall or chainsaw method I described.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Mike,
Thanks for the information on sawing the tires. I'll try the chainsaw first. On some of the assembled scrapers I saw over at Bobcat it looked like they'd used a large circular saw, probably on a demolition saw like you said. Looked like it was not easy, many angles and roughness.

God bless.

Got 2" snow this last night. Was in the 40s this week.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

I have hauled some of those tire tanks that were cut. Where they loaded them south of Gillette WY they put them on a turntable and spun them around with a cutter on the outside of the tire just like a Lathe cutter then smothed the cut wires with a cutting torch Hauled most of them to Buffalo SD to the store. I use mostly 30-- 20' bottomless steel tanks as smaller ones don't hold enough water for summer I have two smaller 10' bottom tanks around the buildings use wood tank heaters in them. takes about 4 days to thaw out when froze solid.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

here is a picture I had on my phone before the auto fill float valve came in and I installed it


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

I cut the side wall out of front end loader tires with a sawzaw. It doesn't grab as much as a chain saw and you can cut all around with one pass


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Thank you. That explains a lot. You can barely see the concrete in the bottom too. Nice. I thought they were cut in half around the tread too. I can see where the large exposed black surface helps with solar heating now. :)


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

hey Vince how long does it take to cut around the tire. This side wall is 2 inches thick. The actual cut out is a 6ft circle. Also do you spray lube on your sawzall as your cutting.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Mike.The front end loader tires were not that thick. On the side walls.Maybe 3/4"-1" thick.

I used a very course long blade,with ho lube.Probably took me 20 minutes-1/2 hour and the tires were about 4 1/2 feet in diameter


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

We' cut the bead out of a few that were bias tires… once you get a hole started on them, you can put a wedge in or anything that tries to tear it and cut with a not very sharp knife, as long as the pressure is on… most of ours are cut somewhere else, 8 footers up to 10 footers, I can't see an advantage to the larger ones… the hole in the center is so big and so high… it works for summer, but we made one for winter from a 10 footer and are not having much luck keeping it open… some people around here use a trickle tube so that basically the water never quite shuts off.. I've talked to people who put an air tank near the tire and let a slight amount of air bubble around the float to keep the water disturbed so it won't freeze up… some use propane instead of air… some bury the tank in dirt with just a small opening to drink from and it has a canvas or rubber flap down in the water around the drinking hole to help keep the rest of the tank ice free, best thing we've ever had was a windmill.. unless the wind quits blowing, and it seldom does around here, it will always keep part of the tank ice free, but makes a big mess where it runs over and freezes.. we put a concrete ring around where the float is and use it to protect the float from livestock and also we can put small pieces of styrofoam in it with a thick styrofoam lid on it.. biggest secret to keeping one ice free is to have enough livestock drinking to keep the water flowing..


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Ok I put another one in the ground this weekend it was a 6ft tall almost 3 ft wide tire. It was a radial so the chainsaw idea was out. I used a sawzaw with a demolition blade which advertises for wnail embedded wood. It was way easier than even the chainsaw. Took about 2o minutes even cutting through the wire. The trick was to push down on the bead when starting with the tractor bale spears. I pushed down until the front of the tractor started to get light. That takes the vibration out of it and helps it tremendously. I don't think I could have done it in 4 hrs with out. Then when you hit the 1/2 point or so you cant push down any more because your forks are to the ground. Now back out and use 1 spear and hook the loose piece in the center and lift the cut portion up out of the tire until the tire starts to lift and continue cutting the last half you will have to keep lifting the tire as you go around to keep tension on the piece your cutting out. Also use spray lube on your blade as you go around makes a huge difference as well. But start to finish 20 -25 min with the assistance of my wife as the blade lubing technician.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum