Mule 550 tires

[Travis]

Rear right tire blew out going down the gravel road the other day, tried plugging it, but it was on the sidewall and it kept tearing down the sidewall, (rear tires are probably 10 years old, at least), so i called the dealership here in town since  i knew they keep tires in stock.

Employee:"thank you for calling pro powersports how can i help you"

Me:"i need to check on a price for a rear tire, 01 mule 550 KAF300C5, tire size is 22x11-10"

Employee"alright, hang on one sec"

Me:"okay"

Employee "$237 for 1 tire"

Me :"thank you sir"

*click*

I found single tires on ebay and amazon and RM atv etc for about $70 or $80 shipping not included, so i ordered this set off amazon,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08572QZKZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

supposed to  be here Tuesday,  I'll be sure to keep this thread updated  on how the tires do so maybe if someone else wants try this $50 a tire deal.

[kenfain]

Good price on 4 ply tires. I hope you've found someone local who will mount them. Not every tire shop can, or will, of course some do, and some charge extra for it. But if you want to have it done, to avoid possible b.s. you should find that place beforehand. 

If you want to do it yourself, it's very possible. But it's a huge p.i.a. and can test your patience. YouTube makes it look easy, but be aware, that's the final edit. 

[Travis]

1 hour ago, kenfain said:

Good price on 4 ply tires. I hope you've found someone local who will mount them. Not every tire shop can, or will, of course some do, and some charge extra for it. But if you want to have it done, to avoid possible b.s. you should find that place beforehand. 

If you want to do it yourself, it's very possible. But it's a huge p.i.a. and can test your patience. YouTube makes it look easy, but be aware, that's the final edit. 

there's a tire shop in Willis that mounts them,  i got tires for it mounted there before, cant remember how much $ though.

[kenfain]

17 minutes ago, Travis said:

there's a tire shop in Willis that mounts them,  i got tires for it mounted there before, cant remember how much $ though.

You have to get the old tires off the rims, and unseating that bead can be tricky. Putting it on the rim is the easy part. Getting it inflated, and seating the new bead is the problem.

New tires are shipped pressed flat. So it's a fight just to get it expanded enough to even reach both beads. Although there's several ways of doing it, none are as easy as it seems like it should be. 

After several attempts, and various methods are used. It's time to finally seat the bead. Unless you have an expensive purpose built air tank, that's built just for this. You have to use something highly flammable. Using a small explosion to supply the needed energy.

Starting fluid is what most people use. It feels very dangerous, and imprecise. I've caught the new tire on fire several times before. Sometimes they just work out easy, usually not. But it does work. A little scary the first time though. 

If the tires are delivered fully formed, like they are in the picture, and not like flat, rubber rings, then you're halfway there. And might not need anything more than a simple hookup to a compressor.  I'd YouTube it, then go ahead and do it. Because the hard part is mostly done. Probably take a good hour of your time, and It's actually kind of satisfying when it finally pops into place. 

[Travis]

got one tire off today then the rain started and it was cow feeding time. I started around 11:00am and got the tire off about 2PM.

My uncle has one of those tire  bead seaters , i'll try that first before taking to the shop for them to mount it.

[kenfain]

If they shipped them out, looking like they should, and not collapsed flat. Then you have an excellent chance to mount those yourself. That bead seating tank will do the trick. 

If they do send them flattened, what I did was hang my tires up overnight, on their side, using hooks under the top bead. With the  rim mounted, hanging from the bottom side. Let the weight of the rim pull the tires out into shape. Or you could put blocks of wood inside the tires overnight. 

That harbor freight mini tire changer works okay for these.

[Travis]

That's a good idea for getting them in the right shape, i will definitely do that if they come flat.

[Dennis Knepp]

OH YA!! They're proud of those tires. I got a new set of 4 for the price of 1. They were new from Bestusedtires.com. More aggressive like an ag tractor tread. Hoping it will be better in snow, 3010s dont do well in snow.

[Travis]

The most snow my 550 has seen is probably 1" accumulation. LOL

 

[Dennis Knepp]

I change my own tires, it was a chore, I have a Harbor Freight job have to make more parts for to hold the tire from falling through.  Used a 4' pipe for leverage to break em down, ratchet strap to expand it together to take air. Only took about a week for all 4. I live in MI across the bay from the top of the thumb, snow gets pulled up here sometimes. Looking at 5' snow blowers right now for compact JD. 

[Dennis Knepp]

I need to keep a closer eye on spellcheck, it changes things when I ain't lookin. 

[Travis]

well now they're supposed to be here Thursday instead of tuesday....

[Travis]

[Travis]

Tires got delivered around 2:00, but they're going to have to wait. Hauling a calf to the Vet in navasota with a bad naval infection/hernia.

[Travis]

Wow, not shipped in a box.

[Travis]

But no defects. So that's good.

[kenfain]

Nice, I still get emails from clicking your link. There's some good deals out there. I've found some affordable 6ply tires from those emails. Before long, I'll need new tires as well. 

[Travis]

Well, got the tires mounted at the tire shop, get home. Pssssssssss.

Small leak at the base of one of the treads in the middle of the tire.

Back to the tire shop to see if they can patch a brand new tire.

[Travis]

Well. They didn't charge me anything to remount the good old tire.

[kenfain]

You jinxed it by saying "no defects" lol.

[Travis]

7 minutes ago, kenfain said:

You jinxed it by saying "no defects" lol.

LOL!  That's the way things go.

Gremlins are always listening.

[Travis]

got the tires back on, the Mule is now Mobile!

 

[Travis]

The good new tire performed well on the first .5 mile trip.

[Travis]

got a response from customer service:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thanks for contacting us. We are sorry for the issue. 
We rarely receive this kind of issue, and will take it seriously.
Could you please send us some pictures showing the problem? We need to record the problem.
We will provide further assistance after your reply.
Looking forward to your reply. Thank you.
Sincerely Yours,
VANACC Customer Service Team 

so i sent them a picture of the small puncture/defect.

[kenfain]

Just like voter fraud lol!

We're just not seeing any evidence of any defects. Nothing to see here, just move on. 

[Travis]

Exactly!!!!

I just hope I don't need to go to court over it, lol

[kenfain]

2 hours ago, Travis said:

Exactly!!!!

I just hope I don't need to go to court over it, lol

I think that they'll make it right. The upside is, they'll probably just send another tire. No return necessary. Possibly giving you 3 tires to work with. 

Last time I had an issue, the vendor had to make it right. They were very slow to respond at every turn. But I was easily  able to satisfy all their concerns about it being legit.

So was it an actual defect? Or just a brand new tire, that had a standard puncture wound?

[Travis]

The guy at the tire shop said it appeared to be a defect due to the location of the leak. It's right where the tread starts upwards at that seam.

[kenfain]

I'd say that if you sent a good picture, they'll probably send a new replacement tire. No way they're paying for sending it back. 

[Travis]

Hey hey!!

Dear valued customer,
Thank you for the image.
We are sorry for the issue caused.
Kindly note that we have re-sent you a new tire and will update the shipping information to you later. It may take 5-10 days to arrive due to COVID-19. Would you please wait for a few more days?
Sorry for the inconvenience caused.
Best regards!
VanAcc customer service team