MrWoodChips
Bronze Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2008
- Messages
- 76
Well, I made a mistake the other day. Our tow behind cart was always losing air in the tires, so rather than tubing them, I bought new flat free tires from Marathon. Not in itself a bad thing to do. I purposely got tires that were rated for more of a load than the originals were. We get a lot of use from that little cart, so it seemed worth it.
So one day I had to move some rock about a mile down the road. The tires had a claimed rating of 500 pounds apiece, so 700 pounds of rock seemed not too much to pull with the tractor. The flaw in my thinking was the hot, sunny day I did it on. Half way down the road (asphalt, and hot from the sun - 83 degrees in the shade that day) I looked back at the tires and noticed they seemed loose on the rims, as if they had expanded from the heat. Thinking I should watch that and take it easy, I drove on for only another 50 feet. One of my brand new tires had just rolled off the rim. I felt it, and it was really soft. The load on them had probably added internal friction, kneading them to be way too hot.
I returned with alternative transportation to rescue the trailer, but now I was stuck with a rim and a tire, sadly disconnected. There was a small tear in the tire, created when it came off the rim. Once the tire cooled down, it shrunk in size and stiffened up dramatically. There was no way I could get it back on the rim. So I wondered how they did it in the factory. Probably use microwave heating to soften and expand it, then I'd push the tire onto a mandrel, and slide it right onto the rim. Since my wife might object to this use of our oven, I thought some more.
An easy solution came to me eventually. A bath in our tub with the hottest water I could deliver warmed the tire back up, though probably not quite as soft as it was the other day. It was at least now malleable again. I measured the inside diameter of the donut, and it had grown by nearly a half inch. I was debating if I'd need to use boiling water, but this seemed like it might work.
A big screwdriver and I now were able to lever it back on the rim. Once I had it on, a little polyurethane glue seemed the right fix for the minor tear in the poly tire.
Lesson learned - don't overheat flat free tires. But if you do, they can be reheated.
John
So one day I had to move some rock about a mile down the road. The tires had a claimed rating of 500 pounds apiece, so 700 pounds of rock seemed not too much to pull with the tractor. The flaw in my thinking was the hot, sunny day I did it on. Half way down the road (asphalt, and hot from the sun - 83 degrees in the shade that day) I looked back at the tires and noticed they seemed loose on the rims, as if they had expanded from the heat. Thinking I should watch that and take it easy, I drove on for only another 50 feet. One of my brand new tires had just rolled off the rim. I felt it, and it was really soft. The load on them had probably added internal friction, kneading them to be way too hot.
I returned with alternative transportation to rescue the trailer, but now I was stuck with a rim and a tire, sadly disconnected. There was a small tear in the tire, created when it came off the rim. Once the tire cooled down, it shrunk in size and stiffened up dramatically. There was no way I could get it back on the rim. So I wondered how they did it in the factory. Probably use microwave heating to soften and expand it, then I'd push the tire onto a mandrel, and slide it right onto the rim. Since my wife might object to this use of our oven, I thought some more.
An easy solution came to me eventually. A bath in our tub with the hottest water I could deliver warmed the tire back up, though probably not quite as soft as it was the other day. It was at least now malleable again. I measured the inside diameter of the donut, and it had grown by nearly a half inch. I was debating if I'd need to use boiling water, but this seemed like it might work.
A big screwdriver and I now were able to lever it back on the rim. Once I had it on, a little polyurethane glue seemed the right fix for the minor tear in the poly tire.
Lesson learned - don't overheat flat free tires. But if you do, they can be reheated.
John
