Front tire flats - problem solved

[Jay4200]

While doing a series of dirt FEL jobs this summer, I had flattened a front tire at least a half-dozen times. The seal appeared to blow at the bead when the FEL was loaded up - silly crooked tractor wheels. It was always the same tire, until the last time, when the other one went, which then refused to reliably seal afterwords. Nothing worse than finding a flat first thing in the morning.

I decided to punt, and put tubes in both front tires. I had never changed automotive-type tires by hand before, but the job turned out to be a piece of cake. It was way easier than changing dirtbike tires. I used one of these to break the beads:

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

then used my trusty dirtbike tire spoons to pop the tires on and off. The deep center of the rim makes the job simple. While they were apart, I took the opportunity to wire brush any rusty spots clean on the inside of the rims, then gave the insides a coat of Rustolium. I dusted the tire insides, tubes, and rim innards with a generous helping of baby powder, and installed the tubes (15" generics from a discount tire store @ $9 each). The whole job on both sides took under an hour, not counting paint drying time.

Jay

 

[woodchuckie]

I lost air in my front tires a few times until I realized I had low air pressure. It hasn't happened since I started checking and keeping it around 30lbs.