I have done this for years. In some cases, it was the only way I could get 10 ply tires to seal the bead. ----- Original Message ----- From: Bob Kennedy To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 20:54 Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Flat tire on riding mower.
The band in tire shops actually has a valve on the end and lets you inflate the band to tighten it up. When I was running a marina years back there was a tire shop on the other side of the building. I learned a trick from the guys there that I still use from time to time. This is a take it or leave it tip. I'm not going to debate the issue with anyone. Take a can of starting fluid, give about a 1 to no more than 2 second blast into the tire. Then while applying air into the tire valve, take one of those long stem lighters like you use to light the grill. The fire will ignite the ether and the small explosion will most definitely seat the bead of the tire... Now if you get the neck of the lighter inside the bead, you won't have time to get it out once the ether lights. I mean to tell ya, it seats the bead with authority. Before anyone writes in and says the tire can catch fire and so on, just save that thought. There is no supply of oxygen to keep a fire going inside the tire. If there is, you have a real problem and will need a new tire anyway. ----- Original Message ----- From: Robert j To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 9:16 PM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Flat tire on riding mower. I have had my share of these and what I find works great is to take the wheel off of the mower and then with the tire in the upwrite position bounce it off the floor and rotate the tire as you do this. this will tend to snap the bead outward with every bounce so if you turn the tire a few inches every time and do this prossess for a couple of rotations you should be good to go. This has never failed to work for me. Although the way that max did it is very reliable too. If I am not mistaken tire places actually have a band that is designed just for that task. While we are on the topic be very carefull about extreme over inflation. I have heard my share of horrer stories. My local mechanic in town here had a friend of his get killed by a truck tire. I think it was actually the rim that got him. It was a large truck tire and it had a split rim. I don't know if they even make them any more. Don't be afraid of airing up your tires but keep within the normal range for the tire that you are airing up. I myself tend to go over the recommendation but only by about 2 pounds. Which is still wel within the maximum. My tires I think recamend about 35 LBS but the maximum states some where around 5 LBS. -----Original Message----- From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Max Robinson Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 7:36 PM To: Blind Handyman Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Flat tire on riding mower. Hi All. Here's a story that may help someone else who finds themselves in the same position some day. This spring, just a few days ago, when we got the riding lawn mower out of its house we found that one of the tires was flat. It had separated from the rim. I thought that lifting it off the ground would allow it to reengage to the rim so I could inflate it with my air compressor. Sue took the compressor hose to the hardware store to get the necessary adaptor to fit a valve stem. Then I cut a piece of scrap 2 by 4 just long enough to hold the wheel, it was a front one, off the carport when placed under the axel. I used an 8 foot 2 by 4 to leaver up the front end while Sue placed the block under the axel. The tire did not pop back into place. We fiddled with it for a while and then decided that was too dangerous so I removed the wheel. We tried several ways of pushing on it but couldn't get it to seal well enough to take air. Then we both had the same thought at the same time. We tied a length of rope around the circumference of the tire, right in the middle. We put a screwdriver through the knot and began to twist. This compression caused the walls of the tire to be forced outward and they finally made a seal good enough to get a few pounds of pressure in the tire. Then we removed the tourniquet and finished inflating to the recommended 15 pounds. Checking the other three tires revield anywhere from 3 to 5 pounds of pressure. We pumped them all up to 15. Before this year we didn't own an air compressor so we couldn't have aired up the tires even if we had thought of it. From now on, checking the tire pressure will be a part of spring maintenance for the riding mower. Regards. Max. K 4 O D S. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:max%40maxsmusicplace.com> Transistor site http://www.funwithtransistors.net <http://www.funwithtransistors.net> Vacuum tube site: http://www.funwithtubes.net <http://www.funwithtubes.net> Music site: http://www.maxsmusicplace.com <http://www.maxsmusicplace.com> To subscribe to the fun with tubes group send an email to, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:funwithtubes-subscribe%40yahoogroups.com> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
