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Sun 8 Jun, 2008 08:22 am
Last week, I'm sure I severely overloaded my wheelbarrow and then made the bigger mistake of leaving the materials in it for a prolonged period. Later I noticed that the wheelbarrow wheel had gone flat.
After unloading the wheelbarrow, I tried to reinflate the tire, which seemed successful, but the tire didn't stay inflated very long. I suspect that similar to a car tire (and dissimilar to a bicycle tire), that the wheelbarrow has a "bead" that's been broken during the "de-inflation". I've seen car tires mounted and know that the tire installer will typically apply an unknown substance around the inner tire rim surface, that seals against the rim.
I suspect that's the problem in my repair of the wheelbarrow tire. Is there any way or similar substance that I could use that would approximate that end result - assuming that I've got this upstream process stuff figured out right. Suggestions? And yes, I know I can buy a replacement wheelbarrow tire for around $10, which I did a couple of years ago. Any OTHER suggestions, is what I mean. Thanks
Usually the "bead" which is just a ridge inside the tire, can be set with something wet...soapy water....sometimes the bead will get dirty, or have a piece of rubber that has peeled away causing a bulge, and won't allow it to seal properly. Try cleaning the groove first, both on the tire and the rim, soap it down, then try putting air in.
I just changed one last week myself, my tire was destroyed though, it had been low, and someone {a guy working on my moms house} put about 500 lbs in it, and then tried to push it. I was figuring 15.00 for a new tire, like I had paid a few years ago...new tire was 32.00, but had been marked down to 28.00....I nearly bought a whole new wheelbarrow instead.
There is always Fix-a-flat, and Green Slime....and of course the "redneck way" using ether and a long lighter { I don't recommend this, but it's funny to see it done, look on youtube for redneck tire repair....too easy to lose a finger or two, or worse}
*nods* The guy's at the garage are just using soapy water. It helps the bead at the edge of the tire slip over the wheel and if you don't get a complete seal you'll see it immediately because you'll get bubbles blowing out where the air leak is.
The "biggie" is getting the 1st blast of air in there to set the bead seal.
If it's just failing to seat at the bead, tie a rope around the circumfrence of the tire, put a jack handle under the rope, and twist. Squeezing the tire forces the bead against the wheel.
If your tire uses a tube, it is more like a bicycle. Overload a tire with low pressure and you get a snakebite flat - one puncture on either side of the tube where it was crushed against the rim.
This was all good input - especially that tire bead fluid (soapy water, which I always suspected was the case).
Using just a little bit of muscle and my rigged inflation set-up, where I pull air out of my automobile tires, was sufficient to get a toehold on the tire. And by toehold, I mean I was able to get the tire bead to seal sufficiently, and then fully pressurize and hold the inflation. A leak test showed that (at least initially) nothing is leaking. We'll see how long it holds. Thanks for the help and suggestions.
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