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Tire Mounting

RVadmirer

Well Known Member
What are the recommendations for those with experience in tire replacement for avoiding the squeeze between the rim halves? :confused:

I had mine done at a shop on the East Coast before coming home and just found after a recent slow leak that one had been squeezed pretty bad and destroyed the tube. :mad:

It had held up for over 20 landings and all the way from New York to California but could have been a bad surprise had it gone flat in the air. :eek:

I have new tubes on the way. I'm new to this and would appreciate your advice.
Thank you!
Dave
 
I did the tire replacement thing Saturday. Here's what works for me:

1) Add talcum powder inside the tire, then insert the tube. Match the valve stem to the red dot for balance purposes.

2) Add a little air - just enough to partially fill the tube. You don't want the tube to take a true doughnut shape - you want it partially collapsed.

3) Push the valve stem through the appropriate wheel half.

4) Set the wheel/tire combo down so the half with the valve stem is resting flat on a table or the floor.

5) Set the other wheel half in place. Match up the relief semi-circles for the valve stem.

6) Drop a couple of the bolts through the bolt holes in the wheel halves, just to keep the halves from rotating.

7) Press down on the sidewalls of the tire. This will give you visibility down into the assembly so you can see where the wheel splits.

8) If the tube is caught between the wheel halves, adjust until is isn't caught.

9) Once the tube is properly positioned, hold the wheel so it doesn't separate, put the third bolt through the wheel from the correct side, place the washer and nut, and tighten. Make sure you don't let the wheel halves separate during the process. If you let them separate, go back to step 7.

10) Install the remaining nuts/bolts, torque them down, and add 10-15 lbs of air.

11) Deflate the tube entirely, then re-inflate to a couple of PSI above your operating pressure. The tire/tube will stretch a little over the next day or so and the pressure will end up about right.

12) Install on the aircraft and fly.
 
Kyle, great list of steps. I would add that with the tube nowhere near the tire and rims, seat one of the tire beads on one rim. Use a press and blocks of wood to do this. Doing so leaves quite a bit of room for the tube to be out of the way.
 
FWIW, I always have my valve stem out (completely removed) when doing tire work. The tube is really easy to work with that way.

Also, the cheapo McCreary AirHawk tires are nice and flexible...you can "compress" the tire to visually check that the axles are mated without pinching...before tightening anything.

Practice.
 
tube

I do what was posted in the reply.. and I press down the halves together so I can hear metal to metal... I then tighten... dont forget about the valve stem at the red dot... and dont try and balance the wheel with bearings installed...
Brian
 
no red dot !

Installed some Airhawks last fall and there were no balance dots on the tires....nothing. I installed them anyway and have not found any difference, they seem to run fine. Are there any other indicators on the tires...?
 
Shin Cheng Tires

Have no dot. I'm hoping this small a tire doesn't have a balance problem but that may be wishful thinking. Got my new tubes and tires today and am using the great advice here to mount them. However....
I am having a huge problem finding replacement grommets for the tube valve stem. I think I found a source but it was a real internet search chore that took several hours and I'm still not sure I have a source - may be just a manufacturer that wants to sell me a few hundred of them! What is the normal source for these grommets that fit in the wheel?
Thanks again all :) :confused:
 
Have no dot. However....
I am having a huge problem finding replacement grommets for the tube valve stem.

I have a red dot AND a blue dot on each tire... Not sure why, but they are opposite each other.

What are the grommets you are talking about?
 
Talcum powder differences

Any talcum powder during tire/tube repair is better than NO talcum powder but the powder I bought from Desser is very different than the powder we sprinkle into our sneakers.

Reg talcum powder is very thin and adheres nicely to the tube. Desser powder seems more granular and does not adhere as well. I spread it manually but it sloshes together offering little to no protection (IMO).

Comments welcome.
 
Tire talc from Spruce

I got the tire talc from Spruce .... Just added it to an order I was about to place, so there was no significant shipping cost. it's proven to be good stuff. Three years of flying and approaching 300hrs without a single tire or tube issue. I use LOTS of it ... Better too much than too little. :)
 
I'm having trouble getting my new Desser Aero Classic tires started on the rims. What lube should I use? Dishwashing detergent? Parker O-Lube? Both of those dry up after a while so they shouldn't cause a problem with the tire slipping on the rims. I've never had that problem with the Chen Shings, but I can't find those any more. Suggestions?
 
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Tires can be dangerous

Dear Vern, please accept my condolences and I am sorry that you had to endure such a tragedy. At the risk of being insensitive would you mind explaining how it happened?
I once worked for a trucking co. and one of our mechanics was terribly injured by a truck wheel. It may have been brake related.
 
Tire accident>Do a search of my posts.

Terry's accident has been written up before on VAF.
 
I'm having trouble getting my new Desser Aero Classic tires started on the rims. What lube should I use? Dishwashing detergent? Parker O-Lube? Both of those dry up after a while so they shouldn't cause a problem with the tire slipping on the rims. I've never had that problem with the Chen Shings, but I can't find those any more. Suggestions?

Soap should work just fine, IMO. ACS sells Cheng Shin tires and second ACS link. I have an extra set with wheels attached to the MLG of the Lancair 320 I parted out last year.
 
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Thanks!

Thank you! For a long while there, they didn't. I called both ACS and Cheng Shin and was told that CS would no longer sell their tires for aircraft use. I'll order some forthwith. It's a good thing they're still available because I lost my man card today trying to mount that Desser tire. I've done at least ten of the Cheng Shins with no problems, but today I pinched two tubes on the Desser. No lubricant I used would get the tire to slide partway onto the rim halves. For the first time ever, I had to use clamps to compress the tire enough to get the bolts started. It was very humiliating.
 
rim liner

With bicycle tires running 100lbs+ psi we used a liner between the rim and tube. When I assembled my rv kit tires i put cardboard between the tube and rim to prevent pinching.
 
With bicycle tires running 100lbs+ psi we used a liner between the rim and tube. When I assembled my rv kit tires i put cardboard between the tube and rim to prevent pinching.

This is what I have done for years.

Cut a strip of thick paper or thin cardboard about 2 inches wide by 12 inches long or so. Place the cardboard between the inner tube and the rim half starting on one side of the valve stem and going around to the opposite side of the valve stem. Slide the other rim half on and the paper will prevent the rim halves from pinching the tube. No talc necessary.
 
I finally got the Cheng Shin tire mounted today, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I ruined one more tube on the first attempt. The problem was that I had too much air in the tube when I went to mate the two rim halves. I bought three clamps that Matco recommends ($16 each!) but couldn't get that method to work. When clamping down on the tire, the tube just pushed itself out into the space where the rim was going to go. I also tried the cardboard trick but after inserting it into the first rim half, the cardboard canted outward so the second rim half wouldn't fit. So I fell back to my tried-and-true method that has worked for me for several years:

1. Dust the inside of the tire with baby powder and remove the excess.
2. Blow up the tube just a little bit with N2 so it will fit inside the tire.
3. Slide the tire/tube onto the rim half with the hole for the valve stem.
4. Pump up the tube some more so it will expand back into the tire.
5. Push the valve stem into the hole in the rim.
6. Lube up the inner diameter of the tube with Parker O-Lube.
7. Insert the second rim half into the tire
8. Insert three long AN4 bolts in the bolt holes to get them aligned.
9. Let some N2 out of the tube so it recedes back into the tire
10. Remove the long bolts and install the provided bolts/washers.
11. Push the rim halves together until you hear a metal-on-metal "clunk".
12. Gently clamp the rim halves partially so you can start the nuts.
13. Verify you still have a metal-on-metal clunk when pushing the rim halves together.
14. Tighten the nuts equally then torque to 99 in.lb.
15. Pressurize with N2 to 50 PSIG and pray.

One other thing I did was to file a !~.020" radius on the mating surface of the rim half opposite the valve stem so it would slide easily over the tube.

The secret that I missed before was step 9.
 
remove the valve

Between your steps 1 and 2, add: Remove the valve core. If you place the tube properly, you don't need it inflated while you are assembling the wheel.
And that means you don't need Parker lube, or cardboard, chamfering previously good parts, etc.
Then. you look for step 9/ 13 - making sure you have metal to metal - carefully - before assembling the wheel and inflating the tube.
It's been more than 40 years, and don't-remember-how- many- tires since I was taught this, after pinching the ONLY tube i ever broke that way.
 
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