[TheForge] Flat tire

[jerry Frost]

Using a contained explosion usually doesn't work very well on small tires
and gasoline tends to degrade rubber so any unburned fumes in the tire are
BAD for them long term.

I've used the strap, cinch method successfully a lots of times but once
again small tires not so much. We had one in the Service station that
inflated and worked a treat. but a cargo strap or just a piece of rope and a
sheetbend does it nicely.

When we had a trouble tire in the station we had a device that worked every
time but it had to fit the rim so we had a number of them. Picture a section
of rubber lined tubing with an ID the same as the OD of the rim. There was a
layer of stiff foam between the rubber and the outside shell so it gave
some. You soaped the bead and the bead seater and pushed it down hard while
applying air. When the bead seated the bead seater just slipped off the rim.


The tire machines had a ring of air jets under the tire that gave a LARGE
blast of air that seated beads like ether or propane blast. The "new" tire
machine had an inflating cinch too and a high output air chuck. It was high
output but wouldn't put more than IIRC 35 psi in a tire before shutting off.


Of course that didn't keep the shop mechanic who got the job by convincing
Gerty, the owner, he knew everything about every car ever made. (I can't
fine a Roll eyes.) Anyway, the safety shut off only applied to the bead set
pedal, there was an inflation pedal that put air in the tire till you let
off with a nice big gage IF you looked at it. Anyway, that was the only tire
blown off the rim at that station while I worked there. It took the shaft
right out of the tire machine and slammed it all against a girder under the
ceiling. It actually dented the girder, good thing it didn't hit the sheet
steel instead or it would've holed the roof.

I was at the parts store across the street and heard it, we thought there'd
been an explosion the way windows and doors rattled and ran with fire
extinguishers and 1st. aid kits. Happily nobody was hurt, scared but no
injuries. We got a new tire machine and shop mechanic out of it though. The
old mech couldn't find the access door on a mid engine Porche either. Turned
out he rebuilt transmissions after they'd been removed and thoroughly
cleaned, not a get dirty mechanic guy. Not a bad guy just not a service
station mechanic.

Frosty The Lucky.