Snowblower tires

[GoHabsGo]

My snowblower tires are too soft. I try pumping them up with my bicycle pump but they seem to stay at the same level. Are they losing air around the rim? How can I get them to hold air?

Thanks,

Larry

[Oyabun]

Remove the wheels from the blower and dunk them under water to find the leaks. Or pour soapy water on the rim with the wheel horizontal and look for bubbles. If they are leaking from the rims you can push the tire away from the rim, clean the rim surface with some emery cloth and refill the tire pushing in from the tread as needed to reseat the tire bead into the rim. All this would be kind of hard to do though if you just have a bicycle pump but it can be done. Or you could just remove the wheels and take them to a local tire shop. I've seen them work on small wheels before. Can also take them to a place who works on garden tractors and mowers.

[Van Chocstraw]

How old are they? I just replaced mine this year because the side walls were weather cracked and leaking air. I could have put a tube in but the tires would have split in time. New ones are $17.00 each from Northern tools. The new tires should last another 30 years.

[GoHabsGo]

Van Chocstraw wrote in news:TJadnWxZjO_xi3bXnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

About 5 years old, give or take a year. There are no sidewall cracks in mine.

[Harry K]

i3bXnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

I don't fool with them, the first time one of my mower/blower/trailer tires goes down, it gets a tube and that ends the problem.

Harry K

[dpb]

That should say "no _visible_ sidewall cracks".

As somebody else noted, dunk 'em and see where the leak(s) are and go from there. Tubes/foam/repair are all possible solutions but also as noted it's quite possible simply new tires are as cheap a solution as any of the above. But, w/o knowing what is the actual source of the leak and condition of the tires, specifics aren't possible.

The generality that a bicycle pump is an inadequate air supply for most other tires owing to them being for lower volume is another good observation. It's quite possible you simply haven't put enough air into them to make any discernible difference.

[Jim]

Larry,

is the bycicle pump pumping air?....sick your finder over the end and make sure it pumps pressure.... Jim

[Jules]

And if you have a ratchet strap it sometimes helps to do this up tightly around the tire's perimeter in the middle, as it helps the bead seat a better as the tire's inflated.

If the snowblower is old and is anything like my ancient lawn tractor, getting the wheel *off* in the first place might be an art in itself... :-) (one of my lawn tractor ones leaks over a few weeks, but the wheel's jammed solid on the axle so I just live with it)

[Bob F]

Try filling them with a compressor - go to a gas station or something. A bicycle pump doesn't supply enough volume to seat the beads if they leak much.

[Oyabun]

Probably just as easy to replace the tires without removing the wheels if the sidewalls are cracked. While off, clean the rim edge off. If not the OP's got enough info to get-r-done.

[Stormin Mormon]

Kind of hard to diagnose over the internet. I'd guess that rim leaks are very common.

The old country wisdom is to break down the tire, and then sand the rim to remove rust. Apply lots of axle grease to the rim, and blow the tire back up.

[Van Chocstraw]

Not axle grease, that eats the rubber.Soapy water allows the bead to slide up against the rim tightly.

[Van Chocstraw]

Try some Rust Buster PB penetrating catalyst on the axle. Apply it every day for a week and the wheel will come off easily.

[Stormin Mormon]

The tire places use some kind of slimy soapy solution. Only old farmers I've known use grease. I expect you're correct.

[Stormin Mormon]

Glad to hear that something out there works.

[Tony]

Yes it can be done. I did it with a stubborn car tire when I was about

11 years old. I amazed my father and he told everyone about it. :-) Oh, and no I didn't use ether or anything similar.

[Tony]

I've used motor oil with good results. Can't say it isn't harmful, maybe I just wore out the tires before the oil harmed the tires? On a trip 300 miles from home with a flat on a small trailer tire I found that GoJo not only makes a good bead seal, but also helps clean your hands! (I was lucky there was a Tractor Supply store within a mile of my blowout.) Oh and no I had never seated those original tires.

[JIMMIE]

Also bicycle pumps are low volume high pressure pumps. You can pump yourself sick and may not notice much change. Dosent help if the pump is bad either.

Jimmie

[clare]

No, the grease will soften the rubber bead enough to allow it to conform to the pitted rim, and will also keep the rim from rusting again. The tires are synthetic rebber and "fairly" resistant to oil damage.

Soap does nothing beyond making the tire and rim slippery - does not help the seal, or prevent further rust.

A good tubless tire rim sealer is better than grease, but there are a lot of them out there that do NOT protect against rust - so you have to do the job over again next year (water based latex products)

[GoHabsGo]

Smitty Two wrote in news:prestwhich- [e-mail]:

I can't get my pump to blow water in, besides, my snowblower stays in the garage where it rarely freezes.