Re: floor jack

Ten years ago I was about doing the same but can not do it now. Still try to stay active but things happen. My knees were giving out and are just short of needing replacement. Now instead of walking a few miles a day I do it on a stationary bike in the basement.

I had one neighbor 75 years old go out to cut down a partially fallen tree with a chain saw and the tree fell on him and killed him. Then there was the very active 80 year old neighbor that fell off the roof and told my wife what happened when she saw he was missing teeth.

Been driving for 63 years. Never had a tire come off the rim because it was not "done right".

I have ways of earning the penny that are faster and easier than mounting tires. How long does it take you to remove the old, mount the new, balance, put back on the car? I imagine you are working for a very low hourly rate to save about $15.

I bought a set lightly used once, and de-studed them.

Tire stud use is just a civil infraction in Michigan. If you are BFF with Democrat Rep. Jewell Jones, he can likely get a pardon signed by Gretchen's (or Jocklyn's) auto-pen?

Well, I've been driving since I was about 13 or so (when I'd "steal" the family car at night) & I'm an octogenarian, I've never had one come off the rim either, but neither have I had an exterior rope-plug fail, even as the "proper" RMA way to fix a puncture is to use a patchplug from the inside.

There are *lots* of reasons why a patchplug from the inside is a far better repair than a string plug from the outside - but you probably don't know that, so I won't delve further into the details - as you don't know tires.

All that means is that I can easily do a patchplug at home, and you can't.

The reason is I care about doing the job right. The only thing the tire shop cares about is money.

And that's OK. All I ask is don't deprecate when people care to do the job right please.

Do you really think that, as an octogenarian, I'm working?

I have to wonder why you don't see the same false argument made about you baking a cake?

There are five things everyone should do with cars at home, but that's not one of the things on that major list that even I haven't completed yet.

I drove on studded tires as a kid, way back when it was normal in the winter, but I've never studded (nor destudded) tires, although, as kids, we would do whirlies in the parking lots at the first snowfall, where I never could get a 360 like they do in the movies. A 180 was about the best I could do before the snowpack piled up too deeply (or I didn't have enough momentum, always being afraid of hitting the light poles scattered about).

I assume you simply "press fit" the studs into the rubber?

My analogy, I think, holds firm that all the arguments about mounting & balancing tires at home equally apply to baking & icing a cake at home.

A pie is even harder, as the crust is one of those delicate things, like proper balancing, which if you've never done it, you won't understand it.

I have a Sears 20-gallon compressor from the 1980's, and it works fine.

Seating any bead depends first on intimate knowledge of the drop center. Then a bead blaster helps for those tough tires which leak when setting it.

But you will NEVER fail to set a bead, even without the bazooka gun. There's really no way to fail to mount & balance a tire at home.

But it does take a few gruff words every once in a while, I will agree!

On Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:21:49 -0000 (UTC), Cindy Hamilton snipped-for-privacy@invalid.com wrote

You seem to have a lot of pent-up aggression, so I hope you can calm down with this message (or by taking a nap or drinking a soothing cup of tea).

I have plenty of gas cans since I have a refilling station (of sorts) with electric pumping at home. What I do is replace all the nozzles as soon as I get new gas cans, but I was kind of surprised that they *shipped* me Garvee gas cans last week, which happen to have a factory vent already in them.

I tried to look up the URL as they came from Amazon, but they're now gone!

OMG you are such a hypocrite. You don't want me to deprecate people, yet you try to do that to me. Yes, I know the difference in patch types. Had one done a few years ago, cost me about $20 including re-balancing the tire.

I know more about tires than you think, but, you'd rather show what a nasty old man you are and think you are superior. At least I can bake a cake.

Montana allows them between October 1st and May 31st. I typically mount the studs Thanksgiving weekend and take them off in late March, depending. I don't know about RWD but with FWD the tire store will only sell 4.

They're noisy and I'll be glad to get them off. However winters here tend to hover around 32, warm enough to melt during the day and turn to ice at night. The road crews might put down a little gravel at intersections or bad corners but they use it sparingly. With the aquifer down about 25' salt is a no go.

The trails are about the same so I have micro-spikes on my boots most of the winter and YakTraks on the sneakers if I walk to the mailbox. Falling on the ice and breaking a hip a couple of years ago did nothing to increase my comfort with icy sidewalks.

Yes, the tread of the tires had holes in the stud pattern. The studs had mushroom heads and the tool was a hollow driver to push them in. Tedious, but not much skill required.

Looking on Amazon I see they still exist as well as a screw in variety. I don't know how long the screw ins would last. I've known people who used standard hex head sheet metal screws on their knobbies but I was never crazy enough to want to ride my DR in the winter. When I was younger I did ride a bicycle in the winter and sometimes tuds would have been good. Nokian used to make studded bicycle tires but I don't know if the still do.

I have a cheap HF pancake. It works fine for topping up the bikes and car. I suppose I could put together a bead blaster and it would fill it eventually.

The last time I mounted a Kenda on the front wheel the neighborhood kids learned some new words. Note that this was a tube type. Lube the bead. No go. Take it up to 110 psi. No go. Beat on the sidewall with a 5 lb hammer. No go. Air it down to about 25 psi and ride it for 5 miles. Finally!

The rear had been no problem. Other brands had been no problem on either end. Knobbies are only good for 5-6000 miles so I've been through a few variations. I like the Kendas once I got them mounted but next time I'm going back to Dunlop D606s.

We had a windstorm last summer that left a couple of partially broken limbs. One was a little higher than I wanted to go on the ladder and the pole saw wasn't doing the job so I got one of those limb chain saws. It worked. The biggest problem is the polypropylene rope is very stretchy and the chain tends to jam.

The neighbor's kid climbed another tree to cut the limb loose. His father and I stood on the ground remembering how it used to be years ago.

Shortly after putting new tires on the Harley I picked up an ugly piece of debris in the rear. I put in a rope plug and rode it the 8 miles home very gingerly. It was still maintaining pressure the next day. I rode with that plug for the next 7000 miles or so. Toward the end it was leaking a bit but it was one of those dual compound tires and the harder center compound was just about gone around it.

Those Spitfires were deceptive. One day you thought 'time for new tires' and two days later the center strip had melted away like ice cream in July. They didn't last like the OEM 'Dunrocks' but they put the Sport back in Sportster.

They may be illegal in California. Of course they are only for replacing the vents in old gas cans. Nobody would ever, ever drill a 1/2" hole in a new EPA approved safety spout can.

As far as your simple solution -- I moved out of several states before winding up in the Last Best Place. I could have made more money in SillyCon valley or Seattle but there are things money can't buy.

That is a 404 for me. Curious, does

Only what they have in inventory.

I use a piece of garden hose of an appropriate length stuffed between the tire and rim bead if I need to . Wipe it down with some bead lube or liquid dish detergent and it'll slip out as the tire inflates .

On Sun, 16 Mar 2025 22:49:16 -0000 (UTC), badgolferman snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote

The problem is that battery powered lawn mowers pollute twice as much as gasoline powered lawn mowers (each battery pollutes to make and dispose of and to charge as much as 6.5 gallons of gasoline pollutes when burned).

The California law isn't based on science but liberal politics instead.

What bothers me isn't that the liberals force others under penalty of law to do what the liberals want done, but that there's no science backing it.

Both batteries and gasoline pollute. But battery energy pollutes 2X as much as equivalent amount of gas energy.

Liberals have no concept of reality.

On 16 Mar 2025 21:31:00 GMT, rbowman snipped-for-privacy@montana.com wrote

That's my point. It was a valid Amazon listing. I can show you a screenshot of me buying it just about a week or so ago. Now it's completely gone.

I'm guessing the EPA shut them down for selling & shipping vented gas cans.

But all I really know is they shipped it to me, and then removed the listing. Maybe a TLA is on to me and they put a bug in the cans already?

Thanks for that story, which I can feel for you, as you needed to get home.

My BMW K1200 is on its side right now, with a nasty case of road rash, so like you, I'm very familiar with mounting and balancing motorcycle tires.

But even I would never patch a motorcycle tire unless I had to, just as you did. Even though I've never had an automobile tire rope plug fail.

I generally prefer Continental, but they all last only until next week. :)