MTFCA Forum

I have just come home from a 3 day tour run by our T club, and have to report some firsts for me, and a few notes of caution.
A very nice 14 T tourer had a flat tyre just as we pulled up for a catered lunch stop. In all my years of model T motoring I have never fixed a flat tyre on the roadside on a non demountable wheel, and neither had the new owner of the car. He had a jack and some tools stowed under a mountain of luggage under the back seat, but knew there were no tyre levers among them. He did have a replacement tube inside a spare tyre carried at the back of the car. I could supply a jack from my running board toolbox, so he didn't have to unpack the luggage, but we were still short of tyre levers.

Then I remembered I had a tool roll of original T tools in the toolbox with the jack, and in that there were 3 of the short T model tyre levers!

In another first for me, these levers did the job! The tyre was loose on the rim having travelled a short distance while flat. It was an old stock Dunlop tyre made in the late 60's and was really quite supple and easily removed. We stuffed the replacement tube into the tyre, inflated it just enough to hold its shape, and went to fit it. Fortunately, we were able to rat a valve stem extension from a front wheel, as the valve stem on the replacement tube was not long enough to get an air chuck onto the valve. I fitted both beads and the valve stem into the rim and lowered the jack to hold them in place while we levered both beads back onto the rim. Someone came forward with a rubber mallet to complete the mounting.

Then we had to inflate it. One helpful soul offered his pump, minus the chuck. He suggested that we could jam the hose down over the stem and blow it up that way, I'll leave you to work out how that was not going to work. A second pump had a faulty chuck that would not depress the valve core stem and leaked anyway.

Finally, a portable compressor carried by a driver in a modern car completed the job.

Some lessons were learned. If you have to change a tyre, you need tyre levers. You need to be able to repair a puncture or carry a replacement tube. If you need to inflate a tyre, you need a working pump. Finally, if your rims are prone to liberating flakes of rust, you need a rim liner, or if you have plenty of funds, a flap.

Allan from down under.

I hope you enjoyed your 3 days of touring. I cant wait to get back into it. Covid has pretty much destroyed all the Victorian clubs 40th anniversary celebrations that were planned for this year.
I was surprised to learn that after all your years of T'ing you have not changed an inner tube on a non demountable rim on the roadside. Unfortunately I have done it many times and have learnt many hard lessons. Now they are learnt, I rarely have a problem but are well prepared when I do.
Here are some of my tips.
1. I carry a good quality mini electric 12Volt compressor which is capable of inflating a 30 by 3.5 type to a minimum of 60PSI. It has long leads with alligator clips that can hook on to my battery and reach all points of the car. It stores neatly under a seat in a box.
2. I have 2 long tyre levers and a rubber mallet in my tool kit.
3. I carry some talcum powder which helps the tyre onto the rim.
4. I carry one spare tube partly inflated inside the spare tyre on the spare tyre carrier. Spare tubes folded in their packaging can deteriorate over time and when you need it most, it may leak air where it was folded. The spare tyre is as necessary as the tube. Too often in the event of a blowout, the tyre is destroyed as well as the tube. Careful inspection of the tyre and bead should be done before any tube replacement.
5. Model T era jacks are not very strong or safe. I carry a small Hydraulic jack and a piece of timber to go under it as a nice flat base.I have also made some neat slip on brackets that go onto the plunger of the jack which go neatly under both the front and rear axles ensuring they will not slip off the jack when you are working on the wheel and tyre.
6. I avoid any type of tube that requires a valve extension. I use a zip tie to hold the valve stem in place through the wheel felloe as I am working the beads on to the rim then cut it away when the job is done.
7. gloves and hand cleaner are useful for during and after the repsir.
8.I check my tyre pressures before each day of driving.
Just my thoughts, as always, each to their own.

I know it probably goes without saying but be sure to check the inside of the tire casing with your hand before inserting the new tube in case the offending object that caused the puncture in the first place is still there waiting for a repeat performance.

The tyre was loose on the rim...

That's probably why changing it with those little Ford irons wasn't exasperatingly difficult.

I'm glad Warwick mentioned talcum. I neglected to include it on my Flat Tire page. Correction made: http://dauntlessgeezer.com/DG115.html

Warwick, I remember one run I did when your dad was running a sedan. I warned him not to let Bernie McKegan pass him on the run. Naturally, he wanted to know why. The spare on dad's sedan was on a Chev rim, complete with the valve stem hole in the wrong place. Bernie's spare would fit.

Allan from down under.

Slight addendum to what Russ said: use a rag to run around the inside of the tire to check for a nail or whatever. You don’t need a cut and a flat too.

I carry a spare 30x3 tube, some modern bicycle patches and a 12V compressor all stuffed carefully inside my Acetylene Generator on my Torpedo. The three short tire irons are in my tool box. I've had to use them twice on the road. Luckily the tire was always loose or already off the car and the compressor worked fine except it takes a Very long time to get up to 60 psi!

...the compressor worked fine except it takes a Very long time to get up to 60 psi!

Yep. I've used one of those on a modern car, and it was pretty slow. I think the old Ford pump is faster, even though it's a workout for a person of the elderly persuasion.

A former forum member's take on changing a non-demountable tire on the car.

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/17 ... 1325091009

One other thing which can cause flat tires. Cactus. If you should be unfortunate enough to run over cactus you might not be able to detect the needles with a rag, but you can get many in the time and even if you patch or replace the tube, they will still be in the tire and work their way into the tube. The leak is slow, so you can pump up the time and later it will be flat again.
Norm

Steve, there are the usual two threads. The small end is the universal valve cap size. The rest of the thread is the same all the way to the flange on the end. The third size you are seeing is the thread on the ferrule that takes the dust cover. I have no idea why the three washers are there. the bridge washer certainly is unusual.

Allan from down under.

I see what you mean, Allan. Looking more closely I see that the threads here are not part of the stem. That leaves just the bridge washer and the three thick washers as the oddities.