Patching tubes

[GregDeK]

Ok, whats the best thing to use to patch a tube? The brass stem tubes for the brass Ts are getting expensive, especially when you are “learning” how to dismount, mount a clincher tire. (Goober, where are you when I need you… ? )

[Allan]

I use stick-on patches available from tyre shops. The ones for tubes have a red layer under the black patch. For tubeless tyres there is a special patch with a blue layer. The most important part is the scruffing up of the area to be patched. You need to be fitting your patch to a newly exposed area on the tube. Follow the directions on the can with the cement and you can't go far wrong. To make good contact with the tube, I use a spine roller as used to fit new mash in a flyscreen. Roll it back and forth in multiple directions to make sure your patch has made the best contact with the tube. Don't be in a hurry to air up the tube.

I gather you have had mixed results fitting tyres without pinching the tube. Some will advise you fit a $50 flap inside the tyre to protect the tube during fitting. I use a rim liner rather than a flap. Mine I cut from the OD of a 13" inner tube from a tyre dealer's scrap bin, or you can buy a 24" bicycle tube and cut a rim liner from that. Cut a strip about 2.5 " wide and it will be snap fit in the rim. They have two advantages. They can be cost free, and they will not migrate within the tyre or dislodge during tyre fitting.

The best insurance against pinching is to fit both sides of the tyre simultaneously. You need 15" tyre levers and some proper tyre fitting lubricant Fit the the rim liner. fit the tube in the tyre and air it up just enough to hold its shape. Lube th tyre beads.Then insert the valve stem in the rim hole and clamp both sides of the tyre in the rim either side of the valve stem. now you lever both sides of the tyre on at the same time. The levers are never anywhere near the tube except right at the end when one side may pop on first. The last bit can easily be levered on from there.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

[lenddiving]

Allan, your tips are very helpful! I have struggled with mounting a tire without damaging the tube, so your advice about using both levers at the same time makes a lot of sense. What do you think about using different types of tire levers? Any sugplanet clickergestions?

[Allan]

I use three 15" levers with the nice hook on the end which rolls around the rim bead. It's not two levers at a time. It's two tyre beads at the same time. Insert the valve stem in the rim hole and use a clamp. or two, adjacent to the valve, to hold BOTH beads on the tyre in the rim. Then lever away, both beads at a time, working each side of the valve stem.

Allan from down under.

[Humblej]

I have better results when mounting tires with flaps between the tire and tube for both clincher and split rims, no more pinched or cut tubes.

[TWrenn]

I buy new tubes and I don't use flaps, never have, never had any problems. But lets not get into that dogfight again!

[Erik Johnson]

It is substantially easier to mount a clincher tire with the wheel/rim on the car.

Click on this link and scroll down to Royce Peterson's posts on how to mount a clincher tire with the wheel on the car:

https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/1 ... 1325091009

The last time I did it, it required no levers to mount the tire, just my hands and skinny arms and exactly as Royce shows in his photos. (My roadster has Coker Classic saw-tooth tread tires.)

There is more clearance under the front fenders so, if you have demountable rims, install the rim on which you want to mount the tire on a front wheel.

[Daisy Mae]

Tubes are capable, and meant to be patched. The issue is fewer people, oddly enough, have never repaired so much as a bicycle tube.

One caution I would offer relative to patching is to not use caned inflator/sealant if you get a flat. It may be convenient at the moment, but you risk not being able to patch/save the tube. That goo makes it almost impossible to set a patch, at best it requires way more prep effort.

On another head scratch moment, I used to have a supply, now run out, of vulcanizing patches....remember those? Patches on a steel cup filled with a burning material, set on the tube with a patch clamp and set ablaze. Those things worked 100% of the time....i wonder why those disappeared.

[Steve Jelf]

I have read good advice from several people. When I was fairly new to this game, like many others, I struggled with mounting clincher tires. Simply mounting a single tire was an ordeal that lasted twenty minutes or more. Over the course of several years I got to where changing a tire was no big deal. If I still had a running T I would make a video, but in my current circumstances I will describe some of my practices and hope they help.

Ford mounted tires without flaps. They were not needed because the tires were being installed on new or "new enough" rims that would not damage the tubes. I believe the combination of excellent rims and good practices will make flaps unnecessary. If I ever used any flaps it was so long ago that I don't remember.

Let's skip ahead to having a flat on the road. Suddenly it becomes obvious that one wheel is running on a flat. If you don't hear it, you can feel it. I pull over out of traffic and survey the situation. Sure enough, one tire is flat and will need to come off. I chock another wheel so the car won't roll. I use the standard Model T screw jack to lift the sick wheel enough that it can turn. A good jack is an absolute must. For me the standard Ford jack has always been good enough, sometimes raised by resting on a wooden block. It was produced in the millions, and is plentiful and often cheap.

When I'm able to turn the wheel, I put the valve stem at the bottom and let the car down just enough to keep the wheel from turning. Now I have to remove the flat tire. Years ago experience told me that using original Ford tire irons, just under a foot long, will make this the Job from Hell. Mister Archimedes told me that more leverage is better, so I carry three Harbor Freight two-footers. They are cheap and strong, and will do the job. Two will often be enough, but sometimes a third iron comes in handy. With the wheel held stationary, I pry off the tire. Getting one side of the tire off the wheel may be easiest to get started, but as soon as you're able it's better to pry off both sides of the tire together. When the tire is mostly free, take enough weight off to let the wheel turn to where you can pull out the valve stem.

In this instance we'll assume that the tube is ruined, and we need to use a new one. Is it folded, as it was when I received it, and stored under a seat in the car? No, it is not. Storing a tube folded is asking for trouble. Far better is keeping it in a spare tire, inflated only enough to keep it there. If the car is pre-1919, you want a 30 x 3 for the front and a 30 x 3½ for the rear. I have seen people carrying whole spare wheels, but I prefer to avoid the hassle of changing wheels. Spare tires with new tubes in them have been adequate for me.

We're headed down the home stretch now. Some lubrication will help the tire slide into place. Some folks do it with liquid soap, but I prefer baby powder. (No, it's no longer made with talc.) We turn the bare wheel with the valve hole at the bottom. Insert the stem into the hole, being careful to get it centered. Use the weight of the car as your clamp, letting it down just enough to keep the stem in its hole at the bottom. I have found two reliable ways of inflating tires. One is with an original style hand pump. If you have it in good working condition it works now, just as it did 100 years ago. I once used a hand pump to get a rear tire up to 80 pounds, just to see if I could. It was a LOT of work. I had to pump awhile, stop and rest, and pump some more. There are less toilsome ways of doing the job and I think I tried them all. I finally settled on the only one that worked reliably for me. That was with a modern electric pump. Most such pumps are made to run on 12 volts, and I was perfectly willing to carry a 12 volt battery, kept charged by the magneto. I found that quite satisfactory.

I may have left out a detail or two, but that's how I have approached spares and flats.

[RajoRacer]

Steve - you left out the detail of actually installing the tire back onto the wheel after inserting the stem !

[Steve Jelf]

Oh, yes. With the wheel holding the tire and the valve stem in place, start near the bottom and pry the spare onto the rim, both sides together. With practice, this gets to be a pretty simple operation. With the tire mounted, inflate it to seat the tube, deflate, and reinflate to normal pressure. Some people prefer their tires a bit soft, but I go for 65 psi in front and 70 psi rear.

[RajoRacer]

Thanks Steve ! I must be getting weak in my old age ? - last one I tried both sides at the same time kicked my BUTT !

[Allan]

Vulcanising patches were to be used on rubber tubes. It is a long time since tubes were made of rubber. Hence the development of the stick-on patches and the cement used in their application when dealing with synthetic butyl "rubber."

Allan from down under.

[Daisy Mae]

^^^^ well that explains it! I didn't know that, but certainly explains why I haven't seen them in decades. Was curious, cuz damn they worked good in the day....