Storing tubes

[Dallas Landers]

Friday was our 4th celebration in town. My TT was to haul girls from a local grocery to throw candy and lead the parade through town. Well at 5:30 am ready to leave for town for the day this is what I found.[attachment=0]20190705_061745.jpg[/attachment]
My plan was to patch the tube but when I put it in the horse tank I found it was leaking where the rubber meets the threads for the cap on valve stem. I am sure glad I got two 33x5 tubes from Hank in tin a see. One was a new universal made in Mexico. They were both powderd and in bags even tho one was used and had a patch. I fixed the tire and made the parade with no problem.
Even made the car show.

I have patched the other tube and another I had befor. My question is whats the best way to store these good tubes? Powder and bag folded? Air up so they are round and hang them? I know sun light is a bad thing for rubber parts so aired and hung up in a largs black garbage bag? What do you do to make them last. I took an old tube out of a tire yesterday that was so hard that when I hit the sidewall with a rubber mallet to break the bead , the rubber shattered like glass. The tube and flap were like new.

[Steve Jelf]

I put in just enough air to keep them round and put them on a high rack in my shop. Considering the exposure to light, maybe I should bag them.

What brand is your Mexican tube? I was aware only of Hartford (China), Custom Classic (India), and an unbranded tube from EEC.

[Ruxstel24]

I found 2 brand new tubes still in the bags from my father.
Stored folded up inside a garage with no windows for 15-20 years. One was like new and one was cracked at the folds. I am running one and had no problems, I pitched the cracked one.
I bought 2 Hartford tubes recently and used one.
The other I aired up just enough to make it round and hung it up on top of my hose rack out of the light.

Obviously sunlight did not cause the cracks on the stored tube from my dad.

[Cordes_jeff]

I have probably 40-50 tubes in storage. I vacuum them down and double bag them in plastic grocery sacks. They are then stored in a metal cabinet. Haven't lost a tube to dry rot yet using this method.

[Steve Jelf]

I had a marathon mounting/dismounting session with a Custom Classic tube. After I removed it again and applied the seventh patch, I discovered that no, I hadn't been making it leak by pinching it during mounting. It was splitting along a side where it had been folded. Later I read a post by one of the guys in OZ (Allan?) explaining that there was a run of Custom Classic tubes that had been folded and packaged before they were sufficiently cooled, the result being splitting along the folds. I'll be avoiding those tubes until I'm confident nobody still has the splitting ones in stock.

[Mark Osterman]

Hmmm .. Great. I just bought four of those 30 x 3 1/2” tubes from Bob’s a few weeks ago. Haven’t installed them yet. Did you ask the vendor about a refund for the defective tubes?

[George House]

Jeff, I’m pleasantly surprised you haven’t had any cracked tubes storing them like you said. As we’re on the same latitude, I find that heat, along with sunlight, is the biggest threat to storing inner tubes. So air conditioning is my answer to the OP question. I dump talcum powder into the bag and keep them in the guest bedroom closet.

[Allan]

I only store the best old Olympic butyl tubes I can find. I have 6 spares at the moment. They are superior to anything available today. I store them folded three times, in cardboard cartons, in my cellar. They are in the dark in cartons, and the cellar is a constant 72 degrees, much like it is in my workshop it.
Like Dallas, I always remove old, brittle tyres with care. You never know how good the tubes in them are. My best find was a pair of thick, red rubber, metal stemmed Goodyear diamond tubes which are in use in one of my Ts.

Allan from down under.

[Dallas Landers]

Thanks for the input guys. If I clear a spot in my wifes closet to put the tubes I may need a place to stay. I will powder and bag and box them and find a cool dark place to keep them. Probably under my bed same as my spare ammo. I helped a friend to find a good rim and tire for his T to make a parade a while back and mensioned I did not have a spare 30x3.5 tube. He stopped friday a gave me a new tube for my trouble. A 30x3.5 flap for front and a good 33x5 tire for rear and I will have spares for the TT.

[Steve Jelf]

After reading the comments about light and heat, I'm moving my tubes from my shop to the cellar. They will be cool in the summer and above freezing in the winter, and in the dark. But I'll leave them round, not folded.

[RustyFords]

I've been keeping rubber parts for my old cars inside the house, in a closet, for years so that they're in the airconditioning. This being my first car I've owned in a long time that requires tubes, I'll be doing the same thing with them. I'm also storing a used Model T top inside for the same reason.

Footnote: I recently inherited a huge box of ancient, misc rubber parts (o-rings, grommets, washers, plugs and sheets of varying thicknesses) from my dad. I remember this hoard being in my grandfather's shop as well. It was always stored in a dark drawer, in an un-airconditioned shop in south Texas. I don't what the chemical composition of these rubber parts is, but most of them are perfecty pliable and usable, like they're new. But I know for sure that they're at least 50 years old and probably older.

Glad you made the parade Dallas. It'd sure be sweet to see a video of the truck.