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Mitsubishi 4WD Club Trev's Tip 26. |
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Trev’s Tips
Some time ago I did an article on reseating a tyre onto a rim where I talked about some of the different methods that could be used to do this procedure. This article came about after I was inspired by Martin telling the story of watching someone in the Kimberly’s seat a tyre onto a rim by putting some fuel into the tyre and lighting it.
A couple of weeks ago I was having difficulty reseating a tyre after a repair so I decide it was time to try this explosive method. After having a bad experience once before with petrol and fire in my late teenage years I was not too comfortable about this but with many more years of experience under my belt I was willing to try anyway. Half a cup of fuel was what Martin had said was used when he saw the procedure done but knowing now how explosive fuel is and because I could hardly stop shaking in fear as I poured the fuel out, I decided to greatly reduce the volume used down to about a table spoon full.
After this I let it sit in the tyre for about a minute to allow the fumes to completely fill the tyre. From here I stood about 5m back and lit the match. Slowly I moved in, with eyes tightly shut. The match burnt down to my fingers three times before I got enough courage up to get even within reaching distance of the tyre. Finally I bit the bullet, stood right next to the tyre, lit the match and held it right up close to the tyre. I was expecting a huge explosion and an instantly inflated tyre. What I got was a foul smell of burning rubber as the sidewall of my tyre caught alight.
After about 20 seconds of dancing around my burning tyre slapping at it with my shirt I decide to put the fuel can away and go back to my old faithful method of using a rope around the tread of the tyre to push out the side walls (see tip #7 on the web).
Eventually I got it reseated
This now brings me to my tip of the month. Not long after this comedy of errors I read a magazine article that tackled this exact problem of reseating tyres. They had one idea that I had never heard of before so can’t vouch for it but it sounded good, easy to apply and according to the mag worked well.
It involved getting the inner tube from a push bike that closely matched the rim size of your car, placing it between the tyre sidewall and the rim and then inflating it slightly. The idea was that the bike tube would create enough of a seal between the tyre and the rim to allow your compressor to fill the tyre with enough air to push the sidewall out and seal it on the rim. Once this has happened you can deflate the push bike inner tube and remove it allowing you to finish off inflating the car tyre.
Hope this makes sense. One point that I haven’t mentioned previously because I thought that it was obvious, however some may not know is, never underestimate the power of a soapy water solution to aid the tyre being reseated. Apart from sealing some small gaps it allows the tyre to slide onto the rim much more easily thus making the reseating process far less painful.
The main reason I thought this tip was so good was because of my 3 number 1 rules. That is cheap, easy to apply and more importantly highlights the fact that there is always more than one way to tackle a job. Too many people get frustrated and give up when a repair job does not go easily which, if you are out in the bush by yourself, can be annoying to the recovery team who have to come and get you or worse, may result in a fatality if you become stuck for many days with no one to help. When things do get difficult, sit back, rethink the problem and try it another way.
Till next time
Happy 4wding Trevor Advice is free: The right answer will cost plenty.
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