tire punctures

[scruffy]

Bird, you are absolutely right! I had forgotten about that one. It is a nice feature on the tube, and definately helps get the tube lined up nice and straight inside the tire. A tale tail sign on many tube types, is the valve stem is not sticking out perpendicular to the rim, as the installer never took the extra care to get it lined up 100% straight. Been guilty of that a time or two myself (on my own equipment), problem is, you take a chance of wearing a hole right at the base of the stem where it comes through the rim when it is not straight.

 

[WVBill]

Well, I looked last night and the valve stems on the front tires are straight and seem to have the rubber flange/seal. So my guess is that they're water filled, tubeless tires with a plug repair and they're not leaking. (for now).

Bill

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Tire plugs are basically shot sections (4-6") of a rope-like material totally impregnated with goopy stuff. You use a awl-like gadget to ream out the hole, then thread the plug through the tip of the awl and force it throught the hole and pull it back out half way, then cut off the end. The goop bonds with the rubber.

I've been using them for 20 years on cars and now on the tractor and have never had any failures. Tire shops use them too.

 

[scruffy]

The only place I am hesitant to use them is on steel belted radials, those, I would rather take the time and break down to install a patch on the inside of the tire. Steel belts have been known to be ruined by the awl. Better save than sorry on that one....at IMHO.