Video - retreading tractor tires in India

[California]

This is interesting!

Long ago I watched at the local retread shop as car tires were retreaded. The process was identical to this video, including the labor and no automation. Sole proprietor doing everything.

Then later I worked in a specialized factory where I handled uncured rubber like this, preparing it for making special order o-rings. I spent quite a few hours in front of a 'rubber mill', a device with steel rollers like an old laundry wringer, blending ingredients into the broad strips that then went to the molds.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/15tpkaq

 

[tacticalturnip]

As much as I want to make Firestone/Explorer jokes, this is a really neat video and I thank you for sharing it.

Was it you who shared the images of the tractor rebuild shop in Vietnam? I appreciate you sharing this stuff, it's not something I'd think to look into myself so I'd otherwise miss it all. Like how I loved National Geographic as a child.

 

[California]

Yep.

Long ago an importer of VN refurbs had several pages of photos on his website, proudly showing the various stages in the large (city block) VN refurb factory. I made a copy.

That importing ended with the a Yanmar-USA lawsuit that drove the importers out of business 15(?) years ago.

I've also posted photos made by a cousin when he visited VN. With a Philipina wife, they love touring all over SE Asia. I asked him to photograph any tractor repair shop that might be the origin of refurbs shipped to other countries. He sent several photos of shops that seem to cobble together pieces of tractors for local sale, but he didn't find any with the gorgeous repaint jobs that were shipped here.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

At one time we used retreads on the jet. Then we had them peeling apart on takeoff and one was ingested into an engine. Now we buy new

 

[California]

I appreciate you sharing this stuff, it's not something I'd think to look into myself so I'd otherwise miss it all. Like how I loved National Geographic as a child.

If you're interested in more:
India 2004.
Younger daughter was doing her semester abroad in New Delhi, and we visited. India is endlessly fascinating. I took hundreds of photos over a couple of weeks.

Sample photo.

And - Here's a photo from a different trip. Quito Ecuador 2006. i recall these (1939~48?) Dodge trucks because they had a unique loud but musical gear whine -similar to early jeep but not obnoxious.

Originally this was likely a dirt-road Chicken Bus. (Named for the Grannies taking a chicken or two to market in canvas bags tucked under the bench seat).

This Dodge was years later re-purposed as a party bus for hire, for a teen's birthday etc. Loud stereo blaring, full of happy kids, driving slowly in the evening all over town. Talk about a p***y magnet!

 

[tacticalturnip]

I'll check that thread out; I'd love to visit India one day.

Perhaps one day I'll get around to posting some of the more interesting photos from my time in Afghanistan; kids playing, shepherds herding sheep and goats, farming in the desert using water that's collected from the mountains.

I've got a couple Photobucket albums filled with an unorganized assortment of photos I either took or collected from friends.

 

[tacticalturnip]

What was funny to me was that we had folks from USAID delivering two-wheel tractors to the local farmers, and trying to teach farming to folks who have been growing crops in desert conditions for a thousand years. The fellow I talked to was a good guy, and was doing admirable work, but it definitely seemed a bit silly.