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Flat tire question

theperfectgarage

theperfectgarage

1/2 ton status
Joined
Oct 5, 2005
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Location
tucson arizona
I'm in auto recycling and a constant prob. is the yard cars that the parts pullers run around in always have flats.
"No flat" type of aerosal sealents dont help, often the holes are pretty big.I can have the tires filled with poly foam but that costs $ 150.00 per tire.
Anyone have any ideas I could try? Top speeds are about 25 mph and they run on hard packed dirt. I've googled extensively and no luck.
Let's say a max.cost of $50.00 per tire to solve this prob. Any ideas ?
 
put a tube in it then a bottle of slime for each wheel, probably 15 for the tube and 10 for the bottle of slime.
just an idea
 
Just an idea;cut the valve stems off, then get about 4 cans of the expanding foam from the hardware/lumber store. Stick the hose inside the cutoff valve stem and fillerup. Trial and error will determine how many cans per tire, but I am guessing at 4 cans per tire.
 
We had that problem too..

We had a flat every day on the torch car at the junkyard too..always ran over bolts,steel scraps,etc..but we had lots of spares!..so we'd throw another tire and rim on..solid tires are nice if you can get them,they are costly new though,and the yards I've seen use them say they suck for traction..only work on heavy vehicles best..we tried everything to get around having flats..the best way was to watch where your driving,and pick up the shrapnel that punctures tires often!..

We had a few army trucks with "non directionals" on them..those things were like iron,had 10+ plys..I cant recall them going flat from a puncture,but they were dry rotted and porus,and leaked all the air out in a few days..tire sealant helped slow the leaks down some...those would be good if you can get some..only come in 16" though I think..:confused:

We tried making "paddle wheels" out of rims by welding angle iron on them once..they were not the hot setup..too low to the ground with no tires,an all they did was dig holes!..we tried filling tires with cement once,but they weighed almost 200 lbs!..and the cement broke into nuggets and turned to dust quickly..:doah:

Hardware store foam wont be strong enough to hold the weight up..I've tried that on riding mowers,and it wont even work on them.:mad: .that foam they use in loader tires is special stuff..

A lot of yards tried everything to solve the flat tire problems..one place tried putting a smaller tire inside a larger one to prevent puntures..it did help some,,and it was a bitch to mount the "outer" tire!--they used a tire with an inside diameter about the same as the outside of the one on the rim..stuffed the smaller one inside,mounted the rim,and inflating it wedged it against the outer tires inner surface..once water got between them,they often spun,and the vehicle was stuck..:mad: back to the drawing board!..

Another brainstorm was to use tubes,and fill the tires with mostly water ,rather than all air..they seemed more puncture RESISTANT,but not bullet proof...

..if you could get enough RTV silicone sealer/gasket maker,I bet that would work,but it'd cost a lot of money..might as well have the tires foamed!..

We used a truck for our torch car towards the end,it was an International 4x4 with 16" tires..we found 4 tires rated "10 ply" that were bias ply,on an old ambulance..they were very stiff sidewalls,and I think only one of them got puntured..and we ran over LOTS of things that should have punctured them..

One yard said they had the best results on one car they used ,by putting several sets of tire chains together,so they had a "cross link" on every link!--sort of "flexible armor"..gave nice traction too..but they only could use them in the rear,they caused a lot of problems up front..another expensive,and PITA to fix option..there is no real easy solution that I know of,other than the foam..

We were much more concerned about the LOADER having a puncture!!..then your talking about 800+ bucks!!:eek1: --and dead it the water without it!..we used huge tire plugs with a patch made onto them made by TECH..they were 1-1/4" in diameter,we had to hole saw out the punctured area and install the patch..and pray it held!..we installed one in less than an hour one snowy day in 2003..

Maybe if you put 100,0000,000,000,0000 BB's in each tire..or lots of golf balls...:thinking: :rotfl:
 
Well guys, thanks for the ideas. I'ts like I thought, there's no good cheap way to solve this prob. I had thought of the golf ball idea but that would require bead locks and just imagine the ride and handleing with tires stuffed with golf balls and with no air.:haha: Thank's again.
 
May be a dumb idea, but if the tires are being punctured by nail and screws and shrapnel, maybe if whatever was being driven had a big flat plate magnet low to the ground in front of the rig it would pick up stuff before the tires ran over it.
 
Skigirl said:
May be a dumb idea, but if the tires are being punctured by nail and screws and shrapnel, maybe if whatever was being driven had a big flat plate magnet low to the ground in front of the rig it would pick up stuff before the tires ran over it.
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Not a dumb idea at all, in fact my production manager and myself were discussing that idea this morning.
It would have to be rigged on a hinged beam riding on small wheels that would allow the magnet to ride up and down with the changing terrain.
I believe that could possibly work. I also believe my guys would destroy it in less than an hour. But still a good idea. Thanks.:doah:
 
you might want to rig up a electromagnet to run throught the yard every so often, just use a gang of batterys from the junk cars to run it, just charge thjem up between uses, maybe run it through the yard once a week or something
 
Yeah, good design. And like Dave 90 said, you could easily make it electromagnetic. As far as equipment destruction goes, I think I'd start docking a couple of the worse offenders - put out a new policy first, then use the worst ones as an example. Your destruction rate might drop after a few heads went on pikes.

BTW, people who tend to destroy equipment are usually doing something else that isn't in the best interests of the business. It always raises a red flag for me when I go in to evaluate a company's operations.
 
We had a few army trucks with "non directionals" on them..those things were like iron,had 10+ plys..I cant recall them going flat from a puncture,but they were dry rotted and porus,and leaked all the air out in a few days..
Click to expand...

WOW, that certainly wasn't my experience with non-directionals (Mil Std Tread). Damn things were like magnets and picked up every bit of shapnel, brass casings, and general FOD you could find. 'Course, didn't help I had alot of troops that like to treasure hunt and wouldn't stay on the traveled paths (around the Forward Operatind Base). I think one soldier in particular held the company record of 22 flats (on a Duece). We wouldn't even assist him anymore, he'ld just drive in and head straight to the tire machine; changed his own.:rolleyes:

The big Michelins (XZL's IIRC) were the best. I pulled an 8" lag bolt out of one. It was in so deep I had to unscrew it with a wrench! :eek1: Did'nt leak at ALL, bolt in at a slight angle but never penitrated all the way thru.
 
Skigirl said:
Yeah, good design. And like Dave 90 said, you could easily make it electromagnetic. As far as equipment destruction goes, I think I'd start docking a couple of the worse offenders - put out a new policy first, then use the worst ones as an example. Your destruction rate might drop after a few heads went on pikes.

BTW, people who tend to destroy equipment are usually doing something else that isn't in the best interests of the business. It always raises a red flag for me when I go in to evaluate a company's operations.
Click to expand...
I agree with your opinion on habitual equipment destroyers. Often it's associated with poor work ethics, drug/alcohol use and general slacking.
 
iron rubber!

I think it was the age and the fact the non directional tires we found in the junkyard on an old flat fender willy's were petrified, that made them more puncture resistant..not the fact they were "military"..though I wonder why the army used them other than not being able to "track" which way a vehicle had passed by,if they are as prone to puntures as you say in "real life"situations..you'd think they would want the most puncture and bullet proof tires they could get..:confused: ...
 
I wonder why the army used them other than not being able to "track" which way a vehicle had passed by,if they are as prone to puntures as you say in "real life"situations..you'd think they would want the most puncture and bullet proof tires they could get..:confused: ...
Click to expand...

Ya, you would think. Keep in mind the Mil Std tires went out some thirty years ago. Tire technology has grown by leaps and bounds since then (remember when radials became the "new" thing :o ). The Army has a thing for having one foot in the past and one in the future. Plus it's some one's "vision" of the future (usually some one without a clue :doah: )

http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/JulAug03/gun_trucks.htm

Iraq3 007.jpg
 
try filling ur tires with hard rubber so its like a forklift wheel and has no air

or

trying cuttin parts the tops of tires and stickin them inside and cut the walls to fit on the inside glue it realy good so u pretty much have a tire inside a tire so only way u will get a flat is if u get a ran over a spike strip

i dunno if any of these will work but im sure somone has tired or will


Jason

"keep on truckin"
 
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