Anyone know where I can get a replacement tube? The tires look like this: http://www.americanlifeguard.net/prodinfo.asp?number=NRS15931&variation=&cvsfa=4300&cvsfe=2&cvsfhu=3638373237&catargetid=500002610000049245&cadevice=c&gclid=CKPBn7e_5b4CFeMF7Aod5DQAEw
I believe there are other devices that use these tires. I tried to patch it but the hole is close to a seam.
Lawn tractor dealer
– Last Updated: Jun-06-14 11:30 AM EST –
Go to a place that sells and services lawn tractors (this will include some larger hardware stores), or any small-engine shop. Tell them the size of the tire, and if there's no size indicated, show them the tire. They will be able to figure out which size inner tube will work.
Inner tubes don't have to fit "perfectly", and every inner tube is suitable for use in tires of a few slightly different sizes.
Quick Question
– Last Updated: Jun-06-14 12:35 PM EST –
You said you tried to patch it but on my first read I thought you were talking about the tire. If it already has an inner tube and that's what you tried to patch, there's no reason you can't patch across a seam (by "seam", I assume you are talking about those ridges on the surface of the tube. Those are from joints between the pieces that make up the mold in which the tube was made, but the material that makes up the tube has no seams). Use the abrasive tool that comes with the patch kit and make the tube surface smooth, right across the seam. I've applied a patch across a seam many times, and it works fine.
Ace hardware
If you can take the tube to a (non big box) hardware store I bet they’d be able to help. But gbg is right, it doesn’t have to fit perfectly. And if you can patch it, all the better.
Patching the tube
I used Crazy Glue. Patched it three times but the patch pops off when I reinflate it. I thought Crazy Glue was good for rubber, no?
Wow, those tires are hard to get off the plastic rim. Hint: use a hair dryer to soften it, or even put it in the oven like cyclists sometimes have to do.
No glue! It won’t work.
– Last Updated: Jun-06-14 7:33 PM EST –
You need to get a patch kit for inner tubes. The "glue" that comes with the patch kit isn't a glue at all, but a solvent, which mainly just cleans the area where the patch will go. You scrape the area where the solvent is applied and in the process the solvent evaporates very quickly, and as soon as the area where the patch will go dries, you apply a self-adhesive patch. The patch almost seems to bond with the rubber (a patch that's correctly applied can't be removed - period. If it's remotely possible to peel off the patch, you installed it wrong). Read and follow the instructions that come with the kit, because the process is counter-intuitive if you haven't done it before.
You can get a patch kit at a hardware store, or even a bike shop.
As far as getting tires off the rim, the normal procedure is to use "tire irons", a kind of tool which these days nobody owns, but on small tires like that, three large screwdrivers work just fine (the job usually can't be done with two, you need three). You have to manipulate all three, often holding one or two of them in place with your knee, but the procedure is common-sense simple. I've removed/installed small tires like that a bunch of times but the fact that those C-Tug tires get softer if heated makes me wonder what they are made of, and it also makes me hesitant to offer any advice about how to do it. Clearly those tires aren't "normal".
Oh, you'd best get one other tool. It's a tool that consists of a steel cable about 8 inches long that has useful tools at each end. On one end is a valve-stem remover which is mounted like a "T" on the cable (you won't need the valve-stem remover but you will need its "T" orientation on the cable). At the other end is a sleeve that screws onto the valve body just like the valve cap does. Thread the cable through the hole in the rim and attach the sleeve tool to the valve body of the tube. Now, you won't lose the valve body inside the rim when installing the tire and tube, because that "T" handle can't fit through the hole in the rim. Once you get one side of the tire on, you can work the tube into place and pull the valve into the hole in the rim using that steel-cable tool. Then install the other side of the tire, but keep tugging that cable to keep from losing the valve inside the wheel. Keep checking with your fingers to make sure that the tube isn't folded/kinked into the area where the tire bead will contact the rim, as such kinks will wreck the tube once you inflate it (though probably not right away in a low-pressure application like this).
Harbor Freight
Try HF if you have one in your area, but don’t have a good hardware store. They might be one of those places that let you order online and pick up at the store with no shipping charges, and they sometimes have tubes for small tires on the shelves.
I tried
to replace the tire itself for a different dolly. I struck out after spending a couple of days on the web. I finally gave up and purchased a new dolly. You, however, have the option of the solid wheels for your kit.