Tubes in Tires?

[Jorge]

I have a Max II , just purchased. It's a 2001. It's my brothers but @ my house & I get to play any time on it.
We will be looking at what all we need to do to these machines here.
Great site!

Right now The Max has fairly rough tires & hubs ... we cannot keep the tires inflated & we pop beads I assume.
Big bummer ... because we have no extra $$$ at the moment for NEW ones , BUT , do you guys ever TUBE these ?

It would be a cool cheap fix if we can do that ; & later we'll snag all new wheels.

[Mike]

Typically, tubes in our tires aren't a good idea. You will want to run your tires from 2-5 psi to help in adding traction and, more importantly, better ride quality. When you run your tires at that low pressure, they will often spin on the wheel. This will rip the valve stem off the tube and you will be back in the same boat again. If you do run tubes, you will want to air your tires up some more to help prevent that.

If you keep pushing the tire off the bead, you can purchase "beadlock" wheels when you get the money or, in the meantime just run higher air pressure (6-7 lbs.) to help keep the tires on the bead. If you are just blowing the front tires off the bead when you hit something in a mud hole or on the trail, you can just air them up a little more.

[Jorge]

Sounds good Mike.

I hear ya on the tube deal ...... but , just in case , any idea/link/online shop where I can look for tubes ? We have the Rawhide III's on this Max II.

My bro did slime one tire 2 weeks ago & it's still doing great ...but , we have a new tire every other ride that poofs out ...lol.
Maybe we'll get more slime & the higher air pressure does do a bit of the trick.

He uses slime for his mowers in his landscaping business ... pricey $$$, but he swears it does it's job 95% of the time.

[kunzmm137]

Here is one trick that I use if both the tires and rims are in bad shape. Put tubes in the tires, inflate to seat the beads. Then get some #8 by 1/2" sheet metal screws (16 per tire). On each side of the rim, drill eight holes in the area in front of the tire bead (cant remember the size drill bit, but big enough so the screw will go into it), drill just through the metal, not into the tire. Screw the sheet metal screws through the holes, into the tire bead. A 1/2" screw will not go all the way through the bead, but will lock the tire onto the rim. I did this on one set of beat up tires and rims with tubes, and it worked great.

I hope this is clear enough to understand.

[thebuggyman1]

An alternative to the sheet metal screws is "glueing" the tire bead to the rim. Use permatex Part # 80062 (thanks Roger S), or if you can find it the old aviation gasket sealant is stickyer...stickier....higher tach. I used that on some golf cart rims and at 2-3 psi I haven't lost a bead yet (only a few hours use though). Slime is still a good idea on all tires.

[TalSet]

good luck with your new toy. i have a '94 Max IV that has the same problem with my tires (Santa just bought me 6 new ones.....can't wait to swap them with the old ones) i too was spinning a tire and ripping valve stems, tubes are roughly $30.00 apiece. so i started running 6 lbs. in each tire. no more flats, but the ride quality is terrible. and as you can imagine, when you run higher tire pressure, you transfer the SHOCK to your axles and bearings, so your trade-off is you may run the chance of doing damage to other parts of your machine. i've had bearings go because of doing this and i ride very gently. hope this helps you decide which path you would like to take.

[6X6]

or if you can find it the old aviation gasket sealant is stickyer...stickier....higher tach.

Aviation cement is still available, and all the local auto stores here carry it, even if some have counter help that looks at you funny. (Just turn around and ask for a lower Radiator hose for a 67 VW Beetle, or Spark Plugs and wires for a 05 Chevy 2500 Duramax ) For gaskets/sealants, I use that and Permatex Moto Grey exclusively now (Moto grey would be garbage for beads, but awesome on gasket-less surfaces). The only other option is bead sealer. NOT the auto parts store stuff, get it from a tire shop, the stuff they get is as sticky or stickier than the aviation cement even.

[Jorge]

Thanx for all the ideas guys.
We are going to slime all tires this next week & see what happens ............. then one day , new wheels & tires.
It does need new ones ... badly.