Boat trailer tires, an adventure in pain...
When God made me I am sure He had a particuler purpose in mind. I am 33 years old and still don't know what it is. Things tend to degrade around me at an alarming rate. It's like there is a time delay fuse between what I know I should do and what I am actually doing. And sometimes the simplest things become big time catasrophies in a very short time.
My little boat trailer needed new tires. And me being the cheapskate that I am, bought two new tires, sans rims, at Wal-Mart ($21 Vs. $29). I brought them home and began the task of changing them out. I know that changing tires without a machine is difficult and time consuming. But I have done it before with full size tires, so I figured these tiny 8 inch tires would be no problem.
Taking the first tire off the rim was pretty easy, although harder than I thought it would be. Getting the new one on was a pain in the neck. But finally, with a lot of soapy water I was able to get the beads to seat and it all went together very well. Half done, I thought.
I took a break, drank a glass of iced tea, and then started on the second tire.
My tools consisted of two big screw drivers and a three pound sledgehammer. The old one came off about the same as the first one, and the new one went on about as easy. However, it was a little warped and I couldn't get the bead to seat. I started hammering on it to try and set the bead when I slammed the tip of my ring finger between the hammer and the rim. I think it is broken, if not, it hurts like it is.
Unable to get the tire to seat I remembered one time many years ago, that someone told me you could seat a tire by spraying hairspary into the cavity and lighting it. The susquent explosion, presummably small explosion, would seat the tire and that would be it. However, in this new environmentally friendly world we live in, the only hair spray my wife has is in pump bottles. No propane propellant to do the trick.
So I looked around the shop and found some Coleman Fuel. Have you ever heard the term, it seemed like a good idea at the time? Well, it did. I poured a couple of ounzes of the fuel into the cavity of the tire, gave it a few seconds to create some vapors. and lit it up.
I never realized just how flexible radial tires were. That thing expanded to the size of a regular tire in the blink of an eye! Of course I didn't have the air hose on it so as soon as it expanded it collapsed and the bead broke again. After a thorough inspection I determined there was no damage and that I was on the right track. I mean it had almosted worked right?
I attached the air hose so that I could begin airing the tire as soon after the explosin as I could in an effort to keep the bead set. I tried four more times to do it but it just wouldn't work. I poured the fuel and lit it up, but it would just shoot flames out of one area. After those four attemps I had pretty much lost the forearm hair on both arms, and maybe a little of my eyebrows, plus, my finger was killing me.
I figured there wasn't enough oxygen to aid combustion inside the cavity and that the flame was backdrafting and not exploding. So I broke out the cutting rig and filled the tire with pure oxygen, added the fuel, and lit it up. Please do not ever try this! The explosion was so big it blew the valve stem out of the rim, and flash burned the back of my hand. I think the burn came from some spilled fuel, but I'm not sure. However, the bead was now seated. I finally re-installed the valve stem and aired it up.
Yea, I saved six bucks by doing it myself. Some things are worth the money, next time I think I will let Earl do my tires.
My boat trailer now has two new tires and all it cost me was a finger, some arm hair and a half gallon of Coleman Fuel. So, who wants to go fishing?
