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Tire safey after flat

digitaldust

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Twp Flint ,Mi ,
well i got my deuce home and discovered that i have a flat tire , is it safe to try
inflating again. i dont know if the rim could have worked apart as if i added air it might blow the ring or split rim off maybe this is just old guys telling misremembered truck re inflatings
btw its the out side pass back
thanks
 
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wsucougarx

Well-known member
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Washington State
Well, good question. To be on the safe side I would either cage the tire and inflate -or- put a chain in/out of the deuce spokes all the way around to help catch a ring should it decide to come loose. Chances are the ring is probably rusted in there, however I would not chance death over it.
However with the tire being in the rear your risk is relatively low. I'd go ahead and just air is up as is. Chances are the other tire kept the rim off the ground, thus not disturbing the ring. Then again is it worth the risk?
 

gimpyrobb

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Someone once said, "if the air got out of the tire once, what did you do to fix that problem. If you have done nothing, why do you expect it to hold air?"
 

GoHot229

Member
It's likely that the lock ring is still in place, but unless you can see that it is for sure, then thats a RED FLAG. And catastrophe could result as the ring cuts loose. The thing that I'd be concerned about is that the tube and flap, when deflated fell into and bunched up inside the tire, which often times happens. Then ofcourse you'd not even see the valve stem in its usual position. I'd dismount the wheel and tire and get a first-hand look at what your facing. Remember if its an outside rear, you can put a board, say a 2x6 or something for the inside rear tire to ride up on as you pull forward, thus avoiding having to jack it up. Not knowing you, I hesitate to coach you, 'or anyone' on tire work, but if you feel the least bit aprehensive at the task, just have it done at a shop, probably a $25-35 thing for a flat repair. I'v been out of the tire bussiness so long that I don't rightly know the prices nowdays. BUT ONE THINGS CLEAR, and that is that the lock rings can be DEADLY MISSLES.
 
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papercu

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Medical and life insurance paid up? If so and if nobody eise is in the way, go for it. There are some TMs and tire articles in the Resources section you need to read. Wayne
 

jimmcld

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What would it hurt if the ring came off? It can't go anywhere and you can't have a body part in the way if it's mounted. The worst that could happen is that your laundry bill would be a little higher.
 

wreckerman893

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If you ran it flat any distance the stem is prob sucked inside the tire now.....if not you can try to air it up using the above precautions.

Also, as stated above, there is a reason it is flat. Slow leak, punture, dry rotted tube.

If you have never had the pleasure of dismounting these tires I will tell you it is a CHORE.
You have to beat the bead off the rim with a mattock or slide hammer (you will work up a sweat) and then remove the lock ring using tire irons.

You are better off if you have a concrete or asphalt surface to work on.

There are a lot of tricks to making this easier but showing is easier than telling.
If you have the funds I would take it to a truck tire shop and watch them do it the first time.

These tires should ALWAYS be infated in a cage if possible due to the ring flying off.
There are field expedient ways of doing this but ONLY TO BE USED IN AN EMERGENCY.

If you are going to own a deuce you need to know how to do this yourself just in case but at my age I take them to the local "tire Bubba" and pay him for his expertise.

A note on running tube type tires flat. If you run them at highway speeds completely flat they can build heat and catch on fire....been there, done that, got the T-shirt.:oops:

That is why you have the fire extingusher on board.

Being a self-reliant type I try to do as much of my own work as possible but you have to pick your battles.

Good luck.
 

saddamsnightmare

Well-known member
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Abilene, Texas
August 19th, 2009.

We old West Virginia hillbillies learned to fear any flat tire on a deuce for very good reasons. It would be illegal to use them (safety rim tires) on a modern truck, and many truck tire guys won't work on them for good reason. My money says demount the wheel, roll the spare over (you do have a spare??) and install it, then put the wheel and tire in the back and head to your tire bubba's shop. At least he will either cage it or chain it (the chains are field expedient method) but let the man do it...... These bad boys are known as "Safety" rims, they are anything but........:cry: The force should one of these let go at 50 PSI is considerable, and a lot of the "Super" singles call for 100 PSI..... that can mess your day up if it goes sour.......:roll:

Be careful and stay alive....

Cheers,

Kyle F. McGrogan
 
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papercu

Active member
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Baxley, Ga.
made sure the ring was pointed away from me,
The problem with that is it not only the ring that can move.
I once had a old farm truck lock ring blow, I had it on a tire changer that was bolted to concrete, it took changer and all, straight up to about 10 feet. Wayne
 

FMJ

In Memorial
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Las Cruces, NM
Like I said, I stood back.

And I'm not advocating anyone else do their tires/wheels like I did.

Disclaimer added at the advice of my attorney. . . :roll:
 
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zout

In Memorial
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Columbus Georgia
Countless

That is why they made tire cages - split rims have decapitated many a tire folk - aside from that - many a motorist embedded split rims exploded into their vehicles.
Called instant death.

Flat tire on a nylon belted tired is much different than an metal belted tire

This is a reason the MV tires can handle the low air pressure under slow operation - no sidewall heat build up and tire integridation stays in tact- Nylon sidewalls.

Metal belted:
Best simple example - take a metal coat hanger as we most likely did as kids.
The metal belts are thinner diameter than these.
Cut off a section of coat hanger - bend it fast in your fingers as fast as you can.
This is the action of a low air pressure tire sidewall flexing all around the sidewall diameter.
The first thing you will notice is you want to drop it because it becomes so HOT.
The tire whether new or old at this point has become self destructive - it WILL blow sooner than later.
Look at the sidewall of the tire - below the tread about 1 1/2 inches is where the sidewall flexes and this is where the tire will seperate (metal belted).
Like a coat hanger - after bending and if you can hold onto it - you can tell several bends and tell it will break within several more bends. The metal belts all flex - overheat - destroy the rubber way before the belts - and WA LA - aligator on the road.
MV tires constructed much different to slowly take this flex and little heat build up with low air.
Take 15% out of a normal truck tire - and it is on self destruct.

Valve stem where it attaches to the rim - rubber gasket deteriates
Check valve is leaking slowly
Leak at rusted rim/bead contact points
Have a huge object piercing your tire

Which ever way - split rim - let a qualified person do this repair. You cannot believe how much stored energy is in that tire - especially with a split rim.
If you gotta ask - watch someone else do it first.
 

Brock Steel

New member
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Lake Elisabeth Ca
I vote shop:-D It cost me 20 bucks total with new tube. Let someone who has the tools do it. We had a split rim fail in a cage and it put a big dent in it. We also had a inside rear tire lose a ring on the freeway. It blew both tires off the rims thats why split rims were outlawed by the N.S.B on school buses.
 

jollyroger

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Centennial, Colorado
I am going to qualify this reply by saying that I am not an engineer or an expert in any way in the world of tires and wheels. However, I have personally broken down a lot of the military snap ring type wheels. I want to make clear that they ARE NOT split rims. Of which I have had several split rims taken apart and put back together on farm trucks. The split rims are two halves of a rim that mesh or clip together, kind of like a fuel tank sending unit on a car (GM) fuel tank, in the center making a complete rim. What makes these dangerous is that they are difficult to see if they have completely clipped together into the detents. Also they are dangerous when reinflating because they will come apart into two halves, sending a heavy piece of metal toward you at high speed. The snap ring wheels I don't find to be that dangerous. The ring is much lighter than the split rim half. Less kinetic energy. Also it is easy to see if the ring is properly seated. The tire bead holds the snap ring down on the wheel. As noted by the other posts it is a JOB to remove the tire bead off the snap ring after it is seated on the snap ring. My point is that the military rims are typically treated like the split rims, Radioactive: Don't come near it. Caution should be used of course but I don't have apprehension with the military rims like I do with split rims........Seriously. Has anyone on this site actually personally seen either a split rim or snap ring come apart? I have tryed to make the split rims fail and have not been able to duplicate all the failures that the networks drilled into us 30 years ago.
What I do for safety with the snap ring wheels is to chain the snap ring on either side of the split 90 degrees. Then I put on an air chuck that clips on and regulate the air line to the air pressure I want. While chained I give it five minutes and then thump the tire with a dead blow hammer. Again, not an expert but have learned this process from my dad that learned it from his grandad who was a mechanicfor 60 years.
 

m16ty

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The problem with that is it not only the ring that can move.
I once had a old farm truck lock ring blow, I had it on a tire changer that was bolted to concrete, it took changer and all, straight up to about 10 feet. Wayne
:ditto:

I'd rather be hit by the tire/wheel than I had the ring but either one is going to do damage. I saw a guy airing a 24.5 tubeless when the sidwall blew. It blew on the back side but sent the tire and wheel right at him. He escaped with only a black eye and a sore arm but it could have been a lot worse. The concusion from the explosion blew out a shop window 30' away.
 
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