Saving rear tubes, bad idea?

Married2Allis

Well-known Member
I picked up a good pair of 16.9x34 FS Field & Road tires mounted on rims. The seller claims tires/tubes are about 10 yrs old and have never had fluid in them. And I'm a wimp when it comes to breaking down tires so I'll probably take them to a tire shop, and I want to try to re-use the tubes. I can't use the rims (off an IH 450).

So I want to at least get the tires off, then I will take a look at the tubes. But what I hear from at least one tractor tire dealer is that -- they aren't sure they can save the tubes.

Is this generally true or are they just trying to sell me new tubes? If I can save them .. I'm willing to try it myself, so is there a careful way after breaking the bead to get the tubes out? -thanks
 
I have broke down and pull tubes out of tire hundred of time and save the old tubes with no problems. If I still had my old computer I could have sent you info on how to do them but every thing I Had was encrypted so I lost every thing and also my scanner stopped working.

But all that said it is not all that hard to break tires down. Ya you need the correct tools and the know how. Many of the old tractor owners manual show how to break tires down. The info I once had is out of a Ford NAA owners manual and I have found it in others manuals also
 

I have by no means done hundreds like young fella Old, but I have done a few, and my experience is that you have to inspect it and see. Sometimes they will get badly chafed by old rust on the rim or even on the inside of a tire. You should pay particular attention to around the stem for chafing or evidence of it having been pulled. If it is good on the outside it is good.
 
Well my old computer was old as in made in 2005. Funny thing is the one I have now is older as in 2004. I tried to hook up my old scanner to this one but the scanner started acting odd so guess the old computer took it out when it went out. Then I tried to get a new scanner but it would not work on this computer because I have service pack 2 and the new scanner needs service pack 3. Oh well Direct TV has my old computer and they are suppose to be fixing it and maybe they will be able to save my stuff
 
They make a fitting that you screw onto the valve stem and use compressed air to create a vacuum that flattens the tube so you don't pinch it, I have used a vacuum cleaner also.
 
Fair statement. They have to make sure there is not sharp rust stuck on them. It is not something operated at high speed so no real danger of used tubes.
 
22+ years I owned a tire shop and I specialized in farm tires. We had far more return calls to
redo tractor tires because we reused the old tubes. They get stretched out and never go back
together right, even letting the air out of them does not help. They are speaking from the same
experience I am. If you are planning on using this tractor put new HD radial tubes in the tires.
Money well spent. You will not regret it.
 
I saved an old tractor inner tube many years ago. Can't tell you how many times I've gone to it to cut out a nice piece of rubber for this or that. The old tube had finally been hit by too much UV light and was no longer very good. Fortunately, I picked up some free tires to help make a new road for a future shop project and one of the tires has a tube in it. So, good to go again. *lol*
 
If I was doing it on my tractor I would save them,if I was doing it on your tractor I would tell you to buy new. Set down when they tell you the cost of those tubes.
 
I'm worried about what hdg6tom said about the tubes being stretched out. I guess they could get pinched. Last I checked they were $75 each, hate to throw away that much x2 but would sure hate to get a flat one day and hear my conscience saying 'I told you told so'. Plus getting a flat at the wrong time can be dangerous for me because I have some steep ground in places.
 
If the tube are of any quality at all they will be just fine as long as they do not have lot of rust sticking to them. You can add a bit of air to them after you pull them out and tell if they are misshaped etc. I have yet to find a tube that could not be reused if they still held air and where not covered with pieces of heavy rust stuff
 
You need to see what the tubes look like when tires are dismounted and the tubes are out.
Any tire guy without seeing the tubes first, is likely going to tell ya they probly need to
be replaced. If they look like they are new after they are out, I would not be afraid at
all to re-use them. Air up and check for leaks before reinstalling them. If the inside of
the rims are rusty, and there is chuncks of rust stuck to the tubes, I would absolutely not
re-use them, and would replace with new.
 
I've been reusing tubes in motorcycle tires for 45 years and never had a problem. I always inflate it, rub it clean, lots of talcum powder, deflate and back in. And some of those were going 120....and before all the naysayers, just riding a bike is saying you're not obsessive about living forever....they're dangerous.

I think it's the rust on the tractor rim that is the issue. The bike rims were aluminum or chromed steel and not rusted. But you knock the rust loose messing with the tire and tube and that will eat thru the tube.
 
My little experience is they tend to have rust stuck on them from the rim. Not saying I have not reused one or two. New ones are about $50 as I recall. I use the old ones to make rubber bands. Cut the tube in strips about 1-2 inches wide. You can make short ones or long ones.
 

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