Silly story. No biggie. Don't bother unless you just want to chuckle at life in the slow lane ....

I have a couple of trailers. One small trailer I use for yard waste and hauling stuff. I have one of those hand carts with a ball hitch on it. Very handy for moving the trailers around. I paid way too much for the thing. Several years back. Something like $125.00 or so. Now you see them in harbor freight for half that.

Well, it has small 10" pneumatic tires on it. Always flat. Been that way after the first year. Each time I use the thing, I have to get out the hand carry tank, pump them up. Most of the time ... it's flat again next day. Getting old. And, now ... the tires were all dry rot too.

I thought of getting a set of the new "never flat" wheels I see at Lowes and TSC for this sort of application. Til I checked and found the silly things are $42 each!! Don't think so. But ... that gave me an idea. Hey ... I use that foam in a can a good bit around the property. Stuff gets real firm. Why not just drill a hole and fill the tire with that stuff. Heck ... should be fine to move around the driveway. I proceed.

Well, I had a can I'd just used a little bit from. I had blown out the nozzle ... so it actually still worked. yeah ... I was pretty smart! So, I empty the can into the tire - thru a 5/16 hole I drilled. And .... later in the day .... nothing. What? The stuff always sets up well. Expands like heck. But - it did neither. Convinced it was a good idea ... and with the 1% chance that the opened can of stuff didn't want to perform correctly ... I emptied a new can into it ... and drilled about 10 holes around ... to give the thing exit ports for expansion. heck ... I just lop off the curly snakes that escape ... dust it with flat black if I want to .

Later in the day .... the expanded snakes were quite impressive. When I'd put it in, it had expanded the tire and popped it against the wheel nicely. It was a small thing, but I was conquering a little pesky thing that always nagged me. Well, back to the later in the day thing ... the mess on the ground was expanded and hard. The snakes were hard. The tire was as mushy as any flat tire. Oh ... give me a break.

Well, heck with it ... I decide to take the wheel off and put on a hard rubber cheapy old hardware store red wheel. And, though I had a few ... none were the correct shaft size. Except ... the one on the old cement mixer. But ... that had a knot of hardened cement on the axle shaft ... don't bother with that. And then ,,, there is the log splitter that I rigged up to use to power the hydraulic rolling mill in the shop. It's been sitting there for 25 years - never moved. Doesn't need wheels. I proceed to take one off. It resists. I insist. It resists harder. I finally prevail.

I go to put it on the axle ... it won't slide on. Oh please .... The axle is somewhat rusty. I get some sanding cloth belting and saw on the axle to clean it ... I oil the inside of the wheel. I try again. It will juuuuuuust start and pushes the axle out the other side of the housing ... so I have to have that restrained. I need a block of wood to go into the deep dish wheel, and hold against the axle. Of course ... that block of wood nowhere to be found. I finally cut the end off a five star figured walnut stock blank .....

I restrain the axle. I stand on the wheel ... it slides on .... just a bit.

this really is getting absurd. I have the yard trailer hooked to the truck. I need to offload it. Move it around, regain the driveway. OK .. screw it. I'm going to Lowes. Where I price options. Absurd. I decide to just get a "set" of wheels like the origonal ones. Pneumatic tires. Hey - pneumatic tires have worked before, ya know. haha. So - this is a two pack for $29.00 Fine ... whatever. Just give me my life back. I get a few more things. I pay. That seems high ... but .... I'd gotten some work gloves for $15 something ... another pr. of rubber gauntlet gloves ... this and that ... I'll check it outside. And ... there were the wheels. $59 something .... she'd rang it up twice for two wheels ... though they were bound together in a big back that said "Two Pack". Fine ... whatever ... I push my cart the half a mile to the customer service ... get that straightened out. No biggie.

I get home. I'll just pop on this wheel. I just have to get to work. It goes on ... yeah! .... but ... the hub is wider than the origonal. The end of the axle is flush with the end of the hub. No hole for a cotter pin. I take the wheel off ... take the axle out. Decide I'll just use the extension on the other side ... weld on a flat washer ... slide the wheel on ... slide thru the pipe frame .. put the other on ... cotter pin ... finally done. I weld the washer on. THEN realize the center of the acle is kinda crappy. Only the ends were dressed up for the wheel hub. Fine ... whatever ... I grind off the crap on the center length of the axle. I slide a wheel on the full length. I'd checked the concept with the one old wheel - and one replacement. Just figured I'd gain enough shaft length that way ... no sweat. I assemble it all again with the two new wheels. And .... the axle is STILL flush with the end of the hub ... cause I now have on BOTH new wheels.

So, of course ... I take a pc. of 5/8" stub shaft ... drill a hole in it. Cut it off about an inch long. Weld it onto the axle. It's a bit off center ... of course. I toss it into the lathe and tru the end ... why not? Hey ... how about a nice new radio for that hand cart? Maybe fringed hand grips? Saddle bags? Why stop now? I put the assembly together ... drop in the pin. Nothing to it.

I think this is called "Mission Creep". Doesn't pay well. Not good for the headache prone either ...

Lovely morning. Really set the tone for some detail work. hahaha. Let me tell you ... that is how 85% of the maintenance goes when you have a small business which you maintain yourself. Nobody would ever believe it. The stuff just strings you along. It's never clear at the start ... hey ... go buy a $500 chrome hand truck ... you'll be waaaaaay ahead. Nope ... it eggs you on, a step at a time. Always just one step away from you bagging the whole thing and moving to New Jersey or something ....

Well, hope you got a laugh at my expense. It's not a nice new trophy airgun. But ... man ... you should SEE my dinky little crappy Chinese 10" pneumatic wheels on my old rusty trailer hand truck!

Gary

I'm just not going to start any maintenance ever again! It's clearly a threat to mental health. Well, I guess I might but I have to buy a welder and a lathe first...

Don't do it Jerry. Don't ever learn anything either. Knowledge is a creeping fungi. Once you gain it, you "notice" everything around you. And, you feel complelled to "fix" them. But, you can't. Eventually ....

I didn't add into my story ... it was EVEN FRIDAY .... so I could not just order some wheels from my supplier who has everything. They would not come until Monday ... and the siege of my driveway, by the yard trailer, would have continued another few days!



GAry

Hey Gary, as long as the new tires don't get flat by tomorrow morning, I've to say that perseverance is the key to success.

Tires STILL holding air Julio, this am. I checked!

Actually, I figured THIS would be the night someone STOLE the hand truck ... hahahha. After it's sat in the drive for years, with flat tires.

Gary

Gary,

We can all relate to that story. Old houses are where most of my experience lies. Got any experience with those?

Lon

No Lon,

No old houses here.

Story. The house next door ... sold about 5 years ago for $389,000.00 And old Rotten Victorian ... painted pink and green. That's supposed to be charming for some reason. Looks like a demented birthday cake. Anyway. The people were ..... unique. Do you recall that period of time where General Motors was foolishly offering a 60 day - buy it back offer? Yeah ... well .... they brought home a Cadallac Escalade. Shouted in the driveway, to the house .... "Kids ... Come on out into the NEW TRUCK and let's go to dinner!!!" Well, 60 days later ... it was gone. And ... now they are too.

The bank had the same house listed @ $214,000.00 last week. Yes ... things are going swimmingly.

Well, someone bought it this week. They tore off the rotten back porch ... and painters are refreshing the pink and green. You CAN paint rot, afterall. It's SPRING in New Windsor!

Gary

Gary :

Quite the tale! I'm sorry but I did chuckle a little bit. I've been there ...as I'm sure most everyone reading this has as well. Glad to hear it turned out well in the end. You are more patient than me ... I probably would have replaced the cart. Paying a machinist for all that you did would have cost me a fortune!!

Karl

Gary

Uh oh, a mouse of a job that turned into a very large rat!
I wonder, would one of those tire pando thingees have done the job..I used one on my wheelbarrow tire when it got past it, and it lasted a while longer till I finally bought a new tire....

Cheers
Neil

OK Neil,

Earthquakes rattled your brain some? What in the name of all that's rusted and bent .... is a "Pando Tire Thingie?" Just by the very sound of it .... I don't think I can afford one! Or do I need two? Or, can you tell? ;?) hahahah.

No fair ... here I'm having on about a stupid dolly wheel, and your building is cracked down the middle. Sure - go ahead ... call me Petty!

How's the eye? Are you back to shooting proper caliber slugs yet? Hope so. Hello to ta Mrs. as well.

Gary

Thanks Gary, I got a good chuckle out of reading that. What I want to know is did you ever move the trailer????????

Hello Joe,

All tidy now. Yep. Hey - you suggesting I don't "close" things? hahaha. ;?)



Gary

Naaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwww, I just know it's hard to swat one bee when another is stinging you in the backside....

The speed control for the 24 year old BMW 325 defroster blower stops working. Just high and low. Too much or not enough. Plus a funny, funky smell that had been there a while. Out comes the Bentley Manual. There is a resistor set mounted next to the blower motor which is mounted in that inaccessable place between the dash and the firewall. It is what controls the fan speed. There is nothing for it but to have at it. Access through the engine compartment. Off comes wiring harness, heater hose, some cables. Label carefully! Whoops! Stripped screw. Easy out gets it. Good grief. No wonder the dealers charge $120/hour. Careful with that dry gasket. How do those little clips work? Housing finally off. The resistors are.....UNDER the blower. So out it comes and....there is the resistor pack, fried, a pile of Purina dog food (how did the dog get THAT in there?) chewed wires and a big, funky smelling mouse nest! Clean her up, replace resistors, fix chewed wires, reassemble everything and...IT WORKS PERFECTLY. Plus no more stinko! So even with the dredded misdion creep, not only does persistance pay, but here it paid a bonus. Never give up!

Hugh

Hello Hugh,

Congrats! What I always found, during my decades of foolishly working on classic cars .... was that IMMEDIATELY upon replacing said resistor pack ... and reassembling all ..... when upon the victory drive to enjoy the fruits of my labor ..... the heater fan would fail. Classic cars kept me chasing my tail endlessly .... hahah. My wife donated my last one when I went hunting a few years ago. Yes - I knew it was coming and didn't have the heart. haha.

Oh Hugh ... ... this is a snapshot of me recently. And, what I've been shoveling doesn't smell like snow. Oh, also, just read my mail for the moring. Right ... the estate I'm charged with processing for my deceased parents, involves some property. No back slapping required ... I don't get any of it. Well, a neighbor is errecting a cell tower on the adjoining property. I can either join in all the hearings on it ... or pay the attorney an airgun a meeting ... or .... ah .... just diminish the diminished value or the unsalable even farther.

Ah ... now let me go do some fine detail work ... who wants me to work on theirs?

Gary

Anyone ever head of inner tubes?

Those are a fad Sean. Never catch on ... I can't believe you fell for that!

Gary
Earthquake brain!? Quite possibly
A Tire Pando over here is an aerosol can full of foamy stuff with a tire inflating hose attached. It pumps a flat tire full of air and rubbery foam and temporarily inflates it. Used when you don't have a spare or the spare is shot. My Audi TT had a German version as standard because it did not have room for a spare, but guess what, the first time I needed to use it it didn't work!
I'm hoping to shoot some bigbores this weekend, finally. The outlook from my left eye is partly cloudy, like the weather. And my wife has just come down with my cold so I'm not popular
Cheers
Neil

Neil,

Oh ... OUCH! Gave the wife a cold!!! Never live THAT down ... hahahah. Flowers are in order!!! ;?)

OK ... right ... called "Slime" over here, I think. Tried it once. Never worked here either. But then, it was ME who tried it. hahah. Yeah - these "events" happen when I am already rather up to my eye lashes with something else I feel I need to be doing. I take it as a Personal affront that I must be inconvenienced with stuff that is not going to last a century, you see. And so; as I've spent my life (so far) Re-laying concrete, Re-roofing, Re-plumbing, Re-wiring, Re-sewing, Re-plastering, Re-painting, Re-etc-ing, smile .... all these things that the peasants do ... are so ... so ... so much a PIA.

And ... Sean ... the tire was dry rotted, collapsed, split, and generally looked like what I see in my shaving mirror. So; the hope was to quickly use it as a sort of casting mold. haha. I still do not know why the darned foam didn't harden inside. I know I've heard of the stuff being used as floatation for boats. Heard of it being pumped into forms around outside drain pipes. I realize it would not have been exposed to the air ... but ... it was no longer under pressure ... it had been mixed and extruded thru the nozzle. Seemed a clever fix, and I'm still rather miffed that it didn't work.

Gary

Yah, I guess they only keep making innertubes so that people can go sledding on them.

The expandable foam stuff in the cans needs water or water vapor to set up. In really dry climates, they recommend that you pre-moisten masonary surfaces if you want it to bond and cure. Most places it's not really an issue, since there's plenty of humidity. Everyone knows how quickly it crumbles when exposed to the UV in sunlight, but they don't really indicate clearly on the package what it takes to harden like it's supposed to.

I used a ton of the stuff when I upgraded the windows on a cinderblock/stucco construction house back in New Mexico. You can get it in semi-professional sized cans that hold about three or four times what the disposable Home Despot types do. The ones I bought had a reusable stainless nozzle that you'd screw onto the disposable cans, you'd clean the tip with acetone but the whole thing was toast if you let the foam harden up inside. You always had to have a new can ready to use, or just leave it attached to the almost-empty can till you were ready to switch.

btw, if you even let one of those cans freeze, it'll fill most of a pickup bed with a free-form foam sculpture as it bursts out of the split nozzle...quite the mess.

Yeah - I've used hundreds of the things. This was the first application that the darned stuff didn't want to harden. Inside a closed area (inside tire) ... no air I guess. Still, back inside cavities, which it has just filled and displaced the air ... nothing there either. I figured it was just a conspiracy. My normal position. HEY! It's not paranoid if everybody really IS against you!!!



Gary

The one time I used the slime stuff, I was on vacation. When I got to the tire shop he couldn't find the leak. He said it was probably a small leak. Had another flat, same vacation, different tire. I found it in hotel parking lot, flat. Didn't use that stuff wanted them to find the hole. Really don't trust it, as long term fix. Dory