National Aeronca Association Bulletin Board

My tubes are seepers. About every other month I have to fill them back up, and yes, I did try tightening the valves. So this annual, which I just completed, we took the wheels apart for the crack check and while we had the wheels apart I immersed the tubes in a tub of water (yes I inflated them). I didn't find so much as a tiny bubble come out.
Now, we also noticed that my tires were cracking in the tread so I went ahead and bought a new set of tires but I didn't order new tubes. I haven't put the tires on yet, just the old ones back on for now but I'm wondering if I should get a new set of tubes before I put the tires on.
The conversation in my head goes like this: "Old tubes show no leaks, save the $$ and put them back in."
"But I bought new tires; shouldn't I put in new tubes?"
"It's probaly the valve, just replace it, save the $$$, the tubes are fine."
"But they leaked before, why won't they now ----- besides I just bought new tires?"

So how do you all vote? Was I being frugle and smart or just plain dumb and cheap?

Yes you are probably being cheap. So am I. How old are the old tubes? If they arent very old there is probably no reason to replace them if they dont leak. Did you put new valves in them? I have a tube that says 1949 in my hangar that still holds air, but I wouuld not use it for anything but a pool toy. If they are less than 10 years old, I would probably use them. Most of the old Cub tundra tires being used in Alaska were built before the mid 50s. I keep hearing that rubber was better then than now.

Dik

Larry,
The tubes will break down and lose air over the long run. I replace the tire and tube as a set on my planes. As Dik pointed out, the "greenies" have made the tubes a little more biodegradable in recent years.
Paul

Like Paul, I replace the tires and tubes as a set and often wonder why when I look at the tubes I'm taking out. So now I have a bunch of tubes that look good laying around the hangar unless I cut one up for a piece of rubber. Such is our 'throwaway society. My dad (raised during the depression) used stuff over and over until it was worn out. My old hangar partner was worse. I must have cleaned out 1000 (not kidding) plastic milk bottles when I bought his hangar among other stuff, like old spark plugs, used oil filters, EAA magazines from the 1960's, newspapers and phone books, carpet and mattresses (complete with mice). Short answer: I replace them.......

Mike Berg

Have you tried using nitrogen instead of air? I know, one is free and the other inconvenient, but nitrogen seems to not leak out of my tires.

Larry look at it this way you can only put in a pound or so in a tube with out a tire and have no leak. put that same tube in a tire and run it up to 25 to 35 pounds and you have a small leak. it 630 monday night and iam sending you some cold and wind from chily nw ia. have fun with it. Bob

I will, most likely, buy a set of new tubes before I put the tires on. I guess I was probably fishing for a magic bullet here although before I put them on, I will replace the valves just to see.

I come from the same kind of background as Mike, don’t throw anything away if it can be fixed. Back in the day when tubes were on everything I was a master tire patcher. There would be patches overlapping patches. Now days it’s fun to watch the guys at my local shop. The older guys want to repair everything while the younger ones call it junk and buy a new one. I have to remember to balance it all and decide which the best is, considering the cost, value and safety.

Each annual I do I try to upgrade something and then there are always the things a person finds that need some moneys spent on that hadn’t been anticipated. This time, we had saved the tires/wheels to towards the end of the project and by the time I discovered that new tires would be a good investment, the plastic in my wallet had already begun to meltdown. Since the tubes looked good I guess I cheaped out. I hadn’t considered the impact the “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony” bunch might have had on the service life of things like my airplanes inner tubes but I suppose it makes sense. The irony of that is we end up wasting more natural resources by the more frequent replacement of items than would have been used otherwise.

Oh, and Bob, we got that cold wind you were sending. The tree huggers might cringe to know this but I have one of their lovely trees blazing brightly in my stove at this moment. Now if you could just get some of that snow to get over here I would still like to go ski fly. As she sits in the hangar at this moment, the Champ has a wheel on her left axle and a ski on the right. She is ready for anything.

Larry i work for the road dept up hear in webster co and the way it sounds we will have plenty of snow after thursday night. just a note the fbo at boone ia has a 46 champ on skis that he instructs in. good luck to ya. Bob