Inner Tubes

Hmm... I would have reworded that sentence so that there was no
ambiguity as to what and whom I was referring. ;-)

Ha! And here I was worried about that "pushing and pulling" line...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Mike Murdock wrote:
Where else but in aviation do you have to pay extra to get inner tubes that
don't leak? You gotta love it.

My understanding is that there is an actual technical issue. The kind of
rubber (butyl?) tubes that don't leak are difficult to make in small
tire sizes with small radius of curvature.

Dave

-Mike

"Kyle Boatright" wrote:
...
And they are not cheap. I believe Goodyear has come out with a version
too.

Desser carries both brands.

IIRC, my 5" x 5" airstop tubes were $30+ each. New tires were $50/ea. It
hurt paying almost as much for the tubes as the tires. Still, only having
to air the tires 3 or 4 times a year is nice.

KB

Jay Honeck wrote:
Both my mechanic and Desser recommended the Aero-Classic LeakGuard
tubes. We installed them a couple years ago and I can't remember the
last time I filled them. Definitely more expensive than a regular tube,
but worth it.

Now that is high praise.

Mary and I fill the tires at least twice a month. It's her least
favorite task, since -- thanks to our Fancy Pants -- it's a real bitch
to do.

I don't like the wheelpants on a cherokee either - most of the time,
they're sitting in the back of the hangar. However...I took the
electric air pump over to my neighborhood hardware store (strangely
enough, one of the Big Box stores!) and probably the only staffer
there who knew anything about tools picked out a 2-way chuck,
one of those widgets that are tapered at each end
to act as a splice on hoses, and (are you ready for this?)
actually INSTALLED the stuff on my air pump! I think it was the most
interesting activity he had all day. Cost me the price of the
widgets.

He was retired from the Navy, was the equivalent of an A&P in
the Navy, and he told great stories of being on a carrier while he
built the gadget.

Now, I can add air to the tires really easy, and no longer bend
the rubber valve - which forced me to buy another tire & tube in
the past.

Now, I can add air to the tires really easy, and no longer bend
the rubber valve - which forced me to buy another tire & tube in
the past.

Hmmm. That *might* work, but the real problem is that the little
hatch doors on the Fancy Pants don't line up well with the location of
the valve stem.

(On our old Warrior's stock wheel pants, you could reach the valve
stem from under the bottom of the wheel pants. No-can-do with the
Fancy Pants, which fair the wheel almost all the way to the ground...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Dave,

Your on the right track Dave.
I hold patents on inner tube joining machinery and as you say there is a
difficulty in using a regular joining machine at the smaller sizes.
Butyl inner tubes have been around since 1970.
An inner tube is made from a straight length of "tube" and then joined end
to end in a "joining machine"
Semperit Tyres produced and licensed the first joining machines that were
successful on butyl.
Goodyear Tire [licensed by Semperit] was supplying "airstop" tubes through
the 1970's.
Butyl is a oil product and significantly lower in cost than natural rubber.
However, natural rubber "joins" much more easily than butyl and therefore
remained the tube to use for the aviation industry.

And of course being for aviation, butyl tires are now sold at a premium, but
are most definitely lower cost to make because of lower raw material cost.

Roy
Piper Archer - N5804F






"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...
Mike Murdock wrote:
Where else but in aviation do you have to pay extra to get inner tubes
that don't leak? You gotta love it.

My understanding is that there is an actual technical issue. The kind of
rubber (butyl?) tubes that don't leak are difficult to make in small tire
sizes with small radius of curvature.

Dave

-Mike

"Kyle Boatright" wrote:
...
And they are not cheap. I believe Goodyear has come out with a version
too.

Desser carries both brands.

IIRC, my 5" x 5" airstop tubes were $30+ each. New tires were $50/ea.
It hurt paying almost as much for the tubes as the tires. Still, only
having to air the tires 3 or 4 times a year is nice.

KB