I just experienced my first ever flat tire with my T yesterday. I was tooling along nicely on a quiet backroad when I heard a hissing sound coming from somewhere behind me. Since my top was down, I could easily look over the passenger side and back and low and behold, she was loosing air quickly! I was able to limp to our local volunteer fire department, where they used their air compressor to fill it up until I got home (which, thankfully, was only about another mile or so away). By the time I got home, it was totally flat! I took the wheel off (non-demountables) and got one side of the clincher off the rim. Do I continue to pull the entire tire off the rim in order to replace the tube or is there an easier way?
You can just pull out the tube and repair it but be sure to check the inside of the tire casing for whatever cause the puncture and remove the offending object if it is still there. When putting the tube back in put a little air in it to make it easier to stuff back into the tire casing then remove the valve stem to let the air out before you put the rest of the tire back over the rim. Be sure to seat the clincher bead into the rim. I usually reinflate the tire once to reseat it and often beat on the tread of the tire when it is partially inflated to get the bead in under the rim. I then let the air back out and reinflate to full pressure checking to be sure it is properly seated.
You only need one side off like you have now. The hard part is getting the valve stem started. Try to avoid sharp tools for the install if possible. It is very easy to nick the tube.
If the tire is OK and you just need to fix the tube, I'd say leave the tire half on. You can remove and reinstall the tube easily enough.
I would pull the whole tire off. It's easier to install if you start with the valve stem in the hole in the rim, then let the jack down so the weight of the car holds the tire / tube properly centered on the hole. See here:
http://modelt.org/discus/messages/2/32845.html?1314150377
You can hear a slow leak from a back tire while moving in a T ?
Man, I wish I had you hearing !!!
A stem fishing tool makes the job easy. I will have some at Hershey. Dan
Must have been a LOUD slow leak!
Wilber -- Apparently you don't have flaps in those tires. If you do, I think it would be easier to remove the tire and assemble the tire/tube/flap and re-install them as a unit. If you don't, you could do it either way, as noted above. I'll stop short of recommending that you install flaps, because half the folks here (the more vocal half) will disagree with me. But I always use them.
I like to pull the tire tube flap off as one and install the same! Metal stem tubes with flaps,and i think anything less is hissing in the wind!! Bud.
Thanks for all the great advice! Stupid me, I proceeded to pull the tire off the rim before checking back with the site. I decided it was much easier working the tube/flap back into the tire with it off the rim. I really thought Royce's idea of leaving the rim on the car and using the weight of the car to hold the tire in place was a great idea. Next time, I will try it his way. Royce, you explained beautifully the process of putting the tire back on, but what can you tell me about taking the flat tire off while the wheel is still on the car?