I am shopping for tire tubes today but I don't really know what I'm looking at. Did some searching but not finding what I need to know. I'm going to be mounting a pair of 6.00-16" tires and a pair of 6.50-16" tires to some 1940 Ford wheels for my T roadster and I need to know what tubes I should buy, and from where. I keep reading about a TR15 valve stem, is that what I want? Are tractor/implement tubes all the same as passenger car ones? And some places advertise the same tubes to fit the 6.00 and the 6.50, is that correct? I'm not trying to cheap-out, but I don't want to pay $50 for something I can get for $15 if it's the same stuff. Suggestions as to where I can order these online would be great, too. I need your knowledge!
When we bought the tubes for the 16 inch tires on my Son's rpu Coker sent us 15 inch tubes and I thought they made a mistake. But I called them and they said they were the right ones, so we installed them and 3 years later no problems. I would call Coker and talk to one of their tech guys, they do it all day long and will know better than most of us will. Don
I get mine from Universal Tire. They usually run around $15 a tube. Priced them out from the local NAPA and they wanted almost $50 a piece. Just tell them you need tubes for a 600x16 tire.
If the tires are fresh, try mounting them tubeless with some snap-in stems. The wheels seldom have leak issues, and balancing is often just a matter of rotating the tire on the wheel.
It's amazing how mismatched a tube can be to a tire and still work. I'm not advocating anything, I'm just saying it's pretty crazy.
Purchased mine from coker,i think they were around $18 a piece.They gave me the correct numbers to match the tires I purchased from them.
If a tube is too small it will stretch, but if it is too big it will get a fold or wrinkle, chafe, and blow after a while. So you can use a tube that is too small but once it is stretched you can't use it in a smaller tire.
You also want a pretty good quality tube because when they go flat they go flat like right now. Unlike a tubeless tire you can't put some air in and it will slowly leak out so you can get home, tubes won't hold air generally once they fail. As I recall, the ones we got from Coker said something about radial tires on them, but I could be wrong on that. Don
Hey, Squablow; Eons ago, in the early 70s', when I worked at Sears Auto, I learned to install "radial tubes", instead of the std type. Still do, on my stuff - when needed, no matter the type of tire. Deal is: you can use the "radial tubes" in either radial or bias-ply, but not the other way around (at least not safely). Radial tubes have a much thicker (larger-radius-portion) part of the tube, + the tube is a bit thicker overall anyways. & they are made for the side-to-side motion a radial tire goes through, compared to the bias-ply. They always stood up to the wear/abuse factor much better than a std tube did. Folks bitched about the extra cost, but quit complaining when the old-style problems went away. . You can get radial tubes at Fleet-Farm, & other such "implement" places. If you can spring for the best quality, do it. I am not afraid to run the lower-cost radial tubes. FWIW. Marcus...
Regarding the valve stem. The type of stem will tell you the stem's recommended rim bore diameter, length, if flexible or rigid, and if exposed metal or rubber covered. A TR15 stem is 1.375" long, rubber covered, not bendable, and designed for a .625" rim hole.
It is becoming a problem to find a tire shop that knows how to mount tube type tires. They have gotten so used to the ease of mounting tubeless tires that they don't sometimes understand you have to be careful to not pinch the tube. That is what happened to one we had. The tire blew out one night and we had to put another tire on to get the car home. When we pulled the tube out you could see a folded over section where they had pinched it a while back while mounting it. Don
No bias tubes in radials, because they "walk" around the tyre and pull the valve stem into the hole. I learned this trying to squeeze a few weeks' extra life out of leaky radials.
One way to help ensure no folds or pinches in the tube: Inflate tire to ~30 psi to seat beads and then while securing the stem so it doesn't get drawn inside the wheel, pull the valve core and release all pressure. Once air is all released reinsert core and inflate tire to desired pressure. And if both tire beads do not seat in this process then you might have part of the tube pinched in bead area.
The valve stems on implement grade tubes are rather unattractive - too long, rigid configuration, odd bend. I bought some and only kept one on a spare - just don't look right on the truck.
Why it is important to verify what type of valve stem is on the tube before purchasing. TR13 (.45" rim hole), and TR15 (.625" rim hole) are the short "car like" valve stems.
Everything said has been spot on, I only wanted to ad that back many moons ago when I worked in a " Full Service Gas Station" where everything car & truck related was done, we used corn starch in the tire before placing the tube in,never had one stick when you had to break the tires down for any reason. Just wanted to throw that one in , I guess baby powder woks as well .
All great advice and all much appreciated! I had read a suggestion of a radial tube but didn't know if that was wise. Also good info on the valve stem thing, I don't want any big ol' tractor stems! Pretty confident I got what I need coming now, thanks for all the input. I'll be mounting them myself on a friend's machine and I'll keep the baby powder/corn starch idea in mind, seems like a good idea.
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