Flat tyres

[Tauweb]

We have a Kitfox 7 SS with Airstreak 26" tyres. The tyres have slow leaks due to Catheads (Three Cornered Jacks to some). I have tried to get some No Flat tyre liquid in to the tyres through the valve stem (valve out) with no luck. Using a thin stick there seems to be a "safety flap" or something just in behind the vale stem preventing the liquid from going in even under moderate pressure with an air compressor. Can anyone suggest what I am doing wrong please?

[Dave S]

While this doesn't solver your problem, not everyone on line is a botanist, and plants in Australia may not be familiar to those of us in the US or elsewhere. For what it is worth, 3 cornered jacks or cathead is an arid area plant which forms a nasty three cornered spiny dry seed which is sort of like a really robust sandbur (for people familiar with sandbur in the US).

The only reference I am aware of on the list is a person from the US south west who carried a pressurized fix-a-flat canister with sealer in it which got him our of the desert backcountry after encountering some spiny plants of a different species that punctured the tires.

Nasty problem if the burrs are everywhere.

As we say in Minnesota....OFFDA!

[t j]

In Eastern Washington we call them Goathead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat%27s_head
I haven't put any sealer in airplane tires but put "Slime" in my snowmobile trailer tires. It squirted in real easy.

In the early kitfox days there must have been a lot of goathead around the Kitfox factory in Nampa. The factory sold slime.

[avidflyer]

Interesting story about using slime in the tires. I have a set of Kingfox tires, remember them? They look just like the nanco 22/12/8 tires. I was running them at about 8 lbs of pressure, so they tended to leak a bit. I put slime in them to try to keep them from leaking. Finally I gave up, and put tubes in them. No more leaks for a while, then one day, one of the tires was low. I had landed on pavement the day before, which is something I usually didn't do. When I tried to pump up the tire, it wouldn't take any air. I took the valve stem valve out and no air would come out. Finally ran a sharpened wire up the valve stem, and poked it through the obstruction. That let the air out, and when I pulled the tire off the wheel, I found that the tire had spun on the rim, which tore the valve stem out of the tube. The slime that was left in the tire had mostly sealed it from leaking till the next day. Funny but true. Not sure this helps the question on this thread, but it's my story, and I'm sticking to it! JImChuk

PS, if you don't know about the Kingfox tires, a powered parachute dealer in Michigan had a bunch of them made up about 12 years ago. Something happened where he had to get rid of them, and his price was something like $25 for two with shipping included. I got a set, and still use them

[t j]

I bought a set of those king fox tires for $25 too. I smile every time I hear what people pay for "Tundra" tires.

[avidflyer]

I did buy a pair of the Nancos a year or so back for $100 on ebay with shipping included. They are waiting on a shelf incase they are needed. Ya, $25 was a great buy. JImChuk

[DesertFox4]

In his first post I think he’s asking how to get flat tire fluid into his Airstreak tires. He’s not having luck getting fluid past the tire valve system. Anyone with those tires have advice on getting “slime” into these tires?

[efwd]

Slime is thick if Im not mistaken. That could prove difficult to push through that small hole. Try getting some Stans No tube. It is like milk. They even have a nice syring set up to get it in.
Worked well on my mountain bikes tubeless tires. If your tires are tubeless, be advised, its kinda messy inside the tire if you use it. Every now and then I had to remove the tires from my bike and then had to clean out this stuff. It becomes something of a rubbery goo after awhile.
https://www.notubes.com/shop/tubeless/sealant?gclid=CjwKCAjw95D0BRBFEiwAcO1KDI_h6Bwn-RrShc5qUzvRPNhRviq-_xAcNYHkgRqVdhqcHYbC719nVxoCSfEQAvD_BwE

[avidflyer]

In his first post I think he’s asking how to get flat tire fluid into his Airstreak tires. He’s not having luck getting fluid past the tire valve system. Anyone with those tires have advice on getting “slime” into these tires?

Sorry for running the tread off track... Wish I could offer some constructive advice. JImChuk

[Av8r3400]

I got "green slime" into my 26s. The slime does seem to "seal" the valve stems requiring them to be chased with a drill bit every time I need to add or release air pressure.



24321

[Ausfox]

Hi folks, this is an image of the cats eye burr lodged in a car tyre. They occur commonly down under. Hell on bare feet too.


http://www.northwestweeds.com.au/wp-content/uploads/NWW1003WX-Cathead-closeup-w-200x150.jpg

[Tauweb]

Thanks to all who have replied to my flat tyre problem. Sorry I didn't explain what Catheads are. Nasty little coots. They don't bother heavy rubber tyres but these smooth Airsteaks and probably Tundras are fair game for them. Also push bike and motor bike tyres suffer from them. The No Flat liquid I am trying is quite liquid I would say a bit thicker than milk and so it should go it fairly easily with a bit of pressure, but no such luck. I could use a spike or drill bit and gently force a hole through the obstruction but wanted to be sure I wasn't going to wreck something in the process. I believe the tyre itself is best described as being like a giant donut so you can take it off the rim and pump it up just like you can with a tube. This poses the problem that the holes in the tyre are not big enough and too numerous to use a plug, you can't put a sleeve in them as there is no access to the inside of the tyre and in a bad case of catheads you can have numerous tiny holes. I am sure a flat 26" tyre is not much fun to land on......(or maybe heaps of fun!!!!) Thanks again everyone. I will keep watching for your thoughts.

[PapuaPilot]

So far I haven't gotten flat main tires from the goat-heads in Idaho, but I have gotten a flat tailwheel a time or two. I put a piece of bicycle tube liner in the tailwheel tire before I installed the tube. I bought this at a local bike shop, but you can get this from Amazon too.

I wonder if anybody makes something like this that is wide enough to protect the main tires (tyres for our mates ;) ). Of course this wouldn't help if you are using tubeless tires.



https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41VaPmr0WoL._AC_SX425_.jpg