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Old 06-20-2021, 04:57 PM
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AlongCameJones
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Join Date: May 2021
Location: Lawton, OK
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Lightbulb Are flat tires a pain on dollies and wheelbarrows?

You may use a dolly or a wheelbarrow to recover game from the field or do other tasks. I've discovered how to make changing a tube on various push vehicles easier.

Are dolly and wheelbarrow tire inner tubes a pain to work on unless the two rim halves are bolted together?


To dismount tire on one side of wheel only to remove inner tube:

-pry the bead over the rim on the valve stem side only; tube should be completely deflated for removal

-use three metal bicycle tire irons to pry tire bead over rim all the way around; don't use screwdrivers as they may damage a good tire or a tube repairable by patch
-you can now pull out the old tube as shown in the videos, it may be tricky

To install tube and mount tire:

-carefully push tube in around inside of rim on open bead side and align valve with hole in wheel, this takes some fiddling; see videos
-use vise-grip pliers to anchor one point of tire bead: clamp pliers onto lip of rim firmly
-press the bead under the rim where the pliers are clamped on
-work the bead around clockwise from the anchor point in one direction looking down from top
-use both hands, elbow grease and body weight to gradually press bead completely under the rim lip
-the pliers hold the bead in place to prevent slipping back over the rim at the starting anchor point
-it may help to have wheel held firmly in a bench vice or mounted on the vehicle to remount the tire bead
-it helps if you can press the bead back in place downward with the rim facing upward
-make sure the pliers jaws firmly clamp the rim just at the lip



If goat heads are a problem where you hunt, you may want to put the green Slime product of Flat Attack in your dolly or wheelbarrow tires to instantly seal punctures. A small bicycle pump is handy for game-recovery carts with pneumatic tires in the field too. I have Marathon tires on my Harper hand-truck and that rubber is not very pliable at all. I had to put a new Firestone inner tube in the other day. Tubeless tires are almost impossible to seat the bead at home. I spent $50 seven years ago replacing my stock tubeless dolly wheels with tube types. There is no way I could push the bead around the rim lip as the guy was doing in the video with the yellow wheel. Marathon tires have very stiff beads and my wheels are metal with relatively-sharp lips. The pliers clamped on the lip did the trick though to hold the bead under the rim lip at the start point. The wheel was on the dolly axle with the dolly lying on the floor sideways with the wheel facing up. I was able to sit in a chair and press the bead back around over the rim lip with the heels of both hands together as close to the rim lip as possible in the manner of giving a CPR patient chest compressions. I was just gradually working all away around the tire until I got back home to the pliers again. Of course, you will remove the pliers once the tire is back on the rim.

My methods beat the following video tutorials:


Last edited by AlongCameJones; 06-20-2021 at 05:41 PM.
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