It’s not uncommon to have to put a snowblower tire back on the rim. Most often, this happens during the offseason. Hopefully, you can catch it before the snow flies, but in general, it’s a fairly simple repair.
How does a tire come off the rim?
Snowblower tires are relatively small. Like pressure washers, riding lawnmowers, and other outdoor power equipment, the smaller the tire, the easier it is to come off the rim.
When a machine sits for any length of time, the “bead” can break. This is the seal between the tire and the metal rim. If the tire loses enough air, the weight of the machine can cause this seal to break.
Oddly enough, it’s not really much of a seal; there’s a small amount of friction between the materials, but it relies on the air pressure to keep the rubber tire pressed against the rim.
So, if you lose the air pressure, then it’s easier for that bead to break. Once that happens, then the tire can come completely off the rim.
These smaller tires run at lower pressures than say, a car tire, so even a few psi loss of air can have a dramatic effect.
Loss of air pressure during storage doesn’t necessarily mean that the tire is bad. If your machine is stored outside, the fluctuation of air temperatures can cause the tire to lose air pressure.
Or, a rather minute leak can quickly deplete the air pressure to the point where the tire comes off the bead.
Naturally, we need to understand how to put a snowblower tire back on the rim.
Tools Needed
How to get a snowblower tire back on the rim
Clean the rim
First, take the opportunity to clean the rim. Over time, the metal can rust inside the tire. This can be due to condensation from the air temperature difference.
We want the surfaces to be as clean as possible so that the seal can, well, seal. It’s possible that the rust caused a small leak that resulted in the tire coming off the rim in the first place.
Since the tire is now off, it’s a good opportunity to have access to the rim. Take a wire wheel and clean the rim where the tire seats against it. Make sure to do both sides while you’re at it.
Remove the stem core
The next step is to use a tire stem core tool to remove the tire stem core. This is found inside the valve.
Normally when you add air to the tire, you just place the chuck on the valve and air it up. You might not even be aware that there’s a stem core inside the valve (I wasn’t!)
The problem is that with the stem core in place, the airflow is restricted. We want to be able to apply the maximum volume of air possible to expand the tire as quickly as we can.
This will allow the tire to expand and seat the bead. If the airflow is too low, it’ll simply escape out of the gap.
Use the valve stem core removal tool to remove the stem core. It’s small, so make sure that you don’t misplace it.
Air it up
Now, we want to apply some air. I don’t recommend a portable compressor as they generally don’t apply a high enough pressure fast enough to seat the bead.
A standalone compressor or portable air tank work best for this purpose.
When you connect the air chuck to the valve, you want to apply a forceful amount of air. You should be able to see the tire expand rapidly. You’ll know it’s seated when there’s an audible “pop.”
As soon as you remove the air chuck, obviously, the air will come back through the valve since there’s no stem core. Simply thread the stem core back into place.
Now that it’s back in, you can proceed to inflate the tire to the correct pressure. Snowblowers generally run 5-10 psi.
Extra considerations
If your tire has a tube, make sure to secure the stem so that it doesn’t fall inside the rim while you’re attempting to seat the bead.
I like to clamp a small vice grip on the outside of the stem to make sure that it can’t get dislodged.
Recap
Hopefully, now you can see how easy it is to get a snowblower tire back on the rim. Pick up a valve stem core removal tool; they’re inexpensive and valuable in the event you need to get a tire back on the rim.
Did I forget anything? Let me know in the comments below!
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