Valencia has New Shoes

Last weekend's riding got all three tires on my Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig, Valencia, to the point where they were pretty useless on loose/wet/muddy terrain though OK on pavement.  It was time to replace them and I'd ordered three DURO 307 4.00 x 19 6 Ply Tires before I'd ridden down to Sipapu, NM.

Today I spent most of the day remembering how to use the Harbor Freight Tire Changer and how not to damage aka pinch or puncture the inner tube while swapping out the tires themselves.

It's been a while since I'd done tire replacements, especially of tires which require inner tubes like the ones on my Ural.  That first tire cost me a lot more time than I had figured on, and caused a trip to the motorcycle store for two more new inner tubes and a patching kit.  I would end up using both the new inner tubes as I managed to pinch not only my original spare inner tube, but two others......sigh.

 The main reason I swapped tires today, I didn't have a working spare tire due to 

the nail I picked up what was then the pusher tire.

I found a second nail later, in the sidecar tire, but it had gone inside the

tire, without puncturing things!  

 The old front tire, it had developed cupping issues....weird

 This was the second pusher tire, which had been carried as the spare, 

and got used once again as pusher tire.

The original sidecar tire.  Got over 12,800 Km from both the front

and sidecar tires, which is not bad for motorcycle tires and my 

penchant for rocky trails.

A picture of Valencia, glistening in the mid-morning sun, 

before I started replacing tires.

The first tire, now the spare tire, which I tried to swap the destroyed

inner tube out of, pinched the first attempt, suceeded with the second.

The trick to it all, was stuff I knew from before but failed to remember or execute properly:

1.  Use baby powder as lubricant on the inner tube when installing.  I didn't have any but Craig H. suggested using corn starch when I called him up for advice.  This is truly a major factor, don't neglect it!

2.  Lay your new tires out in the sun so they get nice and hot and soft so they spoon on easier with tire irons.

3.  Use the Mojo Lever for removing the old tire and putting on the first bead of the replacement tire, after that, I had to switch to regular tire irons and careful spooning of the second bead of the replacement tire.  Both my sons helped me by holding the "anchoring" tire iron while I worked the rest of the bead onto the wheel.

Once the technique became familiar again and practiced, things got faster, the last tire of four I swapped only took like 15 minutes!

So, due to the time it took and the pinched inner tubes, doing my own tires this time didn't quite save me any money.  Oh well.  Sitting here feeling the muscle aches and soreness, there's still that feeling of satisfaction of doing my own maintenance on my rig.

Here's some pictures of the new tires, just got back from a test drive after I put dynabeads on all three tires, everything felt nice and smooth....no tires fell off or went flat, so that's a plus.

Note: tires swapped at 12,805 Km.