tire bead sealant?

I just buy and use regular bead sealer, it's basically rubber cement with carbon black added. Never used any of the homemade stuff.

However if you have a leak from the stem hole that suggests a leak from the tube itself, for that you will want to pull it back out and repair the leak with a patch, then look inside the tire for something that punched the hole in it.

For tires that leak but are in good shape I use

Even helps with those tiny tires that seem to leak when they are brand new!

Did you find where the tube is leaking? Using the stem as a marker, check the contact location on the rim that matches the leak. Use crocus cloth to smooth any sharp points inside the rim. After repairing the leak, just for s**ts and giggles recheck for other leaks. When installing the tube use liberal amounts of talcum powder to slicken it up. Cover the inside of the tire and then rub it on the tube.

Good luck

Steve

The commercial stuff is FAR from "contact cement with lamp black" - at least the stuff I used for 30 years or so. Much closer to a "latex" - but not a water based product

I guess it depends on the "rubber cement" you are used to as well. It's (bead sealer) a witches brew of hexanes and pentanes and heptane and naptha and Zinc Oxide and - Lamp black or carbon black and some brands have natural rubber latex in place of some of the "soup".

PatchRubber company's product is the witches brew above. The "simplest" one, XtraSeal from Lawson Products is composed of heptane, toluene, natural rubber latex and carbon black

Did you find where the tube is leaking? Using the stem as a marker, check the contact location on the rim that matches the leak. Use crocus cloth to smooth any sharp points inside the rim. After repairing the leak, just for s**ts and giggles recheck for other leaks. When installing the tube use liberal amounts of talcum powder to slicken it up. Cover the inside of the tire and then rub it on the tube.

Good luck

Steve ============================== Not yet, I need to make new swivel pads for the 6" C clamps I broke loose the beads and squeezed them to fit into the drop center groove with, and that required making a larger centering spider for the outboard end of lathe spindle, as the one I have, a repurposed drill chuck, only opens to 1/2". I don't know how close a 1" rod unsupported for nearly 3' is to whipping around at lathe speed, and I don't want to find out the hard way.

The leak is huge, as if the rubber ripped wide open, which I've seen on bargain priced inner tubes before. I bought this tube at the store that had sold me better ones.

The tire has had a -very- slow leak for years which I attributed to the rim or valve stem, so I after it fully deflated and popped off the rim I checked the bead surfaces carefully and blew out any dirt. The trailer was old and beat-up when I bought it around 1975.

One of the rear tires on my Sears garden tractor had been glued on, presumably to stop a leak though it didn't. I couldn't break the bead and the tire shop had a very hard time with it, thus my concern about removing the tire later.

The commercial stuff is FAR from "contact cement with lamp black" - at least the stuff I used for 30 years or so. Much closer to a "latex" - but not a water based product

I guess it depends on the "rubber cement" you are used to as well. It's (bead sealer) a witches brew of hexanes and pentanes and heptane and naptha and Zinc Oxide and - Lamp black or carbon black and some brands have natural rubber latex in place of some of the "soup".

PatchRubber company's product is the witches brew above. The "simplest" one, XtraSeal from Lawson Products is composed of heptane, toluene, natural rubber latex and carbon black

===================================================== I dried some Victor tire seal on the stove and it isn't a glue. It looks like diluted latex in water plus some fiber for bulk. I think I understand why the homebrew mixes add more latex, as there isn't much in it when rubbed between my fingers as it dries.

And for crying out loud, REMOVE the nail or screw or staple in the carcass that caused the leak in the first place!!!

And for crying out loud, REMOVE the nail or screw or staple in the carcass that caused the leak in the first place!!!

====================================

I once felt around inside a tire for the headless black sheet rock screw I couldn't see from the outside, until I found out why using a bare hand for that is a bad idea.

The C clamps are grey with copper-plated screw and swivel pads, from Harbor Freight IIRC. When the loosely crimped swivel pads twisted off while breaking tire beads I put them somewhere safe, likely now safely hidden under something else.

I turned the new swivel pads from leftover 1" 1018 cold rolled shafting which machines very nicely and was cheaper at a local industrial supplier than the plated rod at the hardware store. I sized the OD of the swivel barrel for a large cable sleeve crimper I have, locked them on tightly and then worried them loose enough to rotate.

The crimper also fixed (?) the one remaining good clamp better than trying to hammer or pinch it with pliers. The small pad is difficult to grab well enough to hit it hard.

the reviews say they aren't the greatest for splicing steel cable, but neither are aluminum sleeves. Worked for me, though.

Tire sealants are different than bead sealants. Bead sealers don't bond the tire in place, they simply fill in the small pits and rough areas to provide a seal. Tire sealers on the other hand can make a real mess. Many will rot a rim almost as bad as calcium..