Tubes In Paddle Wheels???

[Dan_Lockwood]

I have a pair of DWT 15"x12", 4-130mm wheels with 13.00+ Padla Trak paddles.

One rim has a bead leak and the other is great and holds air well. But the one does have a minor bead leak. The rims have been beaten quite badly and have several flat spots on the inside lip. I've made pusher from oak and used my 4-ton Port-a-Power to push them out, it looks a LOT better, but I will not trust it to be tubeless.

Who has run tubes in such a setup? I asked this on Facebook Dune Buggy group and several people said that they had for years, but none were forth coming with any suggestions on what tubes to get and how the valve stem location might be an issue etc.

Any thoughts on tubes and paddle wheels?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

Dan

[DesertSasquatchXploration]

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mtt-9558

Once you see the price for tubes good used rims start looking pretty nice.

I have a old set of worn sand vipers and crappy empi wheels had bad pitting on the bead leaked like crazy I ended up just using E6000 glue and bonded them on no more issues. I'm not going to use the wheels after the paddles are toast So it made the most sence.

https://www.mooreparts.com/heavy-duty-tire-inner-tube-for-12-00-to-16-50-paddle-tires/
If these are the wheels... you want a centered valve stem. Tubes can be pretty forgiving (to a point) I used to run 16inch tubes in 20 inch bike tires as a dumb kid worked fine use plenty of baby powder

[Motofalcon]

Hey Dan,

When I got my buggy it had tubes in the rear tires (old school cross cut implement tires that look like knobbies), and when I got my second set of paddle tires I also put tubes in them. I got my tubes from tireinnertube.com, these are the ones that worked for me (I am running 14.50 Desert Traks on 15x8 wheels):

https://www.tireinnertube.com/15-inch-rim-diameter...-stem.html

I also decided to run tubes in the front because the beads had a bunch of rust and were tough to seal - I was able to find the right size on that website with a bit of searching.

As far as the valve stem being off center - according to my local tire shop, EVERY tube has the valve stem off center (as in an inch or two inboard/outboard of the center). Most buggy wheels I’ve seen have the valve stem hole directly in the center. You have a couple of options:

1) Just put the tube in and run it. They aren’t at super high pressure, the rubber will stretch and flex a bit, and it hopefully doesn’t rip the stem off. That’s what I do, just make sure to use liberal amounts of baby powder/cornstarch to help the tube slide around to its most “comfortable” position.

2) Drill a new hole in the wheel that matches to where the valve stem is. The only problem with that is you now have two holes in the rim, which maybe you don’t want. You can either patch up the old hole (thick duct tape from the inside, weld the hole shut, install a metal plug w/JB weld, etc) or just leave the old “tubeless” style valve stem in. The wheel will have two valve stems, but it will keep the dirt and sand out of your wheel.

Hopefully that makes sense, let me know if you have more questions.

[Dan_Lockwood]

Thanks guys. I've sent a message to the inner tube guy and the picture. Hopefully he will be back with me on Monday.

I think I'll go for the tubes if they give me a good chance of working etc.

Thanks again, Dan