Flat Tire

After spending a few days in Elim doing building maintenace and a few days catching up on household stuff, I'm finally getting back to my regular mechanic work.  I have quite a few big jobs lined up but I decided to start the day off with something simple, a basic flat tire. 

I aired the tire up with my compressor and was able to locate the leak by the sound of the escaping air.  The leak was a small hole in the middle of the tread face.  This is a perfect candidate for a plug.  Plugs are so simple that they almost feel like cheating, but they are not.  For small holes in the middle of a tire they work great.  Large holes or anything on the side wall require patches.

To install a plug you just ream the hole out to clean it and make sure the plug will  fit.  Then put a little rubber cement on the plug (I only use the sticky covered string type, not the short rubber cones) and push it in.  Make sure you stop pushing when there is about 1/2 inch of plug left and pull the tool out.   If you are not careful you can push the plug all the way inside the tire.  That's all there is too it.  Total time 10 minutes.