Friday, August 7, 2015

Flat Mower Tires for Dummies

Flat mower tire
Here at the Antisocial Network, we can tell when a freelancer is faking it just from our own experience. A writer faking similar experience leaves out a critical step, doesn't address a common problem, or simply demonstrates ignorance. In the case of Kenneth Crawford of eHow, it's clear he faked it as he wrote "How to Fix a Flat Tire on Your Riding Lawn Mower" because... well, because if he'd ever actually fixed a flat on a mower he'd have known better.

     Oh, Ken's instructions for plugging a puncture in a pneumatic tire (reworded from any of thousands of websites, to be sure) are fairly good. So are his common-sense instructions for finding a puncture. Apparently, though, he doesn't know that the most common problem with mower tires isn't a puncture: it's deterioration of the rubber as it ages. Nevertheless, Ken merrily rolls along until he gets to his sixth step, which is where he runs into problems.

According to Ken, after inserting a plug to patch a puncture, you 
"Fill the tire with the appropriate amount of air. The sidewall of the tire has a stamp with the recommended air pressure. Raise the mower with the jack just enough to remove the jack stands. Pull the jack stands away from the mower, and lower the jack completely."
The reason we know Ken's faking it is that he so blithely tells you to reinflate the tire with an air compressor or – get this, folks – with a friggin' foot pump! He doesn't say word one about getting the tire to seal to the wheel, a situation (see photo above) that makes it damned near impossible for the average homeowner to re-inflate a tubeless tire. This omission, combined with his failure to understand either the most likely cause of a flat or the best solution -- add a tube -- are why Kenneth is just another typical recipient of our Dumbass of the Day award. 
copyright © 2015-2021 scmrak

DDIY - TIRES

No comments: