Jump to content

600 x 23 inner tubes with a bent valve stem?


Guest vintage honeycomb

Recommended Posts

Guest vintage honeycomb

Hello to all vintage Packard owners.

I am having trouble, in fact I have exhausted all sources known to me and and my regular vintage trye supplier, (Allan and Noelene McKinnon at Antique Tyre Supplies) As my 326 has disc wheels I require inner tubes with a bent or bendable stem to allow it to protrude out through the slot in the disc.

With all the enquiries I have made with no success, what do other owners do in this case? The inner tubes available have stems too long to use the available bent extensions, even if I had tubes with 1 1/2" long stems instead of the 3" I may have a chance.

Any suggestions apart from put up with it and check the tyre pressure from the rear of the rim and have an ugly empty slot cut into the wheel disc.

One thing I have done, succesful with 1 out of 5 so far at $60 each, is made a simple tool and bent the 3" valve stem to be exactly what I want. Trouble is the first bent very well and the following 4 broke the brass tube inside the valve stem! Maybe I will try with some more until I get 5, $60, $120, $180, $240, maybe!

Any thoughts of using some brass wire inside the thin wall tube of the valve stem to try and advoid this breakage?

Awaiting that amazing answer?

Thanks

Greg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greg,

I have restored 2 1929 Packards both with disc wheels and I was able to buy tubes with rubber stems desgned to be bent at 90 deg so they projected through the outer face of the wheel. I don't recall any difficulty in obtaining them. I bought the first set from Antique tyres many years ago and the second set came from Old World lamps and Tyres (Russell Holden) a few years ago.

If they are no longer available then that is going to be a big problem for cars with these type of disc wheels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Guest vintage honeycomb
Greg,

I have restored 2 1929 Packards both with disc wheels and I was able to buy tubes with rubber stems desgned to be bent at 90 deg so they projected through the outer face of the wheel. I don't recall any difficulty in obtaining them. I bought the first set from Antique tyres many years ago and the second set came from Old World lamps and Tyres (Russell Holden) a few years ago.

If they are no longer available then that is going to be a big problem for cars with these type of disc wheels.

Hello David and thanks for the response.

A little time has passed and I continued my chase for tubes with the bent valve stems. I had already taken delivery of tubes from the McKinnons of Antique Tyres, they are the straight rubber stems with brass inserts inside them. I decided to try bending the stems before this all started, the first stem bent well enough to get me by, not 100% but better than straight. The next 4 broke the brass insert before I got them anywhere near the first! 4 x $59 blown!

I spoke to Allan again and again he was 100% sure there are no 23 inch tubes with bent stems available. Allan departed for a holiday, I then decided not to give up. I emailed all over the world, anyone who claimed they sold vintage tyres and tubes. Most of the responses I recieved back agreed with Allan but one.

Universal Tyres in Hershey, who own Lester tyres and supplied my white wall Lester tyres and the 5 tubes I already had through Antique Tyres responded.

We have 2" x 2" 90 degree nickle plated valve stems for $10 each, "we will vulcanize them to 23" tubes for you for $7 each, total US$50 each". I rang them and sorted the order of 6 tubes, I thought I may as well get a 6th tube as a spare spare. Christine and I are attending Hershey swap in a month so we will pick them up at Universal Tyres store whilst in town.

Problem solved. Now back to why Allan with all his knowledge and experience could not help me, not sure. We are pretty close friends, we stay in the McKinnon house while in Melbourne and drink his Bundy rum. Is there a chance fitting this bent valve stem to the tubes could fail at a later time, could it be a problem? Not sure. From what I can see the rubber stems are fitted the same way.

I figure Universal Tyres who make tyres have a fair idea of what they are doing, does Allan know of a possible glitch? Time will tell, if anyone is interested in how I get on in the future drop me a line and I will tell you.

Allan did tell me at one point when he spoke to Packard guys in the US about how they get around this problem he was told they simply check the tyres from the back of the wheel disc, this does not sound very "Packard" let alone the great empty slot in the rim with nothing in it?

Anyway, thanks again for your help, more to come once I get back and fit the new tyres and tubes, I just hope the wheels appear ok when I strip the tyres. The Bones had a rim split on this car prevoiusly whilst driving home from a rally. The rim was rusted out and painted over, I am hoping the other wheels are better. I have to do this exercise to know!

Bye for now. Greg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greg,

Thanks for the update, it looks like you have solved the problem but I do not know why Allen and no one else has commented on the bendable tube stems. The ones I fitted to 2 different cars had rubber valve stems that could be easily bent at 90 deg. I do not know what was inside the rubber stem but it was certainly not a brass tube it was a flexible or linked tube that once bent held its shape. I also remember that once bent they tended to lock into the new shape and could not be easily re-formed so it was necessary get it right the first time.

I am sure I bought the first set from Antique Tyres in Sydney around 2000. The tyres and tubes were all in stock in Melbourne and were shipped overnight to Basil at the Sydney warehouse. It seems those tubes are no longer available which is a shame because they were a good solution to the problem you raised .

I just checked the new tubes I have here that came with a recently acquired unfinished Packard project that has disc wheels (you would know this car). They are straight metal stems so it looks like I might have to access them from the inside of the wheel or adopt your solution

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...