I swear on a stack of operating manuals that I’m not banging on the nosewheel of my j model 182 but for the third time in a year I went to the hangar to be greeted by a flat nose wheel tire! You guys have any thoughts on tubes that are tougher than others for standard 5.00x5 nose wheel? The tire is a Goodyear that seems in good shape

If the tube failure at the valve stem, maybe the tire is rotating on the rim

I would disassemble the wheel and tire taking note of the clock position of each item, find the hole in the tube, and then find what on the inside is causing the rupture. That tube should last for years.

Best fix I know of for those troublesome nose wheels is to put it on the back of the airplane. Seems to work wonders

Very carefully and methodically feel the inside of the tire. You are feeling for something that is puncturing the tube. Nail, screw, wire, goat head, etc.

akgreg wrote:Best fix I know of for those troublesome nose wheels is to put it on the back of the airplane. Seems to work wonders

Yeah, I wish. It would be cool though, a wide body 185....

I have been flying my own 182 since year 2000. One flat tire in 1600 hrs. It was a nose tire and my tire pressure was a bit low and the tire slipped on the rim just enough to make a small leak in the stem.

Could be the tire. My Husky tailwheel kept getting flats, once at Flabob, and twice on same trip back from Oshkosh. Inside of tire felt smooth and no apparent menace. Finally got a new tire and no more flats. Perhaps with load and flex something imbedded would protrude enough to bite a hole in the tube.

Yeah, I’m begaining to think an entire switchout is in order. I wasn’t to thrilled the last time I had it apart to discover that GY had put a large patch marked 3/4 on the inside of the tire to balance it out, and I still had to have the tire balanced..

First and foremost, what pressure are you running in that tire?

As others have noted, does the leak appear to be from the valve stem, or elsewhere?

Finally, there are some crappy tubes out there. I have had very good consistent service from Goodyear, both for tires and tubes. Is your tube a Goodyear, or Brand X? If Brand X, I'd replace with a new Goodyear tube and see if that fixes the issue, after having done what others suggest, like checking the inside of the tire for protrusions or puncture makers.

MTV

-0-

OregonMaule wrote:Very carefully and methodically feel the inside of the tire. You are feeling for something that is puncturing the tube. Nail, screw, wire, goat head, etc.

use a terry cloth rag.. it will snag on anything in the tire.. also feel of the rim.. I just changed tail wheel tires and tubes and the new one leaks...ugh.. crappy tube.. so I now by 2 tubes when I change tires. Also I put about 1/2 ounce of tire sludge stop leak in the tube when I first air it up. it will delay a micro leak. FWIW..dave