Urethane bandsaw tires split at weld while installing

[jms]

So - I'll start by saying I bought a pair official and new in package shopsmith part numbed urethane tires off of eBay a few months ago. Not sure how old they are. Sat in my shop for probably 4 months now.

Finally got around to getting the old rubber tires off -- that was absolutely no fun and I went through at least 10 brass brass heads on my dremel to get all the rubber off that couldn't be pulled off by hand - but finally did get them off and cleaned up.

Went to see how tight the urethane tires were going to be and both of them split at the "weld" as I was attempting to stretch just a bit to pull onto the wheels. Just to be clear, I wasn't putting a large amount of stress on them and definitely didn't expect the welded seam to "break" especially on both tires.

Obviously I bought off of eBay and it was months ago so I'm out of luck there - but before I call the MS an order a brand new pair of urethane tires I thought I would just check with other folks experiences -- anyone else have this happen?? I'm assuming these were just very old and brittle, as a quick bend caused them to break in other spots as well.

[JPG]

"Old and brittle and breaking" does not encourage me to consider them.

Wonder what has been done with yours over the 'years'.

I would call MS anyway to maybe find out why they broke if nothing else develops.

[Ed in Tampa]

I think you have been had! My understanding is Urethane does not get brittle or break when bent.

[jms]

I will say that they came in official Shopsmith packaging and appear to be the real thing, I think they were just bent under pressure for too long out in the heat of the shop. Here is the photo from the eBay listing I bought them from, and thats exactly what they looked like when I got them ... (sorry for the low resolution, I had to go back to my eBay purchase history to get this thumbnail)



... and here is what happened when I tried to install them (8 months later) ...

[Gene Howe]

Not to hijack the thread but, I recently read about a nifty way to install band saw tires. But, in involves removing the wheel.
Lay the wheel on a piece of 3/4 ply and drive several nails around the circumference. Remove the wheel and stretch the tire around the nails. Lay the wheel back in and pull the nails.
I'm sure a smart guy could figure how to make it work without removing the wheel.

[ryanbp01]

I installed urethane tires on my bandsaw after replacing the original, worn black tires. I used rubbing alcohol to clean any remaining glue off of the wheels. I had a bucket of hot (as in out of the tap) to put the urethane tires in. That expanded the tires enough for me to stretch the tires onto the wheels without removing the wheels. I haven't had a problem with them since.
BPR

[bgam65]

Had a very old set that split while putting them on. I wrote it off to being old, shop heat and storage. The new pair is doing fine. Tried replacing tires both w/ wheel on and off. Either way is easy. Tried hot water as well as stretching the tire before mounting. Either way is fine. This is not a hard job to do. If you need help, let me know.

[jms]

Thanks guys - I ordered a new set from the MS. What arrived was in the same packaging and looked the same as the set that fell apart, except they we're far more pliable. I'll chalk this up to me buying an old set that had probably been left in extreme heat and deteriated like all plastics will.

New set went on fine. Even soaking them in hot tap water, it was challenging to get them on. I used 2 x #2 pencils to assist, instead of the dowels they recommend on the packaging.

[Ed in Tampa]

I am still bewildered, my understanding of urethane is that it never gets brittle, hard, or cracks. If that understanding is correct then something is wrong somewhere. Either SS urethane bandsaw tires are not urethane or someone swapped the ones you got.