Great Stuff really is...

[PK.]

I have a couple of rear tine tillers laying about that needed new tires. They wouldn't hold any air and are all rotted. New ones are about 50 bucks apiece and I'd still need to clean all the rust off the rims, install new valves and mess with replacing the tires.

So I got to thinking. In years past I owned a landscape company as a sideline to make real money. I always took my walk-behinds to have the tires filled with this polyurethane foam. The stuff worked great, but is expensive. So I thought, what else is a self-expanding polyurethane foam? Hey, that "Great Stuff" insulation struff! So I drilled a couple of holes in the sidewalls of the tires and dumped a can of the stuff in each tire.

Well, it's working just fine. I figured that if this fix will get me through this spring I'm ahead of the game and it seems it will last longer than that. I'll probably have to add some more as it breaks apart, but so what? I think I'll use the flexible type when I do that. I also figured that if I do have to replace the tires, and maybe add tubes, I can just leave the foam in the middle of the rim. That should cut down on leaks.

[OzarkMtnDaredevil]

Dammit, PK. I'm a bicycle mechanic, not a doctor! ;D

Why have I never thought of that? Great Tip! Thanks!

[PK.]

The one thing I didn't mention is that you can't have any weight on the tire for several hours as the stuff sets up. Otherwise you'll end up with a big flat spot I think. I was just outside messing with one of the tillers and the tires are just fine. Now if it'll only stay dry out for a week....

[sage_morgan]

The wheel well of my little pickup has rusted away in a few places and now when the snow and rain are on the roads, it throws mud and crud onto my back window.

I'm going to apply some Great Stuff to keep the crap from coming through. It won't look good, but I plan to see better regardless.

Back in the day when the bottom of a door I had rusted out and the rain would gather in the bottom, I let it dry, blew in GS, and sawed off the excess. No more sloshing, no more door leak. Looked like it had hydrophobia, but eh.

[cubcadet]

I recently had my chimney crack sometime before Thanksgiving and it diminished the draft to my woodstove, smoke would come out of the crack. I don`t know if it was the house settling or the tennants had a chimney fire that caused it. I suspect the flue tiles are shot.I can`t afford to hire somebody to fix it. I can`t afford to burn propane for the rest of the winter. So, on a relatively windless sunny day, I climbed up the ladder and sprayed minimally expanding foam into the crack and let the sun work on it the rest of the day and started burning wood again that evening. Hallelujah . I`ve had no problems so far, and I expect that will allow me to make it through the winter. The stuff does work wonders.
PK., good post. Great Stuff is very useful.

[CarolAnn]

Never in a million years would I have thought of using it in a tire! Nice creative thinking there!

I've used it on my Mom's trailer around the pipes where the mice were coming in under her sink and it worked fine. They don't call it Great Stuff for nuthin'! ;D

[Native87]

Whoa! What an outstanding idea. I got a wheel barrel that needs that. Thanks. Terry