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I am done with the yearly, or every other year, inner tube replacments. This year I got 4 new flat-free tires at Harbor Freight on sale for about $16.00 each (regular price $22.00 each). They just had the best price at the time I needed them. But Home Depot, Menards, etc... sell flat-free tires as well.
In theory, I should never have to replace those flat-free tires in my lifetime. Additionally, all you have to do with these new flat-free tires is pull out the cotter pin on the axel, remove the old pneumatic tire, and pop the flat free tire back on. Hardly any work at all.
Update on Flat-Free Wheel Changeout on my Gorilla CartWell, those HF 13-inch tires did not work out for me. The hub on the wheels were too long/wide and would not fit on the axel properly. The end of the hub stuck out a good 3/4-inch and I could not get on the outside washer and cotter pin to hold the wheel in place.
I will have to return all 4 of those wheels to Harbor Freight. That's too bad. On the other hand, I dug out the receipts and found that I paid $18.00 per tire, on sale, saving $4.00 off the regular price. For some reason, I thought I had saved $6.00 per tire, but it was only $4.00 each.
Of course, nobody in town sells the 13-inch tires in the Gorilla cart width hub that I need. So, I found a set of after-market Gorilla cart replacement wheels on Amazon.
I should have known better, but I had assumed that all 13-inch replacement tires would be universal fit. They are not. Here is the hub specs on the Gorilla cart replacement wheels I just ordered...
Anyways, these wheels from Amazon came with a 5% off coupon, plus I get another 5% off for using my Amazon credit card. That brings down the price to $18.00 per wheel which is the sale price I got at Harbor Freight. To my benefit, the wheels from Amazon are rated for 300 pounds working load each whereas the wheels from Harbor Freight were each rated for 275 pounds. So, maybe the tires from Amazon are built better.
FYI, I found a YouTube video on how to remove the bearings out of the Harbor Freight wheels and to cut the hub down to the width I need. But I would have to buy about $15.00 in cut-off wheels and mandrels for my pneumatic air die grinder to do that job - on all 4 wheels. In the end, I decided it was better to wait a week and get a set of tires that were made to fit my cart. And, with the coupons and cash back on the Amazon card, the cost is the same. BTW, after I discovered that the Harbor Freight wheel hubs were too wide to fit on my axel rod, I dug out 3 brand new inner tubes I purchased a few years ago and never used. All 3 leaked air when filled. Brand new, but 3 years in storage. Those were some Amazon China specials, but still, it was most disappointing to see that never used inner tubes could not hold air. I am so over buying inner tubes that only last a year or two at best. So much better just to upgrade to flat free tires as soon as you have any problems with the pneumatic tires. Don't waste your money on cheap inner tubes that need to be replaced every year or two!
Wow! I did not see any disclaimer on returning those wheels. They are still brand new and have not been used at all. I'll have to check that out for sure before I bring them back to the store.
I do know that Harbor Freight has a return fee on some items. But they have always told me before I made a purchase if that was the case on an item. There is a little not-so-secret program going on at Harbor Freight. You can buy an item, use it for a while, and return it for that 20% return fee. For the people who do that routinely, it's just considered a tool rental fee, often times less expensive than Rent-It shops charge for renting an item for a day or two. Harbor Freight does not discourage it. Then they sell the return as an open box item for maybe 10% off. So, they come out ahead anyway.
