Valve stem repairs

[blackcap]

hi all. his is something i learnt on the side of the road in indonesia. anyone thats had a valve stem tear out will know how useful this can be.

This method works on the assumption that you still have the valve stem.

1. remove tube from the tire as you normally would
2. if not already torn off completely, neatly cut the valve stem from the tube and tidy up the rubber around the hole in the tube and on the stem by trimming off any large flaps, keeping in mind you want to keep the hole in the tube as small as possible
3. completely dismantle the valve stem; this means removing the core, removing the top nut (that most people screw down onto the outside of the wheel rim or up onto the valve cap) AND removing the bottom nut and the small metal cap that sits directly underneath the bottom nut. This should leave you with the stem and a small round disc of rubber (and maybe metal) at the bottom of the stem (this is what was left on the tubes that the guys here showed me, I don’t know how many different styles of tube construction there are so yours may not be exactly the same)
4. now you need to push the dismantled valve stem into the hole that it tore out of. Push it completely inside the tire and forget about it for the moment
5. using an oversized patch (a large patch from a car tire repair kit could be the best for this step) repair the hole in the tube left by the valve stem being torn out as you would any other leak so you have a completely sealed tube with no way of getting air in or out
6. from the outside of the tube feel around for the stem that is now rattling around inside the tube and position it so that the top of the stem (the circular part where you attach a pump) is against the newly patched hole and the bottom of the stem is against something solid and smooth that will not puncture the tube
7. using a tire iron, hammer gently on the patch where the top of the valve stem is positioned. This will give you the same effect as a ‘pinch flat’ and as long as you don’t move the stem while doing it you will get a very nice round hole cut into the patch in the same location that the stem tor out of that is the perfect size for the stem to push through
8. push the stem out of the hole until it reaches the small round disc of rubber and metal at the bottom of the hole (this larger diameter section at the base must stay inside the tube). Reinstall the small metal cap and bottom nut in the correct order and tighten the nut just enough to compress the patch between the larger diameter section of the stem on the inside of the tube and the metal cap on the outside to get a good seal around the bottom of the stem
9. reinstall the valve core and reinstall tube as per normal

I don’t know how well this kind of patch goes for longevity but it would definitely get you out of a pinch and to somewhere that you could get a more permanent fix sorted out. It seem pretty standard practice here and they guys could not work out why I was so amazed and wanted to see it again. I think it got put down to ‘just another stupid white man’ haha