Hand Truck Wheel Maintenance

It is important to maintain your hand truck, even if it has been in storage for a while and has not really been used. Rust, loose bolts and wore out tires not only ruin the hand truck but they put the pressure back on the person operating the hand truck. Operating the hand truck should be a smooth transition but if the hand truck is poorly maintained, the operator has to work harder to move the load. Choosing the right wheels for the job makes moving with your aluminum hand truck a lot easier.

Appliance trucks in general have two kinds of wheels, soft and hard. Hard wheels work better on soft surfaces, like plush carpet or grass. Soft wheels work better on hard surfaces like concrete. Just like any other object with wheels, you cannot expect the wheels on  steel hand trucks to last a lifetime. Taking proper care with your tires can help to extend their use and, in the same vein, improper care can cause tires to wear out faster. Not only is it a good idea to adhere to the carrying capacity of the hand truck for safety reasons, but also it can help your tires to hold their air. Overloaded hand trucks cause tires to go flat quicker.

Convertible Hand trucks tires are most susceptible to damage during a move. When you are pushing a load ahead of you, it is sometimes not possible to see if there are any sharp objects in your path such as nails or pins. If you do manage to puncture a tire, you will have to know how to remove the tire and replace it. First, place the hand truck so that the wheels are up in the air. The shelf or tongue of the hand truck should form a triangle space with the ground. You will need a flathead screwdriver next and you will use it to pry the tire off of the rim. If you do not have a flathead screwdriver available, use something sturdy with a flat end so that you do not poke through the tire. The screwdriver creates the leverage you need to pry off the tire. You can get a screwdriver here.

Once you have managed to separate the tire from the rim, you will need another flathead screwdriver to drive into the gap you have created. Hold the gap open with one screwdriver and use the other to run along the rest of the wheel, all the way around, until the bead is off the rim. At this point it is necessary to determine whether the entire tire needs to be replaced or just the tube. Remove the tube off of the tire and carefully take the replacement and place it in the valley of the rim. Line up the valve and the hole in the rim so that later you will be able to fill up the tire. Now you will have to put the tire back onto the rim, using the screwdriver again as leverage. Do not puncture the tire with the screwdriver or pinch the tube. Once the tire is back on the rim, you are ready to fill the tire with air.