Off-road vehicle tire repair patch, kit, and method
View Patent ↗A patch kit and method for repairing a tear in a sidewall of an off-road vehicle tire includes an inside patch component, an outside patch component, and a compressing component for assembling, joining and compressing the inner and outer patch components together with the tire sidewall sandwiched therebetween. The compressing component is a threaded rod and a nut or bolt head to dispose on both ends. The inside and outside patch components are rigid or semi-rigid cupped shells with a hole for the threaded rod, so that the rod may pass through the patches and the tear for compression by tightening a nut. To facilitate tire repair without removing the tire from its rim, a recovery cable is temporarily connected to pull together repair components after they are separately pushed through the tear into the tire.
1. Method of field-repairing a tear in a sidewall of a pneumatic off-road vehicle tire, comprising the steps of:
providing an inside patch component adapted to be positioned on an inner surface of the sidewall, and having a hole therethrough;
providing an outside patch component adapted to be positioned on an outer surface of the sidewall, and having a hole therethrough;
providing a compressing component for assembling, joining and compressing the inner and outer patch components together with the tire sidewall sandwiched therebetween;
wherein the compressing component comprises a threaded rod having an inner end and an outer end;
providing a recovery cable component having an inner end and an outer end;
disposing an inner nut or bolt head on the inner end of the threaded rod;
stringing the inside patch component onto the recovery cable component;
connecting the inner end of the recovery cable component with the outer end of the threaded rod;
pushing the threaded rod with the nut or bolt head on its inner end through the tear in the sidewall of the tire;
pushing the inside patch component through the tear into the interior of the tire;
pulling the threaded rod through the inside patch component hole and out through the tear;
assembling the outside patch component and an outer nut or removable head on the threaded rod; and
compressing the assembled components by tightening the outer nut or removable head.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a first temporary connection element at the inner end of the recovery cable component and a second temporary connection element at the outer end of the threaded rod; and
temporarily connecting the recovery cable component with the threaded rod.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the first temporary connection element comprises an externally-threaded member; and
the second temporary connection element comprises an internally-threaded bore extending into the outer end of the threaded rod.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
an outer surface of the inside patch component comprises a recess for retaining a nut.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the inside patch component comprises a rigid or semi-rigid shell with an inner, sidewall-facing, concave, cupped surface; and
the outside patch component comprises a rigid or semi-rigid shell with an inner, sidewall-facing, concave, cupped surface.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
disposing a layer of rubber on the inner surface of the inside patch component; and
disposing a layer of rubber on the inner surface of the outside patch component.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the inside patch component comprises a shell of PVC; and
the outside patch component comprises a shell of PVC.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
extending an alignment feature from an inner surface of the inside patch component.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the inside patch component is longer than it is wide.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the inside patch component is elliptical, and has a major axis length that is approximately 1.3 to 1.5 times a minor axis width.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the inside patch component has a smaller cross-dimension than the outside patch component.
12. Method of field-repairing a tear in a sidewall of a pneumatic off-road vehicle tire, comprising the steps of:
providing an inside patch component adapted to be positioned on an inner surface of the sidewall, and having a hole therethrough;
providing an outside patch component adapted to be positioned on an outer surface of the sidewall, and having a hole therethrough;
providing a compressing component for assembling, joining and compressing the inner and outer patch components together with the tire sidewall sandwiched therebetween;
wherein the compressing component comprises a threaded rod having an inner end and an outer end;
providing a recovery cable component having an inner end and an outer end;
disposing an inner nut or bolt head on the inner end of the threaded rod;
stringing the inside patch component onto the recovery cable component;
temporarily connecting the inner end of the recovery cable component with the outer end of the threaded rod;
pushing the threaded rod with the nut or bolt head on its inner end through the tear in the sidewall of the tire;
pushing the inside patch component through the tear into the interior of the tire;
pulling the threaded rod through the inside patch component hole and out through the tear;
assembling the outside patch component and an outer nut or removable head on the threaded rod; and
compressing the assembled components by tightening the outer nut or removable head.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
stringing the outside patch component onto the recovery cable component.
14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
aligning the inside patch component with the tear in the sidewall of the tire.
15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
providing a nut shaped recess on an outer surface of the inside patch component for retaining the inner nut or bolt head.