Urethane bandsaw tire too LOOSE

[Dan Hahr]

Anyone ever have their urethane bandsaw tires get too stretchy? I was just redrawing some small stuff and it felt like it was slipping. I ran it with the cover open and there was a half inch of air between the tire and wheel. Any suggestions on shrinking the tires?

Thanks, Dan

[Dan Hahr]

Well, I was thinking I'd put them in some warm water to heat them up a bit and see if they'd shrink some when they cooled. Bad idea. It broke before I took it out of the water.

Guess I'm in the market for something better....

Dan

[lowell holmes]

My tires stretched on my 14" Jet. I had to replace them with new tires. The old story was to boil them in water to allow them to stretch. I nuked my new ones to heat them.

They have stayed in place several years now with no issues cropping up.

Make sure you get the same width tire that's on your saw now. I had to throw away tires that were too narrow for my saw.

[Rich Riddle]

I used urethane tires one time on a 14" band saw. They became loose soon after installation. Went back to rubber tires, gluing, and crowning. It's a much better setup. The rubber tires last for years.

[Dave Cullen]

I replaced the rubber tires on my 30 yr old saw with urethane about a year ago. No problems yet, but I'm gonna keep an eye on them after reading this. Maybe you just got a defective set... where'd you get them from?

[Judson Green]

I replaced the worn out and loose rubber ones on my Delta/Rockwell 14" (mid 70's) about a year ago with the orange urethane ones from grizzly. There's aren't quite the right size (little to narrow and not as thick) but with a easy modification (spacer under the tensioning rod) haven't given me any grief yet.

[Jim Finn]

I took off the tire, applied three layers of masking tape to the wheel and re-installed the tire. Tightened it up some.

[Gus Dundon]

How long do you have them on?
I have always thought there's no significant difference between urethane and rubber tires. I have used both
and no issues. Unfortunately, some had to glue down urethane tires.

[Mikail Khan]

From my experience urethane creeps and looses it's elasticity over time. I replace my tires on average every 12 to 18 months. When new, the tires for my 19" bandsaw were about 16" in diameter. The ambient temp where I live is about 32 deg C. Loose tires will eventually crack and cause the blade to slip off of the wheel. I have tried tires from different mfgrs. with similar results.

MK

[Dan Hahr]

Mine were about 9 years old. They were very stretchy compared to the new ones I bought. I went with the Blue Max ultra ones from eBay. They are warranted for life, but I wonder if they will be around 5 or 10 years from now. I'm about to mount them so I'll let you all know how they work.

Dan

[Mikail Khan]

I am using the blue tires from bandsaw tire warehouse now as now well. I have them on one saw about six months now. Hopefully I will get better performance.

MK

[Dan Hahr]

They went on nice and tight. It took some muscle though. They fit very well on my Delta 28-203, crowned aluminum 14" wheels.

Dan