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Golf Cart Tires: A Step-by-Step Guide to Tire Replacement
If you own your own golf cart you are probably well aware of all the maintenance it requires, including washing, charging and adding water to the batteries. You will also have to change your golf cart tires occasionally, and learning how to complete this task yourself can wind up saving you hundreds, even thousands of dollars over the life of your golf cart. To help you with this, in the following article we will provide a step-by-step guide to golf cart tire replacement, including the tools and materials you will need to successfully complete the job.
Golf Cart Tire Replacement: What You Will Need
Before you perform any golf cart tires replacement, you will first need to assemble a few tools and supplies for the job. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Hydraulic or manual floor jack
- Socket wrench and sockets
- Valve stem tool (these can be purchases at almost any tire shop)
- 2 Tire Irons
- Soapy Water
- Rag
- Electric tire pump (if you do not have this, you can take the tire to be filled with air once it has been replaced)
Golf Cart Tire Replacement: A Step-By-Step Guide
The following steps should be taken when replacing tubeless golf cart tires (most golf cart tires are now tubeless):
• Step One. Using the socket wrench and the proper size socket, slightly loosen each of the lug nuts, but do not remove any of them yet.
• Step Two. Carefully slide the floor jack under the chassis of the golf cart, situating the lift portion of the jack directly under a strong and flat portion of the chassis. Now, slowly raise the golf cart until the tire to be replaced is completely off the ground.
• Step Three. Remove each of the lug nuts with the socket wrench and set them aside, and remove the tire from the protruding lug stems. With the tire off, remove the valve stem, following the directions that came with the tire stem tool you purchased.
• Step Four. Find a hard flat surface to set the tire on its side, preferably the pavement. With the tire on its side, push the tire forcefully towards the rim until you break the seal (also called the bead).
• Step Five. This next part is the trickiest. Grab both of the tire irons you’ve laid out, and with the first tire iron, use it as a lever to create a gap between the tire and the rim. Once you’ve done this, use the second tire iron to pry the tire completely off the rim. This step will have to be completed twice to completely remove the tire from the rim.
• Step Six. With the tire off, clean the rim thoroughly with the rag and soapy water, leaving a little of the soapy solution on the rim. This will help ease the new tire onto the rim.
• Step Seven. With the two tire irons, repeat (reverse) the process outlined in step 5 to put the new tire on the rim.
• Step Eight. Replace the valve stem securely. Inflate the tire with the electric pump to the recommended pounds per square inch (PSI). This should be noted on the tire.
• Step Nine. Place the tire on the lug nut stems and fasten the tire securely with the lug nuts. Lower the golf cart to the ground and remove the floor jack.
This may seem like a lot of work, but once you become accustomed to replacing golf cart tires, the entire process seldom takes longer than 60 minutes.