used inner tube storage

Hello is there any good way to store used inner tubes, I just replaced a tire on my versatile 800 24.5 x32 with a used one off a combine so I now have a extra tube , my neighbor says I can fold it up and store it in a dark place , basement , my experience when you fold them they crack . Thanks Bryan

If you fold them up and leave them for 20 years, or if they started out 20 years old and sit there for a year or two, they'll crack. It's a function of time/age, not the folding. You could lay the tube out flat and it might not form cracks sitting there but it will crack as soon as you put air in it.

The key is using the tube before it rots.

This post was edited by BarnyardEngineering on 05/11/2023 at 04:52 am.

Only way I've found is to blow them up some.

Wife talked me into storing my used items in this container. I need to make it more thief proof. Someone keeps stealing everything I put in it.

John's container is the only place for used tubes, and many other "used" items as well.

I have several used tractor tubes that I store partially inflated on a 2x4 between rafters in my shed. The smaller tubes I have a PVC pole in my basement that they are stored on. As you had indicated if they are folded they will crack within a year or two. For me the key for them to remain usable is to be partially inflated. Steve.

If I per say, had a used tube that looked good, appears to of not been patched, and even holds air, but it's unknown how old it is, I wouldn't be using it again. Maybe for some other use, but not to go back into a tire again.

It's the age thing that would concern me.

Now grant it, you might of done the dis-mounting and mounting yourself and maybe will next time, but if you had a tire shop do that, the cost of doing so far exceeds the price of a new tube. On something such as a rear tractor tire anyways. It makes more sense to put in a new tube while you are there, than taking an unknown chance on a used tube that you really don't know how old it is.

If there is one place that you really shouldn't skimp by using an old used one, it would be this as far as I'm concerned. For me, and perhaps you also, it doesn't make much sense to try to use a used tube that may or may not be OK. If not OK, you won't really know until you put it to use after mounting the tire. And if its not OK then, it's gonna cost way more than the price of a new tube to fix. If not doing 'all' the work yourself that is. Even if doing all the tire work myself, I don't enjoy that kind of work that much.

Even my tire shop guys, don't advise using used tubes. Not even on my own work that they are not even doing. Maybe your tire shop guy has a different opinion.

Partilay inflated to full roundness but not stretched. And some older tubes will last way longer than new ones. I would not be afraid of an older tube stored properly inflated but some of the newer ones are bad when you buy them so new is as big a gamble as a used tube.

Total darkness must be the secret. Many times I have removed a tube from a 70-year- old tire and it looks like brand new. According to one Caterpillar owners manual, tires and tubes should be stored away from light switches and electric motors, which produce ozone, causing rubber to deteriorate.

slice old tubes in inch wide strips 2 ft long .find forked branch wrap ends of tube on forks, get cardboard set up use majic marker draw bullsete .bust them old ball bearings up use balls in strip aim fire.they dont last long