lawn equipment tires

Not a question, but it's that time of year when we start thinking more about our outdoor equipment, so just sharing one of those special projects. One of the tires on my Ariens rear tine tiller went flat over the winter, not the first time it's happened, so decided to put a tube in it. It's of course chick season, so after dinner last night I took the wife to TSC so she could look at the chicks while I got an inner tube. Got the tire broke loose from the rim, popped one side off, got the tube in there, man that was a tight fit, and figured I'd give one shot at getting the tire back on the rim. Nope, that 45 or so year old tire did not want to flex much, and it was getting close to 8:30, so called it a day. So a couple of things I've learned over the years. First off, I carried the tire and rim up to the house, which is at least 30-40 degrees warmer than the shop right now. In warmer weather, I've also set them outside in the sun for a day, but it's not that warm and sunny here yet. Secondly, I'll rig up a mount, maybe something as simple as a bolt the same size as the axle in a vise, to hold the wheel steady. And, of course, lube works sometimes. You can buy regular tire lube at an auto parts store, or, if it's not too bad of a fight sometimes liquid soap does the trick. Not sure how much lube is going to help in this case though since the rubber is so aged to start with. But you don't want to get too carried away with lube if you're going the route of a tube like I am because you don't want the tube sliding around to the point that the stem is no longer in or within easy reach of the hole in the rim.