Schmidt Consulting

Tire Swing

    

 

Tom Schmidt

8/16/2019

 

tom@tschmidt.com

http://www.tschmidt.com/

 

Growing up we had a rather unusual tire swing. It was not just a rope tied to an old tire. A portion of the tread is cut away and the tire turned inside out forming a bucket seat. 

 


 

Old Timey Tire Swing

Growing up one of my memories visiting my grandparents’ house was swinging in a tire swing. This was no ordinary swing with a rope hanging an old tire. I don’t remember who in the family made it but it was a pleasant part of my childhood and I wanted to make one for our granddaughter.

Once I found a suitable tire cut away about two thirds of the tread and sidewall leaving the bead. I used a saber saw to cut the tire. To stiffen the tire while I was cutting stuffed some scrap lumber into the carcass. Then the tire was turned inside out forming a comfortable bucket seat.

Finding a Suitable Tire

This is the hardest part of the project. Since a portion of the tread needs to be cut away the tire cannot be steel belted. Finding old bias ply polyester tires is a challenge. I checked our local tire shop but no luck. Next I checked our town dump. They let me rummage through old tires. I found one I could use. The sidewall was in pretty rough shape but since it didn’t need to hold air that is not a problem.

In researching this project other possible sources of old tires are tire shops that serve agriculture. Another option is a local junk yard but in that case you will probably have to pay a little for the tire.

Installing the Swing

After I cut up the tire up gave it a good washing. I used ¼” welded chain I picked up from Harbor Freight and heavy duty swing hangers from eBay. The hangers came with chain hangers and lag bolts. The lags did not appear to be galvanized so picked up some galvanized lags at our local hardware store. I picked some quick links at Harbor Freight so I could loop the chain around the tire bead. This makes it easy to adjust the height of the swing. 

 

Once the swing is installed drilled a few holes in the bottom to allow rain to drain out.

Swing in Action

So far it appears to be a hit. This was a fun project and a flashback to my childhood.