Support your local tire shop if possible. But if you want to do it yourself, always remove from the side with the narrow flange and hump (Usually the valve stem side). If you try to take it off the wrong side you will have a hell of a time. Keep the bead side opposite of where your working your spoons pushed into the deep part of the rim.
Same here. See new stuff all the time, but no good used stuff. Did find a bubble balancer on there one time, went to buy it, it was froze up and the bubble glass was broke. Decided the $75 he wanted for it would be better spent elsewhere, so I passed.
I know an old guy that build a tire chisel to use without a Hammer. Its a thick piece of metal shaped to a rim size, with a 3 feet long pipe on the end. And the other part is 3 feet pipe welded to a 3 feet solid rod, welded end to end. The one pipe slides over the other, and acts as the hammer. And it works on tires for cars, trailers, tractors, heavy machinery etc. And if you can do it with two two tire irons, hammer and chisel, you can do it on the road. But the one that @squirrel posted is damn fine, I got a 30 yrs old, works like a charm
some twenty years ago I ordered a bead breaker from jc Whitney for less than twenty bucks. self standing and works pretty good. with some tire irons I get most tires off of steel rims with no damage. real challenge is if tire is super stiff and old and/or aluminum rims.
Boy, that looks exactly like the one I got from Northern Tool for $100. The same shitty reddish-brown color. It looks like it would need the same modifications, too. I must be "snake-bit"; even when I try to buy cheap tools, I still pay way too much!
yup works very well for me, and if the tires have not been stuck on some old rusty rims for 20 years, you would be surprised how fast I can pull em and install em. I have pulled and reinstalled huge 16 inch non directional military bias ply tires, 10 ply side wall, very rigid. The other day installed Mickey Thompson racing slicks onto 15 inch Pontiac Lemans rims super easy. Lots of lube helps big time, as does warm tires as opposed to frozen tires....works great for me
Yes I agree with your statement on supporting local business, and did so for many years. A few years ago got sick of Local Good Year dealer, charging $30.00 CDN to pull tire, reinstall and babalnce, or do a tire repair, that changed my mind on this front. I do have a very small shop who does my balancing for $5 a wheel
My dad built this simple bead brake probably 40 years ago. It takes him about 5 min to unmount a tire. I'm sure he's done thousands on it. I stole it from him 20 years ago when I was running dirt track. Takes me about 15 min, less if it's a fresh mount.
when I had mine that was the problem and they would leave the place a mess too and sometimes leave me the old tires which I had no way to dispose of , finally I locked the air supply valve to it and charged 5 bucks for the key and told them to take the tires with . when I sold the machine every one was MAd . well abuse it you loose it . and most places around here charge $10 a dismount plus $2 disposal fee ( state law) as they use the fancy no touch machines
I used to bust and dismount remount semi and Heavy equipment tires , I still have my tools ( hammer , slapper , and 4 4' spoons ) even though when asked to do it I will tell you were the tools are and to return them , unless it was mine I do not do others anymore , the bead hammer is one of the best tools ever made , but I also have a 1/2 thick peice of steel thats 2x4' thats got a 24" radius cut in one end that I lay on the beads edge and drive my pick up on to to break the beads , only had one that wouldn't budge and it was because it had broken screws off in the rim ( dragslick )
It's kind of odd, but I have found that while my cheap tire machine works well for 15 and 16 wheels (basically all I run), I had a real problem with some 14's on our old Plymouth mini-van. I think it's because the "stretch-ratio" is a little tighter with the smaller tires. I have never done any, but I have heard that the smaller tires (trailers, wheel-barrows, etc.) can be real tough.
I remember chasing a front lawn tractor tire all over the garage one time. Learned a few new cuss-bo's too. You know the kind when you're spewing cuss words a such a rate that some new combinations are born? The next one I took to the local shop. New tire installed, $15, what the hell was I thinkin'.
OPp said he was salvaging the rim, so maybe the tires are too be scrapped. I've broken beads to dismount tires using a jack or running over the tire assembled on the rim. I think Bias plies may survive being folded over double OK, but i'm sure belted tires can be damaged, in invisible ways. My beefed up Northern Tool manual changer is 15 years old. I use it several time a year. That way I know which dummy stripped a big chunk of rubber off the tire bead by forcing things with too little lube. http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd72/boypilot/DSC00410.jpg
======== Was that a tire you had in service previous to the re-mount? Looks like the steel wires in the bead must have been broken. In 2 places! I bet that made a noticeable POP or SNAP when the tire machine or beast with long tire irons strained to stretch it over the rim.
On the 15 and 16 I prefer the tire machine. At least the 165-245 radials and the lower the profile the harder. But 135-155 13 and 145-165 i can slide on by Han and with out tools. Just grease and pull turn and vupti it's on.
I have done 13's on the HF unit ( astre tires) , what makes them difficult is trying to keep the bead in the low section of the tire to get it to walkover the rim edge there just stiff , I squirt the tire juice in there to help lube it up all over and they seem to walk off if you have someone push on the otherside while walking it off . lawn tractor tires helps to kneel on the deflated tire or bolt it to the floor to keep it still , I was so happy when I did my lawn tractor tires they came off and went on easy then I looked and found I put one side on backwards and had to dismount them ( yes they were directional otherwise I would have left it alone ) also glad I went tubeless too . lawn tractor or golfcart tubes are a pain !
I was visiting at the wrecking yard, so know nothing about the tire, and didn't take much notice when my buddy mounted it to the rim. I watched him mount whole thing on car, then stood about, after five minutes.... Boom! Lol.
I bought a Coats 20-20 machine last summer off craigslist, it paid for itself in two weekends, haven't used it since
Remember the man said low or no cost. I had a tire store swap a tire from one rim to anther because I had sold it to a guy needing one and it ended up costing me as much to have the tire swapped over as I had sold it for. I bought a HF tire changer on sale a while back but used one like this one in the school shop both as a student and as the teacher and used one in a Pontiac dealership in Waco TX to change tires including installing Vogue Bias tires in the mid 70's. This one happens to be on Craigslist in the PNW but is a tank of gas away from my house.
Bought a bubble balancer off craigslist last spring to go with my Coats changer, haven't used it yet. Might make more sense to sell them to free up space in the shop, but I rarely do anything just because it's logical.
I bought a bubble balancer when I got my el-cheapo machine, too. It seems to work pretty well, as I've had no problems with the tires I have done. The one instance I remember is when I put the new "Coker Classics" on my '51 Ford, the fronts (185-75/15) were close (no weights on one; 1/2 0z. on the other), while the backs (225-75/15)were just OK; (1 1/2 oz on one, 3 1/2 oz on the other). The car does run and drive fine. It's fine to support the local tire shop, but the one in our town closed a couple of years ago. I have found that being able to do all my own tire work in my shop is very convenient.
I can't believe some of you guys got this crappy waste of money to actually work. I bought one and promptly bent it. So like you, I welded reinforcements in all the weak places... Bent it in more places. Then the pry bar part broke off of the end of it. They must make them out of better steel now than the one I got. Its made of soft metal. What a waste of money. You get what you pay for and I bought scrap metal evidently. As far as tire shops, every one I checked with here wants 10 bucks each to just dismount one. That adds up quickly.
Hi Don, yes just welded some heated and curved angle iron to the bead breaker. I have been brutal rough on this sucker, there is some wear on the drilled holes on the bead breaker brackets, but that's it. Northern Tool sells a much better similar looking unit. For me, will just weld and reinforce when necessary, and so far it hasn't been. I shoulda made some videos of the very stubborn tires I have removed and remounted....