I wonder if an air chisel would be good to break the bead loose from the rim if you make sure to not gouge up the rim with the air chisel? If the rubber is as hard as you say it is, I wonder if the rubber will just shatter and crack up. If it doesn't just shatter, maybe the rubber under the surface isn't as hard as you think it is, and only the skin of it is all dried up.
Bias tires cut way easier than radials. I have a $5 garage sale skilsaw just for cutting up old tires, it's awful hard on the saw but according to the garbage man's rules, half a tire is not a tire. If you can gain access to the inside of the tire, might be suprised how easy it cuts with a utility knife
I used to change truck tires as a part time job.We used gasoline to loosen up weathered tires stuck to the rim.And yes,it's dangerous.............I have used a Sawzall,and it seemed to work well on really hard tires.Once the m*** of the tire was out of the way,a torch used carefully and quickly can cut through the wires in the bead no problem.Have water handy to put out the small fire .Or a chisel.And as always,gloves and safety gl***es.
Thanks for the ideas, going to try a few. Many would work for hard tires on wider rims, but remember these are 1930s artillerys,,, in other words only 3.5-4" wide with a rock hard tire. Let me explain the rock hard part. The desert sun might not rust, but if you have never seen a 50+ year old tire thats been burning in 120+ degree temps at times, then you really have no idea what I mean. There is NO give. If I take my bead breaker thing and set it on the sidewall and put a 10 foot breaker bar on it, I just dangle like an idiot, and thats on the sidewall, not even trying to break the bead. I'm going to try the "atf" type ideas and see if I can soften it up some. I'll soak everything for days. I've had these for 5 years and dont even need them for a few months, so time isnt a worry. I want to thank all of you for your ideas.
I used a sabre saw and cut the tire off all around close to the bead (but not cutting the rim) and then used a die grinder to carefully grind thru the bead so I could slowly pull it off as I warmed it with a propane torch. BE CARE FULL NOT TO CATCH THE TIRE ON FIRE.
OK here's another crazy thought, got a friend with a deep freeze walk in freezer?? 0 deg for a day or so should turn the rubber into brittle pieces. Be careful and hit it with a masonry hammer ( 3 or 4 lb)
What he said. When I was in Iraq we had an ammo trailer that had a flat. We got a tire sent out to us so we had to figure out a way to dismount and mount it. The procedure stated above seemed to work best out of the 1,000,000,000 things we tried prior to that.
I've cut them off with a skill saw and a hammer/chisel before. The beads were stuck and rusted on so bad, the mechanic's bead breaker couldn't do it. Ratty55
umm that sounds great but it gets colder than that for months here and we drive on them and they dont break
As hard as that rubber sounds, the last thing you wanna do is soften it up and soak it with ATF. I have worked around tires in some weird jobs, and cut and drilled alot of em, both brand new and decades old. The harder and more rigid they are the easier they cut. Sometimes once you punch in, they'll cut with tinsnips. Angle grinders with cutoff wheels are also quite effective. You will also be wrestling this tire like an alligator. Do you want to wrestle an oiled alligator? If not, keep the atf away from the tire. If you just skip directly to strategizing how they're gonna be removed destructively, it'll save a bunch of h***le. Take it from somebody that's been there. good luck
Up here in Wisconsin since a lot of us burn wood for heat, we use a hydraulic log splitter to break the beads. The one I use has 30 ton of force.
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