I had a big truck tire that I tried and tried to get the bead to seat. The problem was that the wheel was a 10" rim and the bead of the tire was at least 1 1/2" away from the top of the bead on the rim if you lifted the rim tight on the bottom side. I tried everything until..... in the back of my head i remember seeing someone spray some aerosol hair spray in the tire and then strike a match. Poof and it looked like it worked. It sounds scary but after taking every safety precaution I tried this trick but with a different flair to it. Now remember this was with a 35" truck tire and it was way far from the bead. So I sprayed just a small amount of starting fluid into the gap between the rim and the tire, took my trigger ignited propane torch and put it right next to the bead. A little nervous I clicked the propane igniter and all of a sudden even without a sound like a pop, the tire was on the bead with about 20 lbs of air in it. Now I was thinking "what if the tire is on fire on the inside"? So I took the valve out and let all the air back out and the tire was still mounted on the bead. I filled the tire with 40 lbs of air and moved it outside for the night. Just in case!!! Anyway, it worked incredible and my big ass truck tire is back on the bead and no air leaks!! I wish I had a video of it as it was so non eventful. Not even a poof!! I really didn't even know that the tire had seated it was so quiet . Just another weird thing that sounds scary but worked incredible! Here's a link that show doing it with a small ATV tire. Same concept but he kept the valve out which I didn't. I took it out after just to make sure there were no gaseous fumes left in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_ndpuhDqMg
Yes...........it works for us too. Last fall the fellows in my shop offered to mount my two 2.55R 15's on a pair of freshly metalflaked 10" wide steel rims. I was destroying the soft paint and they would not mount. Larry, my right hand man says "Jim, stand back, watch me do this." He breaks out a can of highly flammable starter fluid and a propane torch lit up big. I'm scared for all of us getting barbecued and head in the other direction. I hear a hiss, a whoomp, pop, then laughter and clapping from him and the guys. Larry repeats the drill on the second one. No problem and Larry is the hero of the day.
You mean there's another way to mount big ass tires? (note sarcasm) There's actually a tool called "tire cheetah"...it's just a 5 gallon air tank with a 2" ball valve, a pipe with a flattened tip. You just air up to 100-120psi stick it near the bead and dump the valve... You'll see these used in big truck tire shops or probably any tire store that does large tires. And yes they work good too but loud as hell...
I've had to change out several 36" to 44" tires when I go rock crawling. Not once have we had to use aerosol. We just use a truck, tire tools and dawns dish washing soap.
Do that to a Super Single on a concrete mixer in an empty garage! Watch how everyone's ears start bleeding. Oh ya, and explain it to the cops when they show up!!!-MIKE
Or use a tie-down strap cinched around the tread to flair out the bead.......... Boring, But it works..................
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBUVzgCHHuA i wouldn't do it---the lighter fluid "trick." i know the video discusses inflated tires, but still....... There is something that you may be familiar with and that's a tire donut. i think this is a better way to inflate tires that are not tight with the rim flanges. i'll try to find i link, but i'm too sleepy right now.
Back in the 60s we used a inflatable ring that went around the center of the tread,air it up,then add air to the tire and release pressure on the ring as the tire inflates.Worked good but have used the starting fluid method too.
The band around the tread isn't a donut. That's a tube-like thingie that you put around one side of the rim so the tire snugs up against it and holds the air in, as the tire inflates it pushes the donut off the rim and presto, the tire is seated. I watched the tire guys put a tire on a big ol' earthmover in cold weather one time. The tire was six feet high on a 3 foot rim. They used two full cans of ether before it went on. It did get a little lonely around the tire when the guy went for the Bernzomatic! There's no problem with the tire still burning inside afterwards, no oxygen left in there after all the noise is over. I agree the blast tank is a much more user-friendly way of doing the job.
Ok C-10. You've gotten my undivided attention, because I can't recall how many times I've grabbed the torch and burned off a rounded lug nut or heated a rusted stuck center hole on a tractor. But I'll never do it again ! What exactly is happening here ? Is heat from the metal rim causing that much heat and pressure inside the tire ? Perhaps a new thread might be in order. Tom S. in Tn.
Never got into the really big stuff much but I've had good luck wiping ATF on the bead for car and LT tires. Usually within closer reach than dishwashing soap and seems to seal any later air weeps around the bead better as well. Ed
If you're looking for a "doughnut" I bought one from Lefthanders Chassis a year or two ago. My current catalog lists them for $45.99 part #177-31446. They also have the inflatable band that squeezes the center of the tread. They were called a "belly band" in the circles that I traveled in they are #177-31432 priced at $226.99.
It looks like they welded on the rim, not the center section, because he's talking about the tire undergoing a chemical reaction.
I tried that and there wasnt a physical way to tighten the tire far enough to stretch it tight to the bead.
This all depends on the stiffness of the sidewall and how far away the bead is from the tire. Typically 4x4ing rims are narrow with the tire being wider to protect the rim edge. If the rim was wide, one rock and you'd toast your rim. So this is why you could do this.
using ether is very common in the farming community. I have tried wrapping log chains around big tractor rear tires, then ratcheting them tight to push the bead toward the rim, have used not one, but two of the Cheetah's, but when all else fails, ether does the trick. would you believe we often used THREE cans in a large tire? Makes a heckofa boom.
I've used brake kleen on semi trailer tires about 500 times. we put the valve core in after. quick spray in the tire, quick trail sprayed back a couple feet and light the fuse. I only remember once that it popped clear off the rim and had to start over. But air brake pods were always taken apart in the cage. Brave, not stupid.
Hell ive used a cup of gas, just pour some in and spin the tire, then light. But be ready to put the fire out. Worked good on my dune buggy cause there was sand everywhere and i had four flats.
i had to laugh at this because of old memories when my uncle has a service station and used to let me light the tires off and i really though i was "king shit" after that tire jumped into place. found out years later he would do this just because of my reaction, i felt like he was magic just seeing some of the things he could do. nothing simpler to do than impress a city kid out on the farm.
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