Tyre Changing

[simonr]

I have a new, shiny set of Fedima Bogger pattern tyres from Lawrence at 28x4 to go on beadlock rims - but was having trouble getting someone to fit them.

Despite it being the hottest day of the year so far - I thought it would be interesting to have a go at fitting them myself, but without any equipment other than a sledge hammer, crow-bar and butane for the exciting bit .

I knew the theory - but have never seen it done. I managed to break the bead by belting the old tyre with the sledge hammer. It took about half an hour of hitting it before it worked - then only five minutes for the other bead.

I found that pressing one foot on the bead and hitting it as close to your toes as you dare was the most effective. After a couple of near misses - I fabricated a loop of steel bar as a toe-tector!

Once the beads were broken, inserting the crow bar and levering the tyre over the rim, then hitting it sideways with the sledge hammer proved effective. Much easier once I thought of spraying it with soapy water.

Getting the new tyre on was by putting it on as far as it would go, then standing with one foot on either side of the last bit and belting it with the hammer. Bit by bit it went on.

I put on the bead-lock ring having sanded the ripples off the inside of the tyre. I also added some silicone sealant to make sure.

Turn the tyre over then spray liquid butane into the tyre. After a few failed attempts I found that 3 seconds of spray then count to 20 for it to vapourise. I lit it with a blow lamp to direct the flame into the interior. It was actually very un-exciting - just a woosh then pop as the bead engaged.

It only took four hours to change one tyre! I think for the next three I'll try a bit harder to find someone with a tyre changing machine to do the hard bit and I'll just do the dangerous bit!

If I ever need to do it in an emergency - I'll go for the butane option without a second thought. Must remember to add a can to my toolkit!

Bolted to the truck - the tyre looks great!

Si

[landroversforever]

Excellent .

How big have you gone with your rubber?

[zim]

Simon,

We've broken beads by using a high lift jack. We welded a piece of flatbar perpindicular to a plate, then bolted it to the bottom of the jack.

Failing that, driving a forklift onto it works as well

And for refitting, we've welded a LR hub to an rsj which is concreted into the ground. Bolt the rim to this and then swing around with a tyre bar.

G

P.S. where are the pics

[simonr]

The tyres are about 36" at 5 psi.

Didn't take any piccies as I figure we've all seen tyres off and on rims! Swinging a sledge hammer while taking a photo adds a whole new world of danger into the process too.

When it's light I'll take a piccy of the wheel fitted - while it's still shiny.

Si

[ThreeSheds]

These Tyrepliers are VERY effective...

I once changed some 35" (I think) Simex for a friend and TBH, the bead braking was the easiest part (using the above device)...

However - evenly doing up 36 little bolts per rim - THAT was a RRPITA..

Roger

[landrover598]

Si, you need to make yourself a manual tyre machine, very simple to make, and even esier to use, mine in action

And use the hi lift trick for breaking the bead, or even as i do, use the press in the garage, with a special home made attachment.

[mmgemini]

I have one of these.

http://www.beadbreaker.co.uk/

Not had to use it YET

[Dave W]

A ratchet strap around the centre of the tyre is a more predictable method of seating the bead, although not as much fun obviously

[zim]

Dave - i'm sure i remember you saying you have a set of tyre pliers that you've found nice n easy to break beads with (apart from p38's iirc, i've had the same problem with my p38 alloys!).

G

[zim]

I have one of these.

http://www.beadbreaker.co.uk/

Not had to use it YET

that is 99.9% the same as what we've made as mentioned in the first post

[simonr]

A ratchet strap around the centre of the tyre is a more predictable method of seating the bead, although not as much fun obviously

This doesn't work so well with beadlocks (I tried this first - edited out due to lack of success!). The beadlock moves the other side of the tyre too far away from the opposite bead and no matter how much air I put in it just didn't want to know.

The Butane however was instant and worked so well that I think you could use it if the tyre came off the bead in a muddy hole without even taking the wheel off.

I considered making one of the 'Cheetah' bead putting on things - but I had a ready made can of butane in the workshop.

On one of JST's events I had a tyre come off and it took two of us to lift it there was so much mud clagged in to the tread. I wish I knew about this then.

I weighed one of the Fedima tyres - and it came to 39kg compared to 20kg for the MT's that were on it before. That's going to make the truck 1060kg - a little over target, but probably worth it.

Thanks for all the 'tool-tips'. I was thinking last night about how one could make a tyre changing device.

What I came up with was like a pair of scissors with a bottle jack to close a pair of jaws which will break the bead. One jaw hooks through the centre of the wheel so it only applies the pressure to one side of the tyre at a time. Then to get the tyre off the rim you remove the bottle jack and lower jaw (to make it lighter. The top jaw stays hooked through the wheel centre and has a small wheel which can be turned with a socket wrench. It also has a fabricated 'heel' like on a real tyre changing machine which you hook the bead over. Then use a socket wrench to turn the wheel which drives the heel round the rim.

From my white board:

Possibly a bit over-complicated - but it would be portable. Not that I need a portable tyre changing machine really!

[Dave W]

The ratchet strap technique works on my beadlocks although it can take a couple of attempts. The design of the wheel inner can make a big difference though. I also find a small 1 inch strap works better than my trailer tie down straps.

I'll give the butane thing a go myself next time, it's another option in the field then.

For general tyre bead breaking/levers etc... I use a Tyreplier kit and I always have it with me on events so I can carry out repairs as needed. That combined with a sticky string kit means you can keep going pretty much whatever happens to your tyres. We've even managed to seal a tyre with a 2 inch gash on the sidewall with sticky string... it did take quite a lot of string though

[Dave W]

Dave - i'm sure i remember you saying you have a set of tyre pliers that you've found nice n easy to break beads with (apart from p38's iirc, i've had the same problem with my p38 alloys!).

G

Yep, P38 alloys are a none starter, I bought a set of slight used MTs on P38 alloys (the alloys were to be returned). I spent a few hours trying to break the bead with the tyrepliers and eventually gave up and took them to a mates garage and used his tyre changing machine. In fairness to the tyrepliers, the commercial tyre changing machine really struggled with them. The bead breaker took about 10 attempts per tyre per side to break the bead and then the rotating/lifting part that's supposed to pull the tyre off the rim kept stalling with the effort, even with as much lube as we could slop on and us "assisting" with tyre levers ! It took three of us and the commercial tyre machine to get them off in the end.

Those P38 alloys may claim to be 16" but I reckon they are closer to 17" and the well in them is only a few mm deep, I have strict instructions that if I ever have to do that job again I need to take them to KwikFit and let them break their machines trying to remove them

[simonr]

Dave - using a thinner ratchet strap probably would have helped. I was doubtful they would hold the tension though - the ones I have look a bit weedy compared to the 'proper' ones.

I have seen this done on a Simex (on the Belgium National)- but it took two people to lift the tyre a bit and hold it central plus my on-board air at 10cfm to engage.

The tyre-pliers look a clever solution. The video on their web site looks a bit post apocalyptic 'Mad Max' to me!

Si

[jbs]

Simon, you could always use a highlift jack to break the bead on a tyre as in using the bumper of a landrover and jacking down onto the tyre rubber -I've done this a few times now and works wonderfully

John

[Dave W]

They're a fair way from Broken Hill (Mad Max II was filmed around there) but you could be right

The Mad Max II car is still running BTW, the owner of the Silverton Hotel where the filming was based bought it after the filming was done. It's a bitch to start - it runs on LPG, sounds sweet though. You can see it in the pics on the front page of their web site along with a list of the other films based there.

http://www.silverton.org.au/hotel.htm

[Boothy]

Simon, yesterday the hottest day of the year so far I to decided to start changing my worn out old Simex's complete with Staun beadlocks.

I've have had the replacements tyres for weeks now, and luckily a mate called and ended up assisting, we only did the one due to the heat, 2 x tyre lever and one standard highlift "beadbreaker", it took about 90 minutes, anyone who's ever fitted a Staun will know why, and yes I've watched the video.

But the big question was "why today when it's hotter than hell" to which I have no answer, oh well 3 to go.

See you soon.

[Anderzander]

that is 99.9% the same as what we've made as mentioned in the first post

Except they want £37 for it on that web site

[pinny]

i got so peed off trying to seat the beads and being scared to use the butane idea i bought a cheetah beadseater ok a lot of money but its the best thing ive bought for a long time also made a bead breaker from some 2x2 box section and a bottle jack saves a lot of hammering swearing,chris.

[Dave W]

anyone who's ever fitted a Staun will know why, and yes I've watched the video.

That and snapping one of the valves off against a rock is precisely why I now have "mechanical" bead locks They do make seating the bead really easy though... when you do finally manage to persuade the bloody things to go in properly !

[Boothy]

Dave,

When Saley has finally finished building his new motor one of the jobs is to double beadlock my Mach5's but until then it's Stauns I'm afraid, thats the other reason its taken so long to fit them, but I have got valve protectors welded on to try and lessen damage.

[LR90]

I knew the theory - but have never seen it done. I managed to break the bead by belting the old tyre with the sledge hammer. It took about half an hour of hitting it before it worked - then only five minutes for the other bead.

I found that pressing one foot on the bead and hitting it as close to your toes as you dare was the most effective. After a couple of near misses - I fabricated a loop of steel bar as a toe-tector!

This is sort of how I was taught with car and tractor tyres. Difference being a tyre iron would be used to break the bead, inserted (hammered) under the bead with the far end of the tyre iron resting on a wooden block (similar height to rim width to keep the iron level) then your foot could be mid way along and well clear of the point near the rim where the sledge was supposed to make impact.

[nicks90]

This is sort of how I was taught with car and tractor tyres. Difference being a tyre iron would be used to break the bead, inserted (hammered) under the bead with the far end of the tyre iron resting on a wooden block (similar height to rim width to keep the iron level) then your foot could be mid way along and well clear of the point near the rim where the sledge was supposed to make impact.

last time i took some tyres off rims i just put them on the ground and drove over one side of them with the 90 worked a treat.

Lined them all up and drive straight over, then reverse back over them on the other side of the wheel to pop the other side.

Didnt work on disco steelies though, that took the high lift method and working round the whole tyre. They were a complete pain, but i dont think they were as bad as Daves tale of the P38 alloys.

[mickeyw]

Tools review:

Tyrepliers - had them for years, fantastic tool, compact and light weight enough to live in the truck.

'Beadbreaker' as linked to above - I bought one thinking what a good idea it was. I hate it. Every time I though the bead was about to go, it would slip out of position. It involves getting the Hi-lift out, which is a heavy tool on its own, not good news on a hot day For sale if anyone wants it

As for removing the tyres I knocked up a tyre changing device, similar to that on David Lang's video clip. Mine fixes the tow hitch on my Ninety, so can be used anywhere, no bolting to the floor required and doesn't weigh a lot. Combined with a decent length tyre iron and some soapy water it is very easy to use

[Soren Frimodt]

I once got the best tip on how to seat the beads. You simply buy a 16" or 15" or whatever, tubes for a dirtbike. Put it over the rim, onto the bead on the outside of the tyre. Air it up so that that it presses slightly on both the rim bead and the outer tyre bead. Air up the tyre and remove the small tube before filling the desired pressure into the tyre.