Those of you that have expereince changing tires in the field, can you share your technique and tools?

Do you use the hi-lift to break the bead or does anyone use those race car bead braking tools?

Also what kind, how many "tire spoons" do you use? make your own or where'd you get 'em?

Thanks

I've used a hi-lift to break a bead before. I put the base on the side wall of the tire (tire laying flat on the ground - we also used a board to spread the load across more of the sidewall) and put the hi-lift under my bumper and started jacking away till the bead broke. It basically like trying to jack up your truck on the side of a tire instead of the ground...

We then used crowbars and dishwashing soap to gett the tire off the rim.... we got the new one on the same way... just used lots of soap, crowbars and elbow grease...

:usa:

seems like it would be a lot easier to have a spare tire already mounted on a wheel, i dont mean to sound like a smarta55

Originally posted by drunkmarine
seems like it would be a lot easier to have a spare tire already mounted on a wheel, i dont mean to sound like a smarta55

Exactly. why keep all that sh!t in your Jeep. As much room as it would take you could essentialy just keep a spare with ya... (this coming from a guy not carrying a spare, yet :D

Here's my Hi-Lift 101 page http://home.earthlink.net/~mattsara/Hi-Lift101/

I didn't have to change a tire, but if you do, tire spoons are nice to have. In a jam, a couple large screw drivers or a pry bars and a hammer will work.

http://home.earthlink.net/~mattsara/Hi-Lift101/hl8.jpg

Originally posted by drunkmarine
seems like it would be a lot easier to have a spare tire already mounted on a wheel, i dont mean to sound like a smarta55


On long trips, its good to repair your damaged tire after you make camp, so that you have another spare in case you damage another tire.
I usually carry an inner tube for the size tires Im running, so that if patches or plugs dont work, you can always insert a tube and have a second spare, they even air down fairly well. The hardest part is letting the air out of the tire as the tube expands inside,(a second air valve, on the rim, works well).
You really dont need to carry many extra tools to remove a tire. I use the high lift jack to break the bead, and a couple of tire irons to remove the tire, its not that tough after youve done it a few times. With beadlocks its really easy:D

Originally posted by drunkmarine
smarta55

were you trying to type smartass?:confused:

If you don't have tire spoons you can use a couple of really big screwdrivers or tire irons. It's a little tougher but sometimes you've got to use whatever you've got.

If you don't have a high lift, you can use a board and another truck and just drive on it to break the bead.

Pete

Originally posted by pcorssmit
If you don't have a high lift, you can use a board and another truck and just drive on it to break the bead.

Pete

LOL! I tried this once and got my dif stuck inside the wheel. :emb4: embarassing day. Not as bad as the time I pulled my bumper off in front of a huge crowd at the box, though. Damn this sport can be humbling.

Use a Hi-lift to bust the bead... I have a set of "Tire spoons" from a garage I worked at. I always carry a 3lb maul and a big rubber hammer... I even have drove over a tire to break the bead a few times. If you wanna make your own "spoons" take 2 pieces of 1 in. round stock heat up 1 end of it to a "glow" and hammer it flat and grind it in a round shape.....instant spoons....

The best spoons to use are the ones that you can buy at a motorcycle shop they are abouta foot and a half long, usually painted grey and some times have a puck welded on to the end to hammer on.
You can pick them up for under 15 bucks a piece.

I have found that 2 trucks driving on the tire at the same time will break the bead without the tire kicking back up.

Back off the truck. Flip tire and do it again. Allways start with the back of the rim.. (mounting well)

Make sure when it comes time to pull the tire off the rim that the back side bead is in the mounting well. Much easyier..

Hope that helps ya.

Thanks for all the great ideas - what about putting the tire back on....specifiaclly seating that inner bead - just elbow grease?

To the smartass.....carry a mounted spare...jeeeez really, that's a great idea!! As H8Monday alluded, this is POR, and we're a bit beyond that........I'm talking about a week long trek in the middle of nowhere after you've shredded both your mounted spares and buddy's is mounted on a rim with a different bolt pattern.

carry a mounted spare....sheesh - back to JU with you :flipoff2:

Like the motorcyle shop and home brew spoon ideas too...thanks for all the good info

Originally posted by BillaVista
Thanks for all the great ideas - what about putting the tire back on....specifiaclly seating that inner bead - just elbow grease?



quick start and a match. besides being fun it works great.

Originally posted by camo


quick start and a match. besides being fun it works great.

yeah so does putting the tire against a vehicle, putting on the air then pressing the rim towards the inner bead with your foot.

i vote for camos idea. but be carfull when you spray it in your tire it will eat away the pain ont eh rim if painted. i tried it on some lawn mower tires and where i sprayed the carb cleaner it stripped the paint off. spray a lil in there and then use the carb cleaner as a torch and boom instant bead. also remove the valve core so you dont blow up your tire.

Has anyone used Tireplyers ?
I've seen them in magazines but don't remember who sells them.

Afriend of mine, who drives a Defender, ripped 2 tires by getting to Spider Lake. Of course no one else's spares fit. In an attempt to get my spare off the wheel, useing the Hi-Lift method, we put a 6" rip in my spare. Point being - be careful. Maybe use a board or something to spread the load, as someone else said.

How much quick start do you spray? A 2 second rip in there and then stand back and flamethrower it?

Hi Lift to break the bead, and two motor cycle tire irons to dismount it from the rim. Use lots of lube to keep from damaging the bead.

As to why dismount a tire when you can carry a spare, the answer is simple,,,, Try running a trail longer than a few miles with a trailer at the end waiting for you...... One spare may get you through a short trail, and maybe not... but when the trail is 20, 30, 40, long...one way, and you drove 100 plus miles to get to the trail head you had better have the tools, plan, knowledge to fix your spare tire.

I keep plugs, patches, tube, and a large piece of 1/4 thick rubber for covering rips and tears in a tubed spare repair. And yes I've used all of the above to get myself or another home.
No doubt, wheel with others, use your spare, then sombody eles's if needed, but have a back up if that don't work out.

I have the tyrepliers kit and it works well. Don't be decieved it is still WORK. I got the bead breaking tool and 2 tire lever/spoons.
I haven't seen or tried the motorcycle levers but they sound about the same and cheaper.
I got mine from:
www.extremeoutback.com

as far as how much quick start to use, its kindof a "feeling" thing. It depends on the tire size and rim size. the bigger the tire the more you need, and the wider the tire the more you need. the way we do it, you pull on the rim to get a descent seat on the back bead, lay it down face up, push down on the front side of the tire to expose a little more of the rim, and give a 3-4 sec shot right onto the inner rim surface, and then a quick line out over the tire. Make sure the main shot goes on the inner side of the rim, you need the explosion to happen basically inside the tire body to work. You light the line you shot on the tire and it follows to the inside. (this keeps you a little farther away from the explosion, for safety.) if it works you will see the explosion :eek:, and then you will hear to loud funky pops. this is the beads seating. you need to get air on the tire right away, causeif you leave it the fire burning on the inside will create a vacuum and pull the beads right back off. if the air gets on it immediately it will just burn out itself in 2-3 seconds. we usually have 2 guys doing it, one with the fluid and matches and one with the air hose ready.

i recently had the pleasure of trying to mount q78's on some 7" wide wheels. well the Q's had been sitting for a while and you could barely get your finger between the 2 beads on the tire. we tried strarting fluid with no luck. brake clean worked very well however. use as much as it takes. and after the beads are set, air the tire back down and then back up to get most of the flammable stuff out. that way the next time you are airing down and smoking a ciggarette at the same time you dont turn into a ball of fire. a ratchet strap on the rim works well too if you cant get the bead to seat.

Hunter+