Cheap and efficient home tire bead breaker

[JDgreen]

Rubber valve stem on my '04 Buick was leaking air, rather that drive 15 miles round trip and pay for gas and labor to install a $1 valve stem, I decided to do it myself.

First, mark the tire/rim so no rebalancing is necessary if you rotate the tire on the rim. Second, park your vehicle with a receiver hitch on a hard surface. I used an old hitch bar, a 2 foot long section of 2X4, and a 6 ton bottle jack to pop the bead loose as illustrated.

WARNING: Be sure the jack WILL NOT CONTACT THE RIM AT ANY TIME. Standing on the 2X4 while pumping the jack also adds more pressure to loosen the bead. Since this method only loosens one tire bead, after replacing the valve stem, I was easily able to reseat the bead using only a small electric air pump.

WARNING: DO NOT put fingers, toes, or other body parts near the rim while reinflating the tire and DO NOT EXCEED 40 PSI.

It's a simple as that. My cost: Half hour and a $1 valve stem. Their cost: $10 labor, $3 valve stem, plus your time and gas to go someplace to have it done.

 

[bakerg]

My dad use to break beads by running the front tire on the tractor over the tire.

 

[JDgreen]

My dad use to break beads by running the front tire on the tractor over the tire.

I have read a number of ways to accomplish the bead breaking, among them is swinging a sledgehammer at the tire sidewall (and hope you don't damage the rim in the process) plus the method you outline, running a tire over the sidewall...I don't think that would work very well on a newer radial ply tire. And how do you even get the tractor front tire ON the sidewall in the first place??? If I tried that with my JD, it would simply push the tire aside instead of climbing on the sidewall. Another method would be to use a 4X4 post atop the sidewall and try driving up that like it was a ramp. I get the idea it would break the post before it popped the bead loose. Anybody care to comment?

Bakerg, not to be critical but I am sure the majority of the tires your dad loosened by driving on them were probably tube-type which are quite easy to remove from the bead compared to tubeless type.

 

[RobertBrown]

I Anybody care to comment?

I used the FEL to break the bead and remove the front tire off the rim of my F-150. Worked great.
Don't you have an FEL on your tractor JD?
The hard part is getting it to reseat and have marks line up perfectly. I use the starter fluid method. Don't like too, and it makes me very nervous, but I don't own the right tools for tire replacement.

 

[bakerg]

I have read a number of ways to accomplish the bead breaking, among them is swinging a sledgehammer at the tire sidewall (and hope you don't damage the rim in the process) plus the method you outline, running a tire over the sidewall...I don't think that would work very well on a newer radial ply tire. And how do you even get the tractor front tire ON the sidewall in the first place??? If I tried that with my JD, it would simply push the tire aside instead of climbing on the sidewall. Another method would be to use a 4X4 post atop the sidewall and try driving up that like it was a ramp. I get the idea it would break the post before it popped the bead loose. Anybody care to comment?

Bakerg, not to be critical but I am sure the majority of the tires your dad loosened by driving on them were probably tube-type which are quite easy to remove from the bead compared to tubeless type.

You are probably right about the tubes, use to change tires on wagons that way. The front tire on the tractor was high enough as the tractor rolled up on the tire without it moving away.:biggrin:

 

[JDgreen]

I used the FEL to break the bead and remove the front tire off the rim of my F-150. Worked great.
Don't you have an FEL on your tractor JD?
The hard part is getting it to reseat and have marks line up perfectly. I use the starter fluid method. Don't like too, and it makes me very nervous, but I don't own the right tools for tire replacement.

Yes, I have an FEL, but don't like the idea of possibly bending a ($300 new, $150 used) chrome plated aluminum rim. Have read about the starter fluid reseating method, but a better way is to use a ratchet strap tiedown (one inch size) looped around the tire and compressing the tread enough with the strap to get the beads seated.

 

[Bison]

I fix or change all my own tires from big tractor rears to lawn tractor tires.
I made a slide hammer from a piece of 1" rod 5' long and a 4' piece of tubing .
Just 2 or 3 wacks usually unseats a car or truck tire no pain no strain and no worry for busting the rim.

 

[noma]

Hi JD Green

I like that one you had some good ingenuity there with that one i will have to try that one next time i need a tire change. I think what bakerg was talking about with the tractor front tire is one of the older farm tractors that went out in the farm field they where heavier tractor, not a lawn mower tractor.:smile:

 

[JDgreen]

Can anyone here tell me if this method would ease bead breaking....

Even with the valve core removed on a tire/wheel combo, pressure inside the tire is still equal to the pressure outside. Suppose you used a vacuum pump attached to the valve stem to remove what air was left in the tire, if you had a powerful enough pump would it gradually suck at least one of the tire beads off the rim? Or at least make it possible to push one off by just standing on the tire sidewall?

Stupid question maybe, but I wonder....

 

[LandN]

Can anyone here tell me if this method would ease bead breaking....

Even with the valve core removed on a tire/wheel combo, pressure inside the tire is still equal to the pressure outside. Suppose you used a vacuum pump attached to the valve stem to remove what air was left in the tire, if you had a powerful enough pump would it gradually suck at least one of the tire beads off the rim? Or at least make it possible to push one off by just standing on the tire sidewall?

Stupid question maybe, but I wonder....

hay jd, no q's are stupid, and it's good that you think outside the box.but i would lean towards the vacuum theory not working as you planned.your probably refering to a process similar to bringing a vehicle a/c system into a vacuum prior to refilling with freon. i think it would be difficult to control which bead you wanted to break down first. The amount of vacuum needed to pop the tire bead, i would think would be such a large capacity unit ..would it really be worth the purchase of a unit.the price you gave of 13.00 is actually cheap for a store to do the job.the suction may pull in the sidewalls somewhat but i seriously don't think it will pop a bead. i have had a lot of cases over the years where my commercial duty tire machine had problems with 'some' (not all) popping tire beads.The sidewalls on car tires is weaker(fewer plys) than the running surface,and therefore when running over them or crushing them with heavy weight, there is a risk of damaging the plys and in time "can" develep air pockets on the sidewalls and then the tire is ruined.this is why the tire machines have the bead breaker go right to the 'bead/rim seat' and not contact the sidewall at all when breaking the tire down........anyway did the valve stem leak at the base or the schrader valve? if the base was at fault, i hope you smoothed out the hole to prevent further occurence.that seems like a short time for a base to go bad.schrader valves, yes.(replacable).did you smooth out the rim surface when you had it apart.lot of times there is a build-up of rust/corrosion... nice job on your tire bead breaker:smile: just be carefull as you said, it can be risky.