who mounts their own tires by hand? tire spoon advice needed

compleckz · Jan 13, 2008

i was looking into getting a tire changing machine, but i dont exactly have the room in my garage, nor do i feel like spending a grand on a used machine right now.. so i was looking into tire spoons for manually mounting and dismounting..

how effective are they on 33"+ tires, and should they only be used on steel wheels/will they damage aluminum car rims? if there any greater chance of damaging the tires doing it this way? also how much psi is required to set the bead, i remember in auto shop in high school it shot a huge blast of air to set the bead.. i doubt my home compressor can accomplish that.. also what size spoons should i get? thanks..

dangeranger01 · Jan 13, 2008

I have used two big pry bars before, it was on steel wheels so i wasnt worried about hurting them. I probly wouldnt do it on nice aluminum wheels. Use lots of lube and keep the tire in the drop center and they should go right on. It doesnt take much air to seat the beads as long as you dont try and mount up a narrow tire on a wide wheel.

4x4junkie · Jan 13, 2008

I try to avoid using any kind of prybars, spoons, etc if possible.

The 33" BFGs I had before on my Ranger just slipped right over the rims (AR-39s) by merely stepping on them with my feet (I used a bit of dish soap to lubricate them).

Sometimes you'll have to pry a bit to get them on though (the 34x9.50 TSL spare on stock steel rim on my BII was probably the biggest PITA so far I've dealt with).

Yes, bead damage is possible if you're not careful.

JFA_Spyderman · Jan 13, 2008

Yo,
Have you guys heard about using starting fluid or carb cleaner and lighting it on fire?? I have heard of it, but i have never seen it done.

kunar · Jan 13, 2008

JFA_Spyderman said:
Yo,
Have you guys heard about using starting fluid or carb cleaner and lighting it on fire?? I have heard of it, but i have never seen it done.

i have seen it on tv. that's just to set the bead. its too dangerous to try when you have proper tools and equipment available. i could see it being very valuable on a trail or in the middle of nowhere when you dont have air available though.

Loanranger · Jan 13, 2008

I mount most of my own tires at home, junkies right, if you lube up the bead, the tire should slip right on. The rear bead will easily, the front you may need to pry the last little bit on. As for dismounting, break the beads with a highlift jack and your bumper, I personally use a crowbar and a very large flathead screwdriver, and haven't fawked up the beads yet. Just be careful and you should be all good. Generally the bigger the tire, the easier, just because of more sidewall flex. It doesn't take much pressure to seat the bead, as long as both beads are semi seated to begin with. If you can't get them to seat, you have a couple options, you can use a ratchet strap to cinch down the center of the tire, which will push the sidewalls out, bounce the tire, which sometimes flexes the sidewalls enough to seat, or like JFA said, use some starter fluid. Be careful with this though, as it's really easy to lose eyebrows. If I use this method, I usually spray it for a second or so, and then light it with a piece of paper taped to the end of a broomstick.

Loanranger · Jan 13, 2008

kunar said:
i have seen it on tv. that's just to set the bead. its too dangerous to try when you have proper tools and equipment available. i could see it being very valuable on a trail or in the middle of nowhere when you dont have air available though.

I've had to use this method at work a couple times, even with a tire machine with a bead blaster. If you do it right, it's not dangerous at all.

BlackBII · Jan 14, 2008

JFA_Spyderman said:
Yo,
Have you guys heard about using starting fluid or carb cleaner and lighting it on fire?? I have heard of it, but i have never seen it done.

I have used that technique to set the beads on who knows how many tires when I worked for a diesel repair shop, we would do at the minumum 6 tires a day,(it was a small shop in a small town in WY nonetheless) all by hand.....These were all semi truck tires, 22.5 and 24.5 and every so often a 20 PITA Dayton.....there was a lot of starting fluid used on a lot of tires....
I haven't ever had the pleasure of doing a regular car/truck tire by hand yet...
It's easy once you get it down, when we would get nice rims, we had a plastic piece that would go over our prybar so the rim wouldn't get marred up

brendank · Jan 14, 2008

If you want a cheap bead blaster, all you need is an old propane tank, a valve, and some tin. Mount the valve on the top of the tank, and then bend the tin and rivet it up nice so that it directs air properly. You can then fill the tank up with your air compressor. Cheap, effective, and much safer that using something flammable.

ZSK · Jan 14, 2008

I have the cheap harbor freight tire changer that I mounted to a plate so I can slide it into the receiver on the truck. It works well for breaking the bead and pulling the tire off. I haven't mastered mounting the tire with it yet so I just use spoons. The more sidewall you have the easier it will be. My 31's were cake but I struggled mounting some 225's on 16" wheels.

Mutant Pony · Jan 14, 2008

I've mounted a lot of different tires. I worked at four different tire stores through the years. Sometimes the best tire machines just won't quite do the job. I've done the starting fluid method even on car tires. sometimes the warehouse stacks them on top of each other so when you get them the beads are nearly touching. I don't like doing it but, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do! Sometimes you get a really nice POP and the tire is all aired up and all. Other times you gotta hit it with air quick or you loose it. It is usually good for a little adrenalin.
This really needs to be left to profesionals though. I've blown things up all my life so, I'm not a novice. LOL!

Sunk · Jan 15, 2008

I helped a friend mount a set of 215s on some old Ansen sprints we found in the bushes... We just did in the driveway with some soapy water, and used our feet. We had to bust out the prybar, but only once or twice.

I worked at a shop and changed tires for quite a while, and some tires are just a PITA. I was mounting a set of 39.5s for a Tech I worked with and those sucked. I was able to use the machine to get both beads around the rims, but they just would not seat. We had a ratchet strap down as tight as tight as it would go and had to put the rim on top of a bucket so the tire would flex enough to let the inner bead get close enough to the wheel. Then again the wheels were 12 or 14 inches wide so....

It can be done. Even using a machine, how easy it goes on has a lot of factors. It seemed to me like more name brand tires went on easier. The 215 we mounted on the Sprints were BFGs, and considering they were done by hand, they were cake.

85_Ranger4x4 · Jan 15, 2008

We use spoons on tractor tires (like 13.6-38 rears), they work fine. Seating the bead has never been a problem because our stuff is old enough to have tubes.

compleckz · Jan 17, 2008

well i have a 33" bfg a/t on a rim i can practice with (has a sliced sidewall)... im actually gonna go do it now, i find it hard to believe you guys are doing tires by hand with just a little dish soap... ima go see if i can do it

mhughes165 · Jan 17, 2008

its not hard, and the starter fluid method does work, u jsut have to make sure as soon as the bead seats to hook the compressor up to shot in air to extinguish the flames that will still be burnin inside the tire....

who mounts their own tires by hand? tire spoon advice needed

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