• Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Register for our forum. Even if you don't want to post, you can still 'Like' and react to posts.

Bead sealing HELP!


Horror stories...
Had new tires put on my Ranger last Friday. Father and son garage. Son was inflating a small trailer tire. Tire blew up and broke his elbow. Experienced kid too. Probably done hundreds of tires. Sometimes you just don't know.

They had some difficulty with the 31s i bought - especially one tire. They left it out in the sun for about 30 minutes, used bead lubricant and finally got it to go.
 
Man, that sucks for the son
 
> Tire blew up and broke his elbow. Experienced kid too. Probably done hundreds of tires. Sometimes you just don't know.

When I worked at Ryder as a class 7/8 truck mechanic, we were taught that inflating tires was the most dangerous part of the job. In 2002 Jan/Feb they had 7 people killed, either employees or contractors on their property or using their trucks, killed by improperly inflating tires. One was a young (24?) tow truck company owner that left behind wife and kids, after he blew his head off by leaning over a tire laying flat on the ground while inflating it.

You can do it improperly once a month and never get injured for years, do it improperly 100s of tires in a row, the odds catch up real fast. Maybe now both the father and son will considering using a remote clip on hose to fill tires, I use that in my house garage on suspect tires and 16.5" tires, never mind it being a must have in a commercial setting.

I think I told the story before on here about how when I worked in parts at night at a Ford dealer, the "service manager" insisted on taking "new" warranty tires taken off a customer's truck to put on his truck, that were 16.5" tires. Besides being unethical, his truck took 16" tires. I pointed out it said right on the tire NOT to mount them on 16" rims. I refused to give him the tires on both grounds, then he came back and told met our boss (son's owner) said he could have them and to give the tires to him, pulling rank, so, I gave him the keys to teh rack and said I refuse to have any part in this (Luci and Ethel) scheme. You want them, you take them.

I put it out of my mind, until much later there was an explosion that shook the parts room walls. I go running out to see what happened, as did most people in the dealership. He is laying on his back knocked out in the middle of the garage floor. Seems when he tried to put the first inflated tire on the rear axle, he hit the tire on the lift or ground, it was enough to unseat the bead, and it blew him across the floor and knocked the truck off the lift. Luckily he did not need mouth to mouth and all he did was break his wrist. He came very close to leaving his young family behind too.

I never said "told you so" because I was just so relieved he did not kill himself, but, he did have to do the walk of shame every day for a few months with a cast on his arm in front of 40+ caring compassionate Ford mechanics that said such things as "who are you to tell me what to do, you are not even qualified to be a parts man BOOM BOOM".

imho, In a commercial setting, inflating tires is one of the most hazardous parts of the job, because bad habits pile up and can get ingrained, because you never get injured, until you do.
 
we used tire cages in the army for the humvee and duece tires. we got to see what happens when you air a split rim up and it blows too.
 
Appreciate all the advice, sorry took so long replying. I finally got it sealed by taking the valve stem out and filling it with air.
 

Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

TRS Events

Member & Vendor Upgrades

For a small yearly donation, you can support this forum and receive a 'Supporting Member' banner, or become a 'Supporting Vendor' and promote your products here. Click the banner to find out how.

Recently Featured

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

Ranger Adventure Video

TRS Merchandise

Follow TRS On Instagram

TRS Sponsors


Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad


Amazon Deals

Sponsored Ad

Back
Top