9.00x20 Tire Question

wreckerman893 said:

You have to be careful using vehicles, forklift forks or other things to break beads....sometimes you can damage the cords in the tire.

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Naturally, just as you can damage rims and tires by missing with your maul. I can't tell you how many rims I have seen that have been damaged by tire guys that thought they were better with the maul than they really were.

The key point to using an outrigger, or other moose powered method for breaking the bead on a tire, is to go slowly, and use your eyes to watch what is going on. If you can't see what you are doing, or it doesn't look exactly right, it isn't. Stop and readjust things until it is.

This brings to mind another thought: The difference between a high quality job and a poor one is the worker's ability to look and actually take the time to see what he is doing.

-Chuck

There is a thread on here (or perhaps the old site) that shows the method that "Scounger" showed me a couple of years ago that I use almost exclusively to break down these tires... Use three large (four inch or so) pieces of angle iron, and a standard sledge. Much easier to hit a piece of angle iron than to aim the duckbill, and after you get the first one started, you leave it in place while driving in the second one next to it, and then the third, then you remove the first one and place it next to the third and work your way around. This gives you some wedging action.

For a visual of the above, poorly written, explanation, see this thread (that I mentioned):
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce/18810-deuce-tire-rim-break-down.html

Remove the valve core and let the tire sit for a while after the air has stopped comming out of the tube before you start to break down the bead and you will be fine.

Make sure that you clean all the mating surfaces before you start reasembly...

After you have been doing twenty or thirty a year for a dozen years, they get easy...but you still have to be vigilent...

Good luck.

I'll add some photos from my website from where I had to replaced a bad tube last fall (1100r16, but same principle...). You don't get the captions for each photo, but you can get the idea...

That looks like a good method! And unlike mine, you don't need to keep a backhoe around to change tires

-Chuck

I had 7 tires that are 1100x20 change, they had been on there about 30 years, the man let the air out. used a breaker bar to re move the ring, pour a little gas around the bead and rim let it set for a while, then use the duck bill hammer and went around the tire and rim hitting the bead., the bead would drop down, then he turned it over, done the same on the other side. this man has been doing this for years, log truck , semi trailer , you name it . all day long.. that man was a worker. but that all he used

Huh, the angle iron is an interesting idea. But i'm worried that if I tried it i'd somehow mess up the tire. But i'm definitely gonna give the duckbill hammer a shot next time I get a chance to mess with the tires.

401-J10 said:

Huh, the angle iron is an interesting idea. But i'm worried that if I tried it i'd somehow mess up the tire. But i'm definitely gonna give the duckbill hammer a shot next time I get a chance to mess with the tires.

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It's no harder on the tires than using one of the duckbill wedges, or some of the other bead breakers (mechanical). It's a lot easier to hit them and miss the lockring than with a duckbill. They tend to slide and tuck under the ring so they don't gauge the tire or cut it.
If you want to try a duckbill hammer without purchasing one, stop by sometime and I'll let you swing one of mine...

One other nice thing about using the angles that I didn't mention earlier is that they are cheap, and you can afford to keep a set and a sledge, lockring bars, and a couple of wood blocks (to lift up the rim when remounting the tire) in the toolbox of each truck so that you are always prepared.

The thing is to figure out what works for you...

The TM makes it look easy.
I have used the crane outriggers for this, but worried about potential damage to the area beyond the bead. I'll use proper tire irons next time. It's amazing how tough tires are...

CGarbee said:

It's no harder on the tires than using one of the duckbill wedges, or some of the other bead breakers (mechanical). It's a lot easier to hit them and miss the lockring than with a duckbill. They tend to slide and tuck under the ring so they don't gauge the tire or cut it.
If you want to try a duckbill hammer without purchasing one, stop by sometime and I'll let you swing one of mine...

Click to expand...

Hey if i'm coming to try out the hammer i may as well bring a couple tires for you to help me break down haha.

they make a slide duck bill hammer ... they are a lot easier to use , i have used both and prefer the slide hammer.

Yeah I actually got a duckbill hammer and broke a tire down last night. I was pretty excited about it. It took me a couple of hours but hey it worked. I appreciate the help guys.

Another hint/tip is to use a Hi-Lift jack if you have one.

put the tire under a vehicle with a good bumper, place the jack on the tire where you want the bead to break and start lifting the vehicle. Done a few that way.

area52 said:

Another hint/tip is to use a Hi-Lift jack if you have one.

put the tire under a vehicle with a good bumper, place the jack on the tire where you want the bead to break and start lifting the vehicle. Done a few that way.

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Yeah i actually tried that. I lifted the whole back of my jeep truck off the ground with the hi-lift on the tire bead. But i guess if I would have went around the whole tire using this method it may have worked. Sadly I'm kind of impatient.

area52 said:

Another hint/tip is to use a Hi-Lift jack if you have one.

put the tire under a vehicle with a good bumper, place the jack on the tire where you want the bead to break and start lifting the vehicle. Done a few that way.

Click to expand...

yea, i tried that but using a Rail Road jack (much stronger than a HiLift) and the front of the deuce....... didnt work, so i tryed parking 2 deuce's nose to nose with an I beam going across and tried it, still didnt work. Lifted both trucks. used a Rail Road spike hammer and worked my way around the bead and it dropped right off. Stupid thing.......

P.S. i do not work for the Rail Road, i have no idea where this stuff came from.