Tire Tools

[grassfed]

I have to change the tube in the back tire on my skidder (18.5x26) instead of calling the tire man I am going to buy the tools and do it myself. Does any one have any suggestions about the bead breaking tool? I am trying to decide between a "bead cheata" tool like they have in gemplers or a slide hammer type tool. I can't afford both and they would be used for skidder and tractor tires.

[mad murdock]

The only bead tool I have used (non-hydraulic), is a bead braking hammer.  On a skidder tire we would either run it over with another machine, to pinch the tire off the bead, or use the bucket on a loader to pinch the bead off.  On the skidder tires, if they have been on a long time, a manual bead hammer (looks kind of like a sledge with one end of the head being a flat wedge shape), isn't enough muscle to break it loose.  Maybe you could block up the machine with dunnage and use the blade on the front of the machine to pinch the bead loose?

[Gary_C]

That bead cheata tool is for inflating tubeless tires. Will not be of much use for tires with tubes.

If you are going to use any of the manual (armstrong) bead breaking methods, make sure you work your way around the rim and not just hit in one spot.

You do what you want, but sometimes I wish I had never learned how to break beads with a heavy manual tool. My wrists will not take it any more. Save your joints and get a hydraulic breaker.  

[Corley5]

Use the money to pay the tire man instead of buying tire tools.  I took an 18.4X26 off my forwarder to town last week for a new tube.  It developed a flat spot on one side  ;) ;D  Total charge was 110 dollars for a new forestry tube and the labor.  I couldn't have and wouldn't have done it myself for that.  Fixing tires suxs  ;D   Let the guys that do it everyday have the job 

[mad murdock]

  I couldn't have and wouldn't have done it myself for that.  Fixing tires suxs  ;D   Let the guys that do it everyday have the job 

Could'nt agree more there 8)

[Magicman]

This is a homemade bead breaker.  I've been using it for years.

[chevytaHOE5674]

This is a homemade bead breaker.  I've been using it for years.

Looks like it works good on car tires. Wouldn't even touch a heavy equipment tire.

I agree save the headache and expense of tools and just call the tire man. They will have it done in less time with much less hassle.

[240b]

I've a rotobec bead breaker.       It is really a whole lot easier to pay the tire guy. when he pinchs the tube its his dime.

[Ironwood]

"Vulcansidora", tire man mexican style. If you got the gumpsion, Gempler's sells tire tools of ALL sizes.

                  Ironwood

[Magicman]

Ya just gotta build a big un.   ;)

[Stephen Alford]

Hey Grassfed, don't know if you have access to one but I use the log loader . If there is no reason to take the wheel off  the tube is changed on the machine. Squirt dish soap inside and out where the tire meets the rim then just a gentle squeeze, rotate the tire a bit and give it another squeeze and repeat.  The grapple used is on a nokka loader and is not that big or aggressive. Just keep the grapple close to the rim. A second pair of eyes can help. If you have someone to help, get them to squirt more dish soap  while the pressure is on the tire. Rolled a porter tire out of the woods one time with 4 guys and a short lad inside the tire walking . What a chuckle that was.  

[sandhills]

Gary C, I think Grassfed is refering to a "bead cheater" tool rather than a bead cheata.  though I may be wrong.  We have one and it is used to break beads rather than seat them.  IMO I'd go with a bead cheater we use ours on all our rear tractor tires and such, it works good just not nearly as fast as a hydraulic breaker but far less expensive.  Sa far as the bead cheata goes, buy a small air bomb, use a hole saw to cut a hole in it, a few short pieces of 2" pipe, a ball valve, and walla you have one.  Mine works great, just squish the end of the pipe down a little to form an oval to press into the bead of the tire you're inflating.

[grassfed]

Gary my mistake I meant to say bead cheater like sandhills is talking about. It is the little tool that clamps on the side of the rim and then you crank it down and it pushes the bead away from the rim. Stephen I do have a log loader with a big pulp bucket on the back of this truck.

Should I just use it to squeeze the tire? I sure don't want to tear the side walls.

Corley5 I have been debating doing my own tires for a few years. If I could get one fixed for $110 I would probably use the tire man but by the time I pull the wheel and take to the tire shop then pick it up and put it back on I may as well change it on the machine. A service call costs close to $300 nowadays and I always end up helping the guy anyway.  I probably could save $500-600 a year on average for all of the tire changes around my farm. I always seem to get a flat on a Saturday afternoon when I have 50 acres of hay to bale with rain coming Sunday night and the tire man is gone until Monday.

4 guys and a short lad inside the tire walking .

:D

It is kind of embarrassing how I got this flat.

Last spring just after I parked the skidder for mud season I woke up at about 3:30 one morning and found out that the cows were out and standing in the road about 2000' down from my house next to a weekenders cabin.

I knew that the cows would follow the tractor with a hay bale so I ran out and got the tractor started. I usually feed 4x4 round bales but  I had been feeding some big square bales that I bought to finish the season. The bales were stacked next to the parked skidder.

I run 1 bale spear on the bucket on the front of the tractor and 1 bale spear attached to the 3point on the back. So I backed the tractor into a bale on the 3point but the bale was sliding and not going all of the way onto the spear.

The last thing that I wanted to happen was for the cows to follow me half way up the road and then have the bale fall off in the middle of the road. There would have been 40 cows eating breakfast in the middle of the road at pitch black 4am .

I saw the skidder and had what I thought was a good idea. I figured I would just use the log bumper on the back of the 440B to bump the bale the rest of the way on to the spear. It worked like a charm. I drove down the road and the cows all followed me back up and into the pasture.

When I got back I parked the tractor next to the skidder. I was feeling a little cocky. I had averted disaster by using my vast experience and superior intellect. After I turned off the tractor I noticed a distinct hissing sound. It took me a while but I finally traced it to the back tire of the skidder. The bale spear is four feet long and the big square bales are only 3 feet wide

[Corley5]

  I distinctly remember helping repair tires on our A and B John Deeres when I was a kid.  It was an annual process for a while breaking them down and putting in new tubes, patching tubes, or installing liners.  What a pain in the a** and they were little compared to a skidder tire or a bigger tractor tire.  I made a note to myself then that when it was my turn to get tires fixed I'd have someone else do it  ;D  I had a disagreement with my grandfather when I refused to help fix hay wagon tires after he'd gotten the tools out.  I loaded them up in the truck and got them fixed in town for five bucks a piece.  He never fixed another one himself after that  8) 8)  He took them to town too    I had the tire place come out once and fix a tire on our 180 MF and I'll never do that again.  That was way expensive  :(  I had a flat on our 706 Farmall a couple years ago on a Saturday in haying season.  I hate it when that happens.  I switched the baler control box over to the 400 Case and went on.  Extra tractors are a good thing  ;D 8)   Not as many horses but it got the job done.  I got a new tire put on in town the next week   
  I was less than hour taking the tire off the forwarder which included getting the generator, electric impact, correct socket and extension, and jacks rounded up and cutting some blocking.  A half hour drive to Gaylord to Upper Lakes Tire, fifteen minutes there unloading and paperwork, off for lunch at the local Chinese Buffet  ;D 8) and stops at Home Depot and TSC.  The tire was waiting for me when I got back.  Getting it back on was the hardest part but not bad especially when I wasn't already P.O.ed from breaking it down and fixing it myself  ;) ;D  I started the process at noon and was picking up logs again by five thirty.

[Gary_C]

If you have a grapple, I've used that to break beads on tractor tires before, but you have to have them off the machine for the way I do it. Lay the tire and rim down in the ground and open the grapple wide enough so it sits on the tire and not the rim. Then usually I can push down and clamp enough to get the grapple under the flange of the rim. Then I pick up the whole thing and drop it with the weight of the grapple on the tire and after one or two times the bead usually breaks. If you clamp both sides, you have to remember that you cannot just do it in one place to get to come loose. You have to move around the tire so that about half of the tire bead will break loose. You cannot just do one place cause you would have to stretch the bead to get it to break loose.

I have always intended to get one of those bead breakers but never did. The last time I got the local tire man out to fix a flat it cost almost $400 but that was with fluid in the tire.

[sandhills]

I've got fluid in the tires on one tractor, 400 is about what it cost me to have it fixed also.  Would'nt take many flats to forget the fluid and buy a set of weights.  I made a set of tire irons after we bought a semi, used 7/8 sucker rod and they have held their shape very well (they also tend to get used as pry bars a lot).  the irons are about 4 ft long, the extra leverage helps a lot and you can never use enough lube on the bead and the rim, wd40 works good for that if you don't have anything else.

[Stephen Alford]

Should check the grapple to make sure no spurs . The dish soap is the key ,just turn the wheel a bit ; pinch and squirt  and repeat.   ;D.  Usually need a sledge for that last bit when putting the tire  back on. These tires have been on since Mathousalam was a pup. Hope it works out well whatever way you try it.

[Skip]

Tire men gotta eat too !!

[bushmechanic]

Grassfed you have the perfect bead breaker there in that old Prentice loader.Just a word to the wise,when you clamp the tire make sure that the tongs on the grapple are not along side the tire valve or you will tear the valve right off the tube.