How To: Installing 9:00-16 tires on CMP wheels

[Bob Carriere]

Now for the top half....

Pic 37.... That is my hand smearing some "snoth" on the top half of the tire bead in preparation for the top half of the rim to be dropped on the tire.
Pic 38 Top half of rim is in place and with a little pushing by hand the two longer tire studs are just protruding enough to install the two nuts.
NOTE all nuts and studs had been cleaned with a die&tap and the thread given a wallup of antiseize compound.
Pic 39 we hand tighened the two longer studs/nuts and squeezed the side wall just enough to catch another 2 nuts.
Pic 40.... home stretch...... criss crossed tightened all nuts until the rims halves are totally in contact with one another.
Pic 40 tire bead has not yet fully creeped up to the top rim. tire only has about 3 pounds of pressure at tis point.
DO NOT FORGET...... The bottom half of the tire is far from being seated at this point so watch our fingers.

[Bob Carriere]

Now the pressure is building up.....

Pic 41 We slowly inflated the tire and at 16 pounds the top was fully seated.

Remember the bottom is not done yet so resist the temptation to flip the tire by hand and get caught...
The top really moved very slowly. As the pressure inscres you can hear the tub/flat/ beads creak a little.
At 24 pounds the bottom half slowly popped in place...... continued to 40 pounds.

That's it!!!!!

Thanks to my able assistant who did most of the work and got most of the extra snoth on hishands whiel I manned the camera.

Now we have 4 more to do. The biggest job is cutting the rims to remove the tires.

Overall that little tool has installed nearly 20 tires( bar thread to 10:50 chevron tires)..... never had to trim the tire bead or machine the rim...... and NO magic dust was used in this project.

I have not installed 20 inch tires but would expect that all that is needed is to build a larger cross for the 20 in. tire.

The most significant difference for us was the discovery of the "industrial" snot for the tires..... if we ever run out I would gladly pay full price for a bucket of that stuff.

Hoping this will be helpful for current and future MLU members.

All comments and questions for details are welcomed.

Grant if something is missing in the text please feel free to jump in.

Amendment: from David Herbert on tube inflation
....Inflate the tube to full round before inserting into the tire carcass then allow to deflate while re-inserting the valve to retain "some" air inside. Having the tube valve removed greatly speeds up this simple operation.

Once the tube is inserted we add some air and manually spin adjust the tube stem with the indentation of the rim..... leftover of the "snoth" greatly facilitates moving the tube.

We then deflate the tube, but not totally, to allow installation of the flap.

Then do the final reinflation... in slow stages..... listening for the creaking of the tube/flap/tire bead as everything falls in place.

I fully agree with David and would recommend a full deflation and re-inflation of the tire to minimize the chances of any parts being out of place.

[Grant Bowker]

One thing that Bob didn't mention was the follow-on.
Knowing we had done a bunch of the STA 10.5-16 chevron pattern tires and the more modern Michelin in the photos with ease I brought the cross tool home intending to mount Michelin LTX M/S in size LT235/85R16 on CMP rims for use on a trailer. I was promptly humbled. Rather than the bead neatly slipping down the rim as all previous had done, the bead went down at the pressure points at the end of the arms but hung up and seemed to retreat inward between the arms. I haven't identified the cause (or solution) yet but have considered the bead diameter being a bit smaller (seems unlikely as all mentioned tires have been designed to fit standard tubeless rims), the bead and sidewall being more flexible (seems believable with the reduction in real plies as opposed to ply rating) tires and rims were inside, warm so perhaps the rims expanded more than the tires with the warmer temperature or perhaps the warmth contributed to increased tire flexibility, maybe I need to be more generous with the snot or maybe the added thickness of tie coat and OD paint on the rim was just too much (again, seems unlikely).

[Bob Carriere]

Modern tire casing are much more flexible than the massive basing of CMP tires.... just lifting them makes a big difference.

I also suspect that the modern tire is meant to be flexed to be installed...so the modern bead bends stricly at the push blocks....creating a square pattern with the four blocks allowing the bead to ride up on the rim rather than slide down......

You know I love the snot.... were you using enough of the stuff???

Will need to try our hand on a cold -20C tire casing at the barn to see how it performs.

Cheers

[maple_leaf_eh]

Impressive examples of engineering and determination.