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

[Grant Bowker]

I have decided that my difficulty mounting the Michelin LTX tires on CMP rims was largely due to more flexible sidewall and bead structure. After a couple of false starts I added an auxiliary pusher made from short bits of 2x3 and 2x4 lumber powered by a C clamp to push the bead around the curve of the rim. Once round the curve, the cross pusher worked fine to take the tire further down the rim ready for the tube and flap. The other half of the rim went on exactly as expected, Put the rim in place, tighten the rim halves together and add air to ease the tire into place on the rim. Photos attached show the wood addition to tooling, the tire half mounted and the finished product.

Also comparative photos showing the LT235/85R16E LTX against the STA chevron tires in 10.50-16 size and against Michelin XL in 9.00-16. Although the LTX look small in comparison, they are rated to carry over 3000 pounds which is actually slightly greater than the rating of the 9.00-16 CMP tires (although they were run over capacity for some of the 15cwt trucks).

[Bob Phillips]

Well at risk of repeating what may have already been said...in my experience the biggest pain was getting the 60 year old tires off the rims. I used a backhoe; put the stabilizer leg down on one side of the tire and pushed down the tire with the bucket and then cut the bead with a torch. Once practiced it was easy to do. To put the new US style tires on I had the rims turned down about 1/16 inch all the way around the inside. This removed most of the pitting, left a smooth surface so a minimum of "SNOTH" was required and hopefully made it easier to remove them again some day. I will be trying this method again this summer but will have the rims sandblasted once I get the old tires off...BP

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bob C.

Excellent thread, concerning Bob P. the tire removal issue yes the problem of 1st time tire removal has been discussed at length.

My point concerns the subsequent removal, how well you clean and paint the rims will make all the difference in future removals. Once the rims have been cleaned down to bare steel and well painted, my experience has been that the tires can be removed with just the tire irons from the tool kit. Average time 1/2 per wheel. There are some tricks which will try find the photos to explain.

Cheers Phil

[hrpearce]

For tyre removal spend the money on a decent bead pusher.

[Bob Carriere]

Your posting made me do a quick search on the web.

There is a manual bead breaker from ESCO...... as cheap as $137 US with free shipping..........

Since we have 4 11:00 x 20 to break..... 4 or more 20" CMP rims plus an endless string of 16" rims....... it sure sounds like a wise investment.

Design is fairly simple and the though of copying a home made version is tempting...... but at the price not worth the effort.

The first six tires and the cost is recovered and no driving to the truck tire shop.

Thanks for proding my curiosity.

Cheers

[CWO (ret) Gilles Aubé]

Hello Bob, which Esco Bead pusher would you recommended?
Today tire shop are not able or equipped for our need.
Gilles

[Bob Carriere]

Bonjour Gilles

Can't really recommend something I have not bought or used yet, however....

It seems to me that the above model would be ideal for the hobbyist and should work on the CMP rims. I have seen videos of its use on large tractor tires and it seems to be doing the job very well and only requires hand tools.

The model 70160 retails as low as $137 US with free shipping inside continental US which is convenient as I have a mail box in Upper NY state.

There is a larger heavy duty manual model that retails for near $600 model 20429 Pneu-Tech his intended to be used with air impact hammers and comes with grease fittings.... not any faster as it is still manual but could take more repeated operations without wearing out as fast.

All the manual machines rely on a screw device which if over used can wearout....regularly greasing the screw thread would go far to ease the operation and extend the life of the tool.

Even the low tech tire installer that we created use gets a liberal dab of grease on each threaded rod when ever we use it.

By chance Rob Clarke did by a smaller bead breaker model he purchased a few months back and sadly he found it lacking in capacity both for the size of the CMP rim or the pressure required. It is very similar in concept to the ESCO 70160 but about 1/4 its size.
We have used his device successfully on smaller tires and on one side of the 900x16 Michelin we unrimmed,,,,, it could not get a bite on the reverse side of the rim due to the deep dish design of the rim. We finally gave in and cut the rim on half to remove the tire.

I have yet to consult with Rob and Grant on the purchase of the ESCO model but when we do and when we test it out we will be sharing our information with the rest of MLU.

I have no trouble around here getting a tire shop to remove stubborn tires for us...... use to be $20 dollars to remove and reinstall the new tires.....now its by the hour and if your tire is stubborn you pay for it.... it works out to approx. $25 a wheel just to remove and we have to loosen and remove the 8 rusted nuts at our own expense of time and Oxy-acet. gas......

I have estimated that in about 6 tires we break even....... with the 3 of us using it it will get paid for quickly.

The tractor/truck dealers use a hand carried hydraulic system that is worth about $3000. and allows one man to remove tires from a fram tractor without removing the rim off the tractor. I have seen the operator change a blown tire on my Massey in less than 2 hours including reloading the tire with calcium but he did charge me over $500 for the service call.

I have studied the design sold by ESCO and concluded that it would cost us just as much to make our own when you consider the material and some machine shop time.....

Hang in there sooner or later we will have more information to share. It would be easier if the Cdn Looney was worth a bit more.....

Cheers

PS ...Comments & suggestions on tire bead breakers welcomed.....