DIY Tire Changing

[cspot]

You guys don't have a Felons R Us tire shop close by? Mine will do a 4 tire swap with balancing for like 15 bucks a tire. Ain't worth my time at that rate.

We have a good local tire shop that is really reasonable. I no longer do my own brakes or oil changes either because by the time I pay for the parts or oil/filter it really isn't costing me much to have them do it. It isn't worth my time to mess with it.

 

[Blan37]

Dunno. I may feel the same way after I try it. I'm fixing to find out!

 

[5Cent]

Enjoy man, nothing wrong with doing things yourself for sure. I'm a have it and not need it over need it and not have it kind of guy! I bet once you get the hang of the equipment you'll be happy to have the capability.

 

[tpierce]

I used Dawn soap on the tire edges. The back side of the tire pushes right on, the front needs a little help with the bar but goes on easily. As others said, you need to keep the tire edges in the cavity at the wheel center.
The 20 minutes/tire included taking off, putting back on, and inflating. I found it easier to inflate by removing the valve and putting a ratchet strap around tire. Overall, a cheap handy tool to have on hand.

 

[hickslawns]

I used Dawn soap on the tire edges. The back side of the tire pushes right on, the front needs a little help with the bar but goes on easily. As others said, you need to keep the tire edges in the cavity at the wheel center.
The 20 minutes/tire included taking off, putting back on, and inflating. I found it easier to inflate by removing the valve and putting a ratchet strap around tire. Overall, a cheap handy tool to have on hand.

Excellent tip. We use ratchet straps for this purpose often. Prefer the 2-2.5" wide straps when possible (mower tires, quads, etc.) On smaller tires like 8-10" tires you find on hand carts, generators, our Brown Bed Edger, and such we are forced to use a narrow strap. Sometimes it still requires one person inflating while a second uses their hands to push on the tire. The key is getting as much to bead up as possible. Sometimes you have to let air out to unhook the strap. Be careful on this method. Don't use cheap/worn out straps. When they let go it can get ugly.

 

[giles]

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

Maybe if you do it enough times you will get at good as these guys.

 

[giles]

Maybe if you do it enough times you will get at good as these guys.

One of my biggest fears...

 

[Blan37]

Those are truck tires - different ballgame.

 

[Blan37]

 

[giles]

Yup...and they scare the shit out of me. We do things you shouldn’t with big trucks and often tear a big chunk out of tires. When you first see a big chunk missing as you kick the tire, the pucker factor is high.

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

Those are truck tires - different ballgame.

I had a 10 speed big tire blow once when I was filling it. Scared the absolute shit out of me.

 

[hickslawns]

Those are truck tires - different ballgame.

Couldn't tell but it looked like a split rim ring laying on the ground unless that was a portion of the rim. I HATED changing deuce tires. Ours all had a ring. They weren't tough to change once you got the hang of it. Airing them up was scary as crap.

 

["J"]

Couldn't tell but it looked like a split rim ring laying on the ground unless that was a portion of the rim. I HATED changing deuce tires. Ours all had a ring. They weren't tough to change once you got the hang of it. Airing them up was scary as crap.

Little thing called a tire cage....

Y’all haven’t seen shit until you’ve seen an aircraft tire pop... It’ll make your ears ring for a week...

 

[hickslawns]

We used tire cages. They keep most of the chunks in there. I always hooked a long air hose to the valve stem and walked around the corner to hit the trigger to air them up. Thankfully never had one explode.