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Getting a Tire Bead to Seat---------


LesH

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I have a pair of 4.80-8 tires on rims. Tire rims and bead areas are clean. Problem is that I cannot get the tire bead on neither one to seat. Tires are not new , but are in good shape. I tried tightening a ratchet atrap on the OD of the tire several times, with a soap spray and without, but still they will not seat. Any help appreciated. Thanks.
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there is a black sticky substance made to put on the bead surface to help seal them... I cant remember a particular name but it does exist
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You might want to take them to a tire shop that can blast them with a larger amount of air. I have had to do this before. Their tire machines have a special bead blast function that blasts a large amount of air in to them to seat the bead.
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Hi- Do you have the valve removed from the valve stem? If not - I find that if you remove the valve then connect your air hose you can get more air into the tire quickly. This may be enough to seat the bead. Once (if) bead is set, let air out, replace valve in valve stem and inflate to correct air pressure. Good Luck, Dave B.
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I have wrestled these many times and agree with the above comments. BDork hit the nail on the head when he said to remove the valve stem. That is what I do and you sometimes have to modify the air valve as there is no longer any stem to push the center valve. I use a clamp on air chuck and let it put air in as I hold the tire. At the same time I use a mallet to tap on the tire as I roll it back and forth until I hit the point where the bead seals around the rim and it takes. As soon as it takes I shut down the air. I have never used the ether method but have heard of it. It sounds exciting and I may try it.
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I have had a similar problem before with getting tires to inflate and set the bead. The way I resolved the problem was to stuff the tire with newspaper which forced the sidewalls out. Then I hit the tire valve with air (yes, remove the valve stem first). Once the tire seated, I released the air, un-beaded one side of the tire and removed the newspaper. Worked for me.
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I think we have all fought this before. A trick I found that works is to push a piece of rubber up against the rim and bead to slow down the amount of air escaping. I had a piece of garage door bottom weather stripping laying around. Put the edge of it all around the rim and pushed it tight, hit it with air and "pop", the tire was seated. Glen
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I prefer the starting fluid technique. A one second squirt, a match, whoosh, the bead is seated with very little pressure in the tire. The shock wave from the ignition of the starting fluid expands the tire and the bead will pop over the bead lock. If you then measure the pressure in the tire, it usually with not be more than a couple pounds. I have used this on front and rear tractor tires, and several automobile tires. I always try the other methods first. I have been wanting a blast tank, but the price of about $350 is much more than I am willing to pay, since I may only need it once every 4 or 5 years. Most tires seat without it.
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+1 on the tube. Although I have a lot of respect for HubbardRA and learned a great deal from him through this site, using the blast method just scares me a little too much to try it. Sorry Rod.
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quote:
Originally posted by sammiefish
there is a black sticky substance made to put on the bead surface to help seal them... I cant remember a particular name but it does exist
It's called grease!:o)
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The black sticky stuff is called tire bead sealant and can be bought at a parts store. It should be applied to the inside of the wheel bead rim. Then a liberal dose of dish detergent to the tire bead. If you have the time place some wood blocks between the tire beads to spread them apart as far as possible the day before you plan to mount the tires.
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I got both of the tires to take air!!! What I did was rotate the tires a whole bunch of times and then bounce the tires as they were rotated. Then applied the air. Did not use the strap or anything else....
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I just had a rusty rim seal good without tube by using TORO Tire Sealant from a mower shop. Not cheap, it was 10 bucks for a quart. This rim, though was pitted almost 1/16" all the way around. I painted the beads real thick with it and aired up. Been holding over a week without probs(it was leaking down in an hour). On the blasting topic, The air "blast" used in this process is almost never above 60 psi and you only use what you need. Because of volume of air needed to fill the tire, the tire will not simply explode from the process. The ammount of air needed to explode the tire would take over a minute for most compressors to deliver, so I would wear glasses for flying dust but otherwise just keep your wits about you and it wont be a problem. Valve core out is a must.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Its best to keep the tires tubeless so they can be repaired without breaking down if you should happen to run over something that causes a leak. I sure will try the starting fluid method the next time.
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The blast tanks that I mentioned are not hooked to a compressor when used. It is a small portable tank that is usually pumped up to 100psi+. They have approximately a 1 1/2 pipe coming out of them with a ball valve on the pipe. The pipe is placed to shoot the air between the tire and rim, but there is a hook to prevent the tube from wedging between the two. To mount the tire, you open the ball valve quickly and dump the contents of the tank into the tire. As the bead comes out to the edge of the rim it will push the tube from the tank out of the gap which stops the air from going into the tire. It just expands the tire so that it goes over the beadlock, but does not put much pressure at all inside the tire. I have seen these used many times at a local tire shop. In my opinion it is one of the safest and easiest ways to seat the bead of a tire on the rim.
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Racing Karts and Lawn Tractors you change alot of tires one tool that works well for sealing is a bottle of Joy dish soap and a bead master ring it slips over the rim and pushes down to the sidewall as you air it up the ring rises off the rim and the tire seals the bead


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Check out these bead seating tanks like I have been talking about. http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=cheetah+bead+seater&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=4103003745&ref=pd_sl_63t5llblol_b
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All the above ideas I have used with varying degree's of results. It seems that the age of the tire, condition of the rim, the size tire, and the ability to induce air into the tire for expansion. All have a role in how well any of these ideas work. I find that a most tires can be sealed with some combination of the above ideas. I usually reserve the either method for larger tires that have enough room inside the tire for good expansion. I've also launched a rear tire out the front door of the shop from it bouncing off the floor. There is a particular technique to using either and it's not for everyone. As a side note to the bead seat tanks like Rod has pointed out. I use a converted air tank from an old fire dept. 2216 psi air pack. These tanks are rated at such high pressure that even after the fail inspection from rust and wear that they are more than capable of being used at 200+ psi. I got an old bottle, welded in a nipple and screwed on a ball valve. Added another nipple and beat it flat down to about 1/2" and welded a stop on it to rest up against the rim just like the one in the picture of the cheetah brand tire tank. Works great and was cheap for me to make.
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