There's more than one way to break a tire bead

[V1Rotate]

Recently I had to replace the valve stems on the BX1500 because they were cracked and dry rotted. Using the backhoe and a block of wood was the only way we could get tire beads broken, I'm sure there are other creative ways to do this.

[Birdhunter1]

I had some 8" tires on my golf cart I changed a few weeks ago and used the pallet forks on my tractor to stab them to break the beads. I have also flattened the tires and run them flat till the beads popped, but these were all tires that I were not to be reused.

[JDgreen227]

I found this thread after doing a search here for tire bead breaking....I was trying yesterday to break the bead of a 1988 vintage 15 inch tire off a steel rim using the FEL bucket on my deere 4210...even with the tire deflated using either the edge of the bucket pointed down or when level the tire would just flip up when the pressure got to be heavy enough. Is it REALLY practical to use a FEL to break a tire bead?

[aczlan]

In my experience, you have to roll forward while pushing down or it will flip the tire before breaking the bead.

Aaron Z

[JDgreen227]

In my experience, you have to roll forward while pushing down or it will flip the tire before breaking the bead.

Aaron Z

And to me that seems like an excellent way to damage what may be a very expensive rim....

[aczlan]

And to me that seems like an excellent way to damage what may be a very expensive rim....

With our B7500 and a haywagon rim that I was putting a tube into, I rolled forward ~1.5" while I was pushing down on the tire to compensate for the arc of the loader going in toward the tractor as it goes down. The lip of the bucket then stayed on the bead and did not slip off like it was doing before I started rolling forward. You could also use the curl function to the the same thing.
IMO, it would work better if the rim was fastened to something immovable so that it couldn't flip.

Aaron Z

[JDgreen227]

I have always wondered why nobody seems to market a really large C-clamp unit that would serve to pop a bead on a large tire. Using a clamp is my favorite method for smaller tires such as those found on the rear of L&G tractors.

[Bird]

In addition to the FEL, I've also laid a tire & wheel down and driven a car or pickup onto the flat tire just as close to the rim as possible. That always worked, too.

[JDgreen227]

In addition to the FEL, I've also laid a tire & wheel down and driven a car or pickup onto the flat tire just as close to the rim as possible. That always worked, too.

Bird, I have tried using a wheel on my tractor to drive over a tire bead but most of the time the tractor tire simply shoves the horizontal tire away instead of climbing atop it. Later today I am going to try using a steel car ramp straight section and see how that works when Idrive up on it.

[farmeratheart]

Dad and I used to break the bead on tires (haywagons, baler, rake, truck, etc) with the hydraulic drawbar on the back of his Farmall 200. The fast hitch generates plenty of downforce- just place the tire to be "unmounted" flat on the ground centered under the drawbar. Place a block of wood (~12" 2x4) with 2 square ends at the edge of the rim and up against the underside of the drawbar. Slowly lower the drawbar and the sidewall will be pushed away from the bead! Be careful not to use too long a block of wood or keep pushing after the bead is broken as you will raise the rear of the tractor off the ground with the hydraulic!

Frank