Ether for mounting tire?

[Ductape]

In a previous life i owned a small fleet of commercial trucks and have used the starting fluid bead seating method many, many times. I always left the valve core out and was ready to put the air chuck (the kind that dliver alot of air quickly) on to get air in as soon as the "poof" seated the bead. As the air in the tire is heated..... it seats the bead, and then cools immediately after and too often the seated bead was lost. I don't know that i'd recommend the starting fluid trick to a tire changing newbie, but it sure worked for me, and beat the pants off of fighting with a couple hundred pound wheel/tire combo trying to get it seated.Definitely not for the meek!

 

[CurlyDave]

I think it might be safer than it seems. There are two things which will limit the explosion.

One is clearly not using very much starting fluid.

The second is that the amount of oxygen in the air in the tire puts an upper limit on the explosive force. I would rather do it with a medium sized tire than a very large one...

 

[oliver28472]

I watched one of my brothers do this on a couple of truck tires. Scared the you know what out of me.

 

[Bedlam]

Here are a few i found. I saw one once that showed the correct procedure. I'm not sure eif the correct way is to put the gasses inside or around the bead. I would assume inside. but... Be careful ether way

YouTube - REDNECK TIRE MOUNTING
YouTube - Redneck Tire Mounting
YouTube - Repairing a wheel using butane-gas and a lighter
YouTube - stretching tyres the easy way
YouTube - stretch on a rim
The cheater in action
YouTube - Tire Stretch mounting by KEEP

and this one just for fun to see if you were paying attention
YouTube - Girl Sucked Into Car Blower

 

[Soundguy]

One is clearly not using very much starting fluid.

..

Ever seen the 'average' guy light a charcoal grill with gasolene?

Knowing what is enough is 'uncommon'... ( Same with some people and drinking! )

soundguy

 

[Bedlam]

Well Said Soundguy,Thats pretty much the way the world things now a days at least around here I think Common sense is gone out the window

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. flamable fluids.. some guys, and matches just don't mix...

soundguy

 

[actionaj]

Yep. Done this many of times with truck tires sometimes we had to smack the tire with a sledge hammer to get it to seat. Never done one mounted on a truck though always had the wheel off and laying on the floor.

 

[Richard]

Some interesting responses.

The main reason I thought to do this is, removing the tire/rim from the machine is a REAL pain in the hiney. I don't know what it weighs but I hate having to wrestle with it.

Regarding tire (rim?) shooting into the air from too much fluid... I kept this mounted on the machine. I would like to think that it not only made the job at hand easier, BUT safer in that, the rim wasn't going to go anywhere.

Also... I had never thought about removing the stem valve... I left it in and when the tire seated, having no weight on it to compress it, you would NOT have known it had no PSI inside. Meaning, I wonder if removing the stem is necessary? Any thoughts on those pros/cons?

I've tried the ratchet strap several times before. I've worked up a sweat and had a real workout wrestling around with that method, as well as having it take literally more than an hour before I was able to finally get everything lined up enough to FINALLY get some air to stay inside the tire (it simply bled out the gaps)

This technique... I was done in 10 minutes, although I will admit I was a bit .... well, I hate to say 'nervous' about it because I knew I was using too little fluid to light off.

I couldn't decide if I should just spray the ether in the tire and light it or, along the thought of spreading it around, spray the ether in the tire and SPIN the tire and then light it.

I tried the spin method once and don't think I used enough ether as literally nothing (audible or visible) happened.

 

[MikeD74T]

Yep.. flamable fluids.. some guys, and matches just don't mix...soundguy

Especially when the flammable liquid is the breath of the guy with the matches..... Miked74T