Tire Bead Breaker

ETpilot · Jun 29, 2010

I got a flat tire on my lowboy trailer. The problem turned out to be an old leaking tubeless tire valve. To change it out I had to break the bead. I made this simple device to do the work. I cut a short 2x6 for the compression piece and used a 2x2 for the actuation lever. I cut a dado in the lever to fit the angle iron on the trailer and clamped a stop block for the compression piece. I set the lever at a 10-15* angle. It worked real nice.

I also decided to clean and paint the old rim. Looks good now.

The down side is that the 2x2 is not strong enough. Once I got the outside bead broken, I tried the inside bead and broke the lever. A 2x4 on edge would have been stronger but I did not have one handy.

I am going to experiment with this and may make one out of steel with an exhangeable foot for the different rims. I will see. I am going to put balancing beads in my truck tires so I will try this on my truck tires and see how it works.

Thought I'd post FWIW.

ETpilot · Jun 29, 2010

K7LN said:
I used to do the same thing with a 2x4 until safety beads came along. I suspect that this is a very old rim without a safety bead, can't quite tell by the pictures. It looks to be an old Mopar rim. The safety bead rims are pretty rough to do without a machine or special tool.

Well, you learn something new everyday. I have never heard of safety beads. I have come across some hard to break beads before but never heard nor read the term before. I did a quick search to find out more. I definitely will look into these safety beads.

The trailer is pretty old so it may not have safety beads. Any idea when they came out with this feature?

George2615 · Jun 30, 2010

I just replaced a valve stem on my wifes vehicle a couple days ago. Seems she got too close to a curb and the long valve stem hit it and got bent enough to crack it and it was leaking slow. I took the tire off and put it on the cement apron of the garage, removed the valve stem core, put a 2x6 on the edge of the tire close to the rim and drove my truck up the 2x6. The tire bead separated and I was able to replace the valve assy and reinflate it.

dex3361 · Jun 30, 2010

I use the mechanical bead breakers they are a life saver. Here is a link similar to the one I use.

Tire Bead Breaker -- Manual, Tire Bead Breakers - GEMPLER'S

Skyco · Jun 30, 2010

I've simply used a jack under the truck receiver hitch to break beads...

Diamondpilot · Jun 30, 2010

I use my FEL to push down on it but after battling with quite a few I now just take it to the tire shop and give the guy $10. I may pick up one of them bead breakers from HF, I hear good things about it.

Chris

LBrown59 · Jun 30, 2010

I used to drive the front tire of my car around the rim to break the bead.

ETpilot · Jun 30, 2010

Well, today I learned a little bit about safety beads. The rim on the trailer did have the safety bead. It appears to be a standard feature on tubeless rims. The safety bead is pressed into the rim just in front of the tire valve and goes full circle around the rim. This makes a hump on the inside of the rim. The hump helps hold the tire bead against the outside flange. When you fill the tire with air, it makes a pop when the bead jumps the hump and pops into place.

I checked all my equipment today and all have the safety bead. I could not tell on the truck and jeep as they have fancier rims and you cannot tell. I did check some old rims that I use as the base for tool stands. They did not have the safety bead. It was all flat metal to the well of the rim.

Very interesting. I am glad I started this thread. I learned something.

Now, I am going to fabricate a better bead breaker.