WinterDeere
Super Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2011
- Messages
- 5,661
- Location
- Philadelphia
- Tractor
- John Deere 3033R, 855 MFWD, 757 ZTrak; IH Cub Cadet 123
There are a lot of quarries in our area, and so there's a local tire business that supports all those enormous quarry trucks, some with tires that must be over 10 feet tall and 4 feet wide. They use what look like 10 lb. sledge hammers, but with a pointed bit on the back, like a maul but with the cutting bit turned 90 degrees to the handle.On my M9's breaking the bead takes a special air operated bead breaker. You ain't gonna break them with ordinary tire irons.
According to the worker who did my truck tires, a few guys working in a circle pounding on the bead, even pops those monster tires, after several minutes. I've never seen them do one that large myself, but watched them use the same method on one of my pickup trucks that had 40" x 17" tires on 15" x 14" rims.
My method of bead breaking is to use my FEL bucket edge. Just place wheel on ground under FEL, with bucket edge on sidewall, an inch from the rim, then lower and press. I'll usually use a wood block, so I can focus pressure on bead, rather than just pressing down on the whole tire, but it seems most don't even bother with this. Works every time, but a little tricky when the tire you're changing is on your only tractor with an FEL.
Others use a bottle or scissor jack between the tire and the frame of their pickup, if their pickup is high enough. Same thing, tire laying flat on ground, jack on sidewall near rim.
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