changing tires on road.

[lostagain]

I take all my wheels off every winter to rotate and inspect what's behind them. That makes them easy to take off if I have to on the road. I use a 3 foot extension on the wrench so I can torque to 500ft/lbs with my 170lb body weight. I have a piece of 3/4" plywood with 2" holes to support the outside end of the socket wrench for the rear wheels. I also carry a 1" air impact for back up, which I never use because I can't get enough air to it. And a good spare, mounted.

[Jerry32]

hey Devin my electric impact wrench is a Makita 1" drive and draws 15 amps.at 120 volts. Jerry

[Barn Owl]

My brother was in town a few weeks ago and he showed me how to change an outboard tire with the rim still on the bus. It is not as convenient as having the wheel off, but it is easier than taking everything off on the side of the road. One thing to stay on top of, you have to be careful with the tools when working that close in proximity to the sides of the bus. Has anyone else tried this? I would only do it if I had to, mostly because of having to use ether to seat the bead. When I saw what he was about to do I was a little concerned, I didn't like the idea of having flame + explosion under my bus.  Incase anyone was wondering, the flame only lasts a very, very brief moment and is not explosive like I would have thought, but it worked extremely well. I still don't like it but it was nice to know how to do it if I had to.

[Dallas]

Laryn,
That's how we changed outside duals all the time on service calls.

We quit using ether when the boss bought us a great big bead seat tank doohickey.

Basically you fill the tank from the compressor and the end of the tank has a 2" pipe with a flared end to put against the bead. The other end of the pipe has a ball valve and releases all the air in one big "Puff", forcing the tire bead out against the bead seat.

It worked really good except when it came to Michelin tires, they had a stiffer sidewall that didn't flex as easily. Then we fell back on ether to seat the bead.

Dallas

[DrivingMissLazy]

When I was playing in the sand dunes in California, we quite frequently had to re-seat the big paddle tires we run on the back of our sand buggies. We all carried a can of ether for the purpose of re-seating the tires since it was not uncommon to break a bead loose fairly frequently. We only run about 6 pounds of air pressure so it was relatively easy to break a bead loose.
BTW, it works great, just do not get too carried away with it. LOL
Richard

[Barn Owl]

Dallas,

I have seen those tanks, they are a bit pricey. My brother made one for about $50 and I will post instructions and photos when he sends them to me. I'm sure it's not UL, DOT or whatever approved, but I plan on making one. Because space is tight for me I would not likely take it on the road. The argument could be made that you can buy a lot of ether for $50 that would cover hundreds of tire changes. With my bus being an early morning ether addict, I always have it around.

Laryn

[Dallas]

With my bus being an early morning ether addict, I always have it around.

Laryn,

Some of us like coffee some like a Coke, some have tea first thing in the morning.

Just because she likes ether, doesn't mean shes addicted.

Back in my younger days I had a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger with a 'built' 340 and a 4 speed.

The car had a minor coolant leak in one of the freeze plugs and it took me a couple of weeks to find time to fix it.

In the meantime, every morning I would go out with an old coffee pot full of water and refill the radiator. One morning my neighbor couldn't stand it anymore and came tearing out of his house as I was pouring the potful into the radiator. He looked at me with an odd look on his face and asked, "Does it like it black or with cream and sugar?"

Dallas

[Hi yo silver]

This reminds me of a story a friend of mine told.  He used ether to seat a tire bead while he had the valve core removed from the stem.  He declared with his usual swagger that he had "watched his old man do it a hundred times...just stand back and gimme the matches".  Well, when the match hit the ether, the tire went flying, the air whistling from the valve stem when it landed.  The first thing he did was stick his thumb on the end of the hot stem, branding a perfect little O on it!  The story got funnier from there, and I don't know if it was actually true, but I had a good laugh hearing him tell it.  Be Careful! As they always used to say on the railroad, that's what apprentices are for, give them the matches...Tee Hee!
Dennis   

[maria-n-skip]

  Dennis,

    Sure... you are probably one of those that gave us a torpedo and said go play on
the track with it.


   Nice bang

   Skip