At the tire shop

[Mobuck]

Yesterday morning, I took a truck tire(I mean a TRUCK tire - 10.00x20 12 ply)to town for a nail puncture repair. Told the guys I was going to the bank and getting a haircut while they did the repair. When I got back from my errands, the bare rim was sitting in the middle of the floor and I heard one guy say "There he is". I figured it was a ruined tire but instead it was a matter of no one wanting to re-assemble the tire/rim. I sat on my hands a while and finally one younger guy began the chore of putting the tire and rim together.
After while I strolled past to check his progress to find him wrestling the big rubber like a cub bear with a jar of honey. I made a suggestion which he ignored and then I asked what he'd done wrong to put him on this tough job alone. Another of the young guys had heard my offer of advice and somewhat snidely asked if I'd ever fixed a truck tire. One of the older guys who sort of knows me stopped and waited for my answer since he knew I was an old time tire shop guy.
I looked at the kid(well, he looked to be under 25 so that makes him a kid) and in a very calm tone said "Yes, I've fixed some truck tires. In fact I was fixing truck tires for grocery money when your Daddy was probably still wetting his pants". The older guy could barely contain himself and walked away shaking from the effort of stifling his laughter.
BTW, The guy should have heeded my advice since he ultimately failed and had to ask for help.

 

[CGDustDevil]

I used to change 10.00X20s by myself in the yard. They sure don't make 'em like they used to. It ain't fun work, but it IS work. lol I don't know if I could still do one today or not, but my recent brake job (Chevy 3500 1 Ton) proved to me that I've only got just so many grunts left in me. lol

 

[Pat-inCO]

Did a few of them, but was lucky . . . I followed instructions and managed
to get them done without doing myself in, AND somehow managed to not
damage any of the shop equipment.

Can you say LUCK! :wink:

 

[Mobuck]

"Bud" rims aren't too bad. It's the older "split rims" that are the real dangerous ones. NO ONE changes those anymore. You can't even unload one at most places. The bigger problem is even getting tires for the older 20" rims. Rather than pay the high $$ for low grade 10.00 x 20 steering tires, I bought re-furb 22.5 rims and 50% tread radials for the front. I'll be watching the shops about Sept/Oct when the school buses get new shoes before winter for some decent rough treads. I talked to a guy last fall who made a deal with his local "bus barn" to buy their take offs (rims and all) so the buses had complete new tire/rim units with fresh paint.
I still mount/dismount smaller tires on my old manual stand under the shade tree. That thing has made me more $$ than any other $50 tool I own. We have approx 300 tires on the ground(or as spares) so being able to swap a tire or fix a flat rather than drive to town and pay $10 per is imperative.

 

[Bull Barrel]

When I worked at MODoT many years ago everything had split rims, even pick ups. One day everyone was standing around this big cage made of pipe welded together. It was for inflating tires. You put the wheel in the cage then locked the air chuck on the stem, then turned on the air. If the rim lock came off it stayed in the cage.
A guy was almost killed when that happened without using the cage. It hit the guy squarely in the chest and almost killed him.

 

[OVERLOADDED]

Where can you get a tire repaired for $10.00? Here it starts at $25.00. Overloadded

 

[jgt]

When I was 12 and turned 13 I use to change split rim truck tires with a wedge and sledge. I always turned them face down on the concrete yard paving to air them up. Never had one turn loose, but the guy who taught me had a big scar on his forehead where a rim nearly took his head off. I never saw one blow until I recently saw a u-tube video of it happening. That was sobering. Like previously stated, times are sure different now.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Where can you get a tire repaired for $10.00? Here it starts at $25.00. Overloadded

A couple tire fix it places in Richmond Texas do.

Yesterday Grandson took is BMW to Discount tire to get a slow leak fixed. They told him the rim was bent so they couldn't fix it. He then went to a rim fix it place. They checked the rim and found no bend, added some silicone around the leak area and mounted tire. Problem gone and cost was $25. :wink:

 

[Ale-8(1)]

As a young guy I worked part time in a general repair shop that also sold and serviced tires. At that time, the "splits" were still relatively common, but the shop no longer dealt with them. The owner just pointed to the damaged ceiling over the tire changing equipment and said "After we had a couple blow up on us we just decided to get out of that line of work." They had tried for a while wrapping the tire/rim in chain before inflating, but decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

I changed a whole bunch of "conventionals" but never had the pleasure of dealing with a "split". Not sorry about that, either.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I worked in a plant where we were building trailers for the military when I was in my mid-20s. Part of my job every night was assembling and airing enough 9.00x20s (split rims) for the next day's assembly line. As I recall, it was around 40 per night. We had a big welded steel cage we rolled them into to air up, and a manifold of airlines so we could air about 6 or 8 at a time. So I got some experience with mounting truck tires, too. On other jobs I've had, we'd lay the tire/wheel split side down to air them up because we didn't have a cage. A lot of old boys "lost their head" over split rims back in the day.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

At the gas station where I worked during high school the boss would take in a few split rim truck tires now and then. The guy that fixed them was an old hand from the range line that was working at the gas station till his arms got better after an accident with a rim. He had broken both forearms. I would help him break the rims down and he would repair and re-inflate them. He always put the tire under the hydraulic lift before putting air in one.

 

[daveg.inkc]

I worked in a truck stop in late 1970’s. I changed and repaired many split rims. I have never seen one come apart, I know they do. A man in hometown was injured severely with one. I always took precautions. Trapping under lift is a way. Cage, or some men wrapped a chain over tire. I used to air tire halfway and let air out. Helped to settle everything.

 

[RoninPA]

My first "true job" (paycheck, deductions, etc.) at age 14 (1967) was as a mechanics helper (a whopping $1 per hour) at the local Allied Van Lines operation (my dad was their auto body man). One job I was taught was how to manually break down the tires, repair them and reassemble. The mechanic I worked under was an older guy and me showed me exactly how to do it so I wouldn't get hurt or hurt anyone else. No cage in those days, you made sure that the split ring was against the floor when you filled the tire. And I was also taught as many were, to fill it half way, let it settle in a bit, deflate, let set a minute and then refill it. Never got hurt and nevr had a ring come off.

 

[CGDustDevil]

"Bud" rims aren't too bad. It's the older "split rims" that are the real dangerous ones. NO ONE changes those anymore. You can't even unload one at most places. The bigger problem is even getting tires for the older 20" rims. Rather than pay the high $$ for low grade 10.00 x 20 steering tires, I bought re-furb 22.5 rims and 50% tread radials for the front. I'll be watching the shops about Sept/Oct when the school buses get new shoes before winter for some decent rough treads. I talked to a guy last fall who made a deal with his local "bus barn" to buy their take offs (rims and all) so the buses had complete new tire/rim units with fresh paint.
I still mount/dismount smaller tires on my old manual stand under the shade tree. That thing has made me more $$ than any other $50 tool I own. We have approx 300 tires on the ground(or as spares) so being able to swap a tire or fix a flat rather than drive to town and pay $10 per is imperative.

I did change a number of Budd wheels, but the Dayton 3 piece split rims were the majority of what I changed. They're only dangerous if people get in a hurry and don't properly clean the lock ring & register. (Or if the split ring was damaged during removal) The 3 piece Dayton is MUCH easier to manhandle the tire on to. I chained the things at 6:00, 10:00 and 2:00 to the gap when inflating. I had a couple come off on me, but the chains held the thing from doing any damage. Once a split ring came off once, I'd take a smoke wrench and burn it in half since I was always confident of the cleanliness of the ring & register. If it blew off, it's because it was either warped or slightly out of round. I could usually spot out of round during removal or installation. The operative word being "usually". Which is why I chained 'em! ;)

Overall - I liked the Dayton style much better than the drop-center Budd. I worked a fleet of 80 odd trucks & buses, and nearly all of them had the Dayton 3 piece wheels. I reckon it's what anyone gets familiar with!

Clever move using the larger wheels and 'take-offs' in the fall. Nothing wrong with that game plan! :idea: :D

Regards, Pete

 

[any ruger]

69 years old still doing tires not many split rims left. The big tires now 20 inch 19.5 they are heavy got a couple of young guys that help a lot.

 

[DeletedMember275]

I broke down many a split rim 20" tire from a 2-1/2 on Army trucks with nothing but a mattock back in the day. We did use a safety cage when inflating them, normally. We had one guy got bounced off the inside of the roof of the shop one day, inflating an 11:00X20" tire off a wrecker. He had it with the ring down lying on the floor, and was sitting on top of it. Fortunately for him, he was only slightly injured.

 

[Fox Mike]

When I worked at MODoT many years ago everything had split rims, even pick ups. One day everyone was standing around this big cage made of pipe welded together. It was for inflating tires. You put the wheel in the cage then locked the air chuck on the stem, then turned on the air. If the rim lock came off it stayed in the cage.
A guy was almost killed when that happened without using the cage. It hit the guy squarely in the chest and almost killed him.

As a very young man I worked at a B.F.Goodrich tire dealership in Annapolis MD, that also recapped tires. My job was 'gofer' when not on the road but normally I drove one of the trucks on our routes. I sold and picked up tires for recap. At a Co-Op in Greenbelt MD a guy showed me a mark on the ceiling of the lift bay. A split rim had 'let go', broken the arm of the fellow assembling it, and left a perfect ring on the ceiling. At our shop, Tam, the owner, wouldn't take them in for anything. Just too dangerous.

 

[Rancher Will]

Thankfully, split rims are a thing of the past. I never worked in a tire shop but on the farms and ranches where I lived over the years, we often had to work on split rims. We always wrapped the wheel in a log chain before airing it up.

Once, when I was a student at Iowa State College, in Ames, Iowa, living on a farm I was renting, a split rim blew up at the truckstop on U.S. 30 in town. The truckstop employee was killed, the wheel flew over the top of the shop, landed on a scaffold that painters were using to repaint the truckstop,, sending a painter to the hospital. I was not on the scene but it made the local news.

For many years the ceiling of the truck shop at little America, Wyoming had an obvious repair of a hole where a spit rim wheel went through the roof when it exploded on the floor.

My worst job of tire repair happened in 1954 on my rented farm, when I had to repair a puncture in a rear F-30 McCormick Deering farm tractor tire that contained Calcium Chloride. I had little money, decided to repair it myself. It took all day.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

Where can you get a tire repaired for $10.00? Here it starts at $25.00. Overloadded

Around here Discount Tire will fix flats for free.
There are quite a few places around that will change tires for $10.

My Father used to change all his split rim tires himself.
He would take them apart and put them back together with pry bars and a hammer.
Then he would slide them under the truck to inflate them.

I do know a guy that lost 3 fingers because he was holding onto the bars of a tire cage when inflating a split rim when the ring came off the rim.

 

[Rook]

Airing up any kind of tire can be dangerous. One guy in the video was just taking a break sitting on a stack of tires and found himself flying towards the ceiling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRQhCph_wMk

 

[Mobuck]

The local tire shop charges $4 to take a 14/15/16" tire off the rim and $4 to put one on. The patch is free. Balance/re-balance is $5.
Truck tire repairs are $25.
This tire shop has been working from this location since 1977. When it first opened, the owner knew literally NOTHING about tires. I was between paying jobs and worked there until the owner learned enough to not hurt himself or others(very much). After about 20 years he sold to the guy who owns the place now. That guy ran it for 20 years and turned the physical part over to his Son.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I've heard horror stories about split rims since I was a kid working in a gas station, where we sold tires but didn't work on split rims (there were still a number of pickups sporting them back then.) Today, I think there is only one truck tire shop in about three adjoining counties who will work on them.

Now comes the question: how many of these mishaps could be avoided by using "proper" techniques and tools? For example, here's a video from a company that sells all kinds of tire tools, and it looks pretty quick, clean and easy. However, much is made of cleanliness and lubrication at various steps of the rim/tire, tube/flap, lockring assembly procedure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjHIngKvguc (Nobody needs to comment on how they've never seen such a clean tire shop!)

I know a tractor tire out in the field or a truck that's down out on the road obviously isn't gonna be as easy to work on as it would be in a shop, but at the same time wonder how many Bubbas have brought trouble on themselves? From a few years of working in a bicycle shop and many more as a rider, I've seen untold numbers of tires blown off rims, and have popped a couple myself but I don't think I've ever seen one come off when ALL the recommended steps have been taken. "Haste makes waste?" For example, I believe this is the video where the fellow says "ONLY soft/deadblow hammers" should ever be used on the lock ring, while other videos show Bubba and Co. whomping away with big sledges and so forth. ???

Rick C

 

[Mobuck]

I learned to be careful with truck tires early in life. One of my Grandfathers had a big scar across his forehead as result of a 1930's era truck rim explosion. At that time, I'm not sure there were "proper" techniques and tools in many rural areas.
The worst truck tire injury I witnessed was the result of airing up a tire that had gone flat and was still on the truck. I did see one lard butt Bubba take to ride while airing up a tire he was sitting on. He was pretty sure his 300# would keep everything under control. The rim/tire flipped over landing on top of him w/o doing any lasting damage.

 

[Joe Reilly]

When Wal*Mart needs their forklift tires worked on they call the local Les Schwab store. Took me awhile to figure out the tire and lube guys can't do the split rims on forklifts.