The "ether procedure"

[Robes]

Any one who has worked on cars, especially you older guys, know of a method to mount tires on a rim that are being troublesome. You usually need a method to get air under pressure and high volume to get a tire to seat. There are other methods like using a belt or rope around the circumference of the tire to get the tire to seat on the rim. Sometimes that method cannot work when working on big tires, such as tractor tires. The "ether procedure" involves spraying starting ether on the tire and rim and then throwing a lit match (or other method of introducing detonation). The resulting mini explosion will seat the tire and sometimes inflate the tire a good portion. BUT,... doing it requires a bit of pucker. It is a scary method and not for the faint of heart. I have done it twice in my lifetime. I use it as last resort.

So,...the about a month ago I am down at a friends farm. He was putting tires on his ATV and thought it would be a good way to show his two boys (Bubba and Double-Bubba.... nicknames BTW) how this is done. It was small scale and the boys thought is was pretty cool. Fast forward to the other day. Stopped by to see his new dog and we are in the driveway messing with the pup. Bubba (older son) comes out of the tool shed about 100 yards away at a brisk walk. He interrupts us (which he NEVER does) to inform dad that Double-Bubba is using the "ether procedure". Dad frowns,... asks his oldest which tire is DB mounting? The rear tire on the tractor says he. All three of us take about two seconds to digest that and then take off at a dead run for the tool shed. About half way,... there is this flash,... and BOOOOM that comes from the tool shed. The man door was slammed shut from the concussion and smoke comes wafting out of the overhead door. We double our pace. My heart was in my throat....I feared the worst. As we get close,... Bubba comes stumbling out the overhead door,... face full of soot,... no hat,... and his sideburns are singed. He has this big smile on his face and says "IT WORKED!"

Mom is a nurse, and says his hearing should be fine in a few days. He had to shave his sideburns off (what was left of them),....and Dad and him are going to have a "come to Jesus" meeting soon. Dad is the kind who talks low and quiet, with a 1,000 mile stare,... so that meeting will have to wait until DB gets his hearing back....

 

[tinman]

Down this way that kinda stuff is usually preceded by the phrase "here, hold my beer and watch this".....
And Dad is gonna have to temper his CTJ speech a bit.......since he's the one that showed them boys how that little science experiment works....... :roll:

 

[graygun]

I'll have to try that method some time.

 

[Robes]

To give you some prospective... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-3U-TRkJx8

 

[gramps]

Hmm, a volatile liquid such as ether, doesn't give a lot of leeway between enough, and too much! :shock: :mrgreen: I enjoyed the videos. Now I don't have to go try it. I am very glad the young man didn't lose an eye, fingers etc.
gramps

 

[GunnyGene]

I've done it a few times. Doesn't take much of squirt. About a 1/2 second for a riding mower rear.

 

[Mobuck]

A few years back, the ramshackle tire and miscellaneous "fix-it" shop across from my office was the scene of a somewhat similar episode. This involved a log skidder tire and several unsuccessful attempts. I strolled over to check the progress while the two semi-drunk would be tire repairmen were looking inside the carcass for the lighter they'd dropped trying to set off the ether. I walked up behind them and yelled "BOOM". They both jumped about as high as the ceiling would allow and came down ready to fight. After a few seconds, they realized they weren't hurt and started cussing me up one side and down the other. The final attempt used considerably more fluid and resulted in the tire launching itself about 4' high and coming down seated on the beads.

 

[Robes]

Down this way that kinda stuff is usually preceded by the phrase "here, hold my beer and watch this".....
And Dad is gonna have to temper his CTJ speech a bit.......since he's the one that showed them boys how that little science experiment works....... :roll:

There were a bunch of rules that were not followed including,... "check with me first before you try this". His tool shed utilizes a lot of pegboard with tools on them. It took them a good day to find all the tools and put them back.

 

[Mickey D]

Reminds me of Milton the monster...Whoops, too much!

 

[kjohn]

I own an old tire shop in my little town. It used to belong to a good old buddy. One day, when he still owned it, I walked in to have a visit. He had a funny grin on his face. I asked him what was wrong. "Come, I'll show you". Out in the work area he points to the ceiling, which is a good ten feet up. There was a somewhat smudged imprint from a Firestone sidewall, 900x20 truck tire. He was inflating one of those deadly old split ring rims and KABOOM! It let go, blew straight up, made a nice mirror image print of the sidewall lettering and came down on top of him. I went home and built him a good, sturdy cage that afternoon. The print is still there.

 

[RoninPA]

I own an old tire shop in my little town. It used to belong to a good old buddy. One day, when he still owned it, I walked in to have a visit. He had a funny grin on his face. I asked him what was wrong. "Come, I'll show you". Out in the work area he points to the ceiling, which is a good ten feet up. There was a somewhat smudged imprint from a Firestone sidewall, 900x20 truck tire. He was inflating one of those deadly old split ring rims and KABOOM! It let go, blew straight up, made a nice mirror image print of the sidewall lettering and came down on top of him. I went home and built him a good, sturdy cage that afternoon. The print is still there.

When I worked, as a young lad (making $1/hr), at an Allied Van Lines garage (my dad was their auto body person), I was taught very early on to always flip the split ring wheel so the ring was down before filling it. There have been many mechanics that have lost forearms or more when a split ring was seated incorrectly or failed when filling.

 

[Jim Puke]

When I was growing up...I didn't know there was any other way to mount a tire...used it all of the time.

 

[Jim Puke]

When I worked, as a young lad (making $1/hr), at an Allied Van Lines garage (my dad was their auto body person), I was taught very early on to always flip the split ring wheel so the ring was down before filling it. There have been many mechanics that have lost forearms or more when a split ring was seated incorrectly or failed when filling.

When I was about 12yrs old, we were pumping up a tire with the 3pc wheel...it was turned over in the bed of Dad's new International pickup...at near full inflation, the ring came off, tire went above the roof of the tire shed and landed back in the bed of the truck...truck had the impression of the ring, in the bed, the day we sold it.

And, it also made a lasting impression on me and made me understand why Dad was so insistent that HE was the only one to inflate the truck tires.

 

[exavid]

I used to wrap a log chain around the tire and through the center of the wheel before seating tires on my old Ford split rim. That way if it blew off it wouldn't go anywhere. The ones I didn't like were the GM rims that were a full circle that was warped a bit. Those weren't as easy to be sure of as the Ford rims with the break in the rim. On the ford ones you could see if the gap was too wide in the rim before putting air in the tire. The Chevy ones weren't so easy to be sure of.