tire removal

[larry harding]

i am adding a 59 st hummer to my little collection. it has 350/18 tires that are of the squarish cross section like seen on a lot of older bikes. they are probably 40+ years old and hard as a rock. the bead just pops right back up when i try to break it down. there is no way the bead will ever drop in to the groove so the tires can be normally pried off. i have changed a lot of m/.c tires over the years but never any thing this stiff. does anybody have any short cuts for removing old hard tires short of cutting them and trying to cut the bead?

[Re-cycleInc]

Any chance that a couple of C clamps or maybe welding clamps could help to keep the walls compressed to allow it to fall in the rim?

[larry harding]

tire removal

the tires are so hard i don't think that will work. they will probably have tobe cut in some way

[Re-cycleInc]

I've heard of people using brake fluid, transmission fluid and gasoline as options to soften hard rubber. Apparently you just soak it in any of those fluids for a while and the rubber swells and becomes pliable. Not sure how that work work on a tire but it would definitely not be road worthy after a process like that. Not sure if you were trying to preserve the tire or not but thought I'd offer up what I have seen on some other sites discussing the rubber hardening problem.

I'm sure somebody else will have a much more viable option.

Good luck!

[Rubone]

Larry,
Just saw it off, clip the edge cords with a small bolt cutter and the tire will fall off. It would have been off easier and faster than typing all these comments. And the old tire is junk anyway, you would not want to try to resurrect it!
Robbie

[larry harding]

tire removal

i finally took my jig saw with a coarse blade and cut out a 4 " section along the edge of rhe rim and was able to pry the bead up enough to cut with bolt cutters. the tires then came right off.