The Ford Barn

GB SISSON · 09-26-2022, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray in La Mesa

Hi Gary, I've had the same experience. Five petrified 600-16 on Ford spoke rims. 4Day Tire wanted $60 to break them down but Horrible Freight had a sale that day on their manual tire changer. Bought it for $47 mounted it to my shop floor. After breaking the beads with my antique bead breaker I couldn't get the tires off the rims so went at them with my antique Skillsaw. After lots of rubber smoke & sparks they relinquished their grip on the rims. Plus, I have used the machine many times since.

Good for you Ray! That's the rigid economy our depression era dads tried so hard to bestow on us. Haven't seen you too much on the 'barn since you visited us last spring. Highlight of their visit was Ray's wife doing two laps around our 1/8 mile dirt track on my Model AA doodlebug. She has been driving her model A for many years. Really fun folks!

Flathead Fever · 09-29-2022, 06:11 PM

I mounted thousands of tires at work over the years but those were nice pliable used tires. At home with vintage cars, sometimes you have to deal with those rock-hard tires. The ones that hold a car up with no air in them. I just removed three petrified tires last wee for a neighbor. If you do not cut them off you "will" end up bending the rims. I have an old Coats 40/40 tire changer and it won't break those rock-hard tires loose, I can see the center hub of the rim flexing while the machine is trying to break the beads, that's no good. Over the years the fastest method I have found is to take a chainsaw around the sidewalls a couple inches from the bead. Then I take a nail bar for pulling large nails and a hand sledge and drive the 90-degree bent end of the bar between the bead and rim that usually pops them loose in a couple of hits. Then I take an air grinder with a thin cutoff wheel cut through the beads. There should not be any steel in the sidewalls so you can use a chainsaw there, but the beads will probably have steel inside of them, so you want to grind through those. It takes about 5-monutes per tire to get them off that way.

I usually find the rims with those rock-hard tires have gotten water inside of them from sitting outside for decades. The rims are almost always badly pitted inside. I would stay away from buying any rims with petrified tires on them.

09-29-2022, 06:11 PM	#22
Flathead Fever Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Yucaipa, CA Posts: 1,095	Re: Removing a stubborn junk tire from a wheel I mounted thousands of tires at work over the years but those were nice pliable used tires. At home with vintage cars, sometimes you have to deal with those rock-hard tires. The ones that hold a car up with no air in them. I just removed three petrified tires last wee for a neighbor. If you do not cut them off you "will" end up bending the rims. I have an old Coats 40/40 tire changer and it won't break those rock-hard tires loose, I can see the center hub of the rim flexing while the machine is trying to break the beads, that's no good. Over the years the fastest method I have found is to take a chainsaw around the sidewalls a couple inches from the bead. Then I take a nail bar for pulling large nails and a hand sledge and drive the 90-degree bent end of the bar between the bead and rim that usually pops them loose in a couple of hits. Then I take an air grinder with a thin cutoff wheel cut through the beads. There should not be any steel in the sidewalls so you can use a chainsaw there, but the beads will probably have steel inside of them, so you want to grind through those. It takes about 5-monutes per tire to get them off that way. I usually find the rims with those rock-hard tires have gotten water inside of them from sitting outside for decades. The rims are almost always badly pitted inside. I would stay away from buying any rims with petrified tires on them. Last edited by Flathead Fever; 09-29-2022 at 06:25 PM.