HEMTT Rim, Breaking loose the bead. No beadlock. Ideas to make this a smoother process.

[Superthermal]

Hello Alll
Busting into my first HEMTT tire disassembly . I have separated the two halves of the rim and peeked inside and do not see a bead lock inside. I have been trying to break the bead off but haven't been able to get the tire to slip off the upper rim half. Is there any easier way to do this? Doesn't seem to want to "unseat". Possible it has vulcanized to the rim? From pics I can find online I don't see any shoulder at all that would keep the tire from slipping down the rim but It looks determined to stay on the shoulder. If there isn't a better way to do this at home as I want to make continuous forward progress on this no matter how slow. I am wiling to cut the sidewall out of these tires and then die-grind the bead away from the rim.... if I have to.

 

[simp5782]

Use diesel and use a crowbar to beat under the lip.

 

[NDT]

Use duck bill tire hammer to break the bead.

 

[patracy]

Duck bill hammer works better than trying to force the bead down from the rim by pressing on the sidewalls. The duck bill wedges itself between the bead and rim lip in a more parallel manner than prying outside from the lip. The interior bead lip also tends to pivot inward when you try prying on the sidewall area, kinda negating what you're doing.

 

[Superthermal]

THX All for the pointers. First one is OFF. After begging here for help I went back out and rotated the tire 90 degrees and jacked it again, rotated 90 again, then 90 and again. Jacking at each spot and it finally came loose.
I am cleaning up the rim, changing the valve stem (Thanks to KEN for getting me those parts) and also making sure I didn't have too much water in the other MRAP Michelin XZL tires from breaking those loose a couple weeks back. As I ran my hand down into the bottom of the tire to check there is a tar like oozy semi liquid goop down in side. I am guessing this is for the run flat to have some kind of lubricant between it and the tire in the event that it was ever needed. Is it ok to mix Antifreeze into this goo for balancing? I had planned to run 1 gallon of 50/50 antifreeze. Will I need anything with this goo?
UPdate: Looks like this goo is a "runflat grease". There is a post about this stuff on SS here:

Hutchinson Run Flat Lubricant

Looking fir a fair place to by a case of lubricant. Saw it around 20 bucks couole years ago. Covid price like 50.00 a tube. May have to improvise. Thanks for all replys.

www.steelsoldiers.com

 

[silverstate55]

As others have said, go to NAPA and get a Ken-Tool duckbill hammer and two large tire spoons.

The easiest way to wrangle these monsters is to use some kind of a lift (after breaking the beads), such as a gantry with chain hoist, an engine lift, or even a spare tire hoist mounted on a truck. That way you lift the wheel halves out once the beads are broken, and can hoist/lift the tire/wheel combos without exhausting or hurting yourself. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can dismount/mount wheels onto these tires this way.

If not using a beadlock or RF insert, to seat the bead I usually use a heavy-duty ratchet strap around the outer diameter of the tire to force beads towards seating while inflating.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Piss on that manual crap! Get yourself a hydraulic bead breaker. I'll never go back.

 

[US6x4]

Even the army with their abundant supply of strong backs uses it...

 

[silverstate55]

Some of us are just poor working stiffs, can’t afford fancy expensive tools like you rich guys can….

 

[G744]

if it holds air, loosen all the nuts to the top of the bolts, and inflate.

Oughta pop apart.

Worked for me.

 

[US6x4]

Some of us are just poor working stiffs, can’t afford fancy expensive tools like you rich guys can….

It's good fun helping the rich guys spend their money. Then you can ask to borrow it.

 

[Superthermal]

Piss on that manual crap! Get yourself a hydraulic bead breaker. I'll never go back.

After fighting the 4th tire for 2 hours or more and not even being able to break just one bead loose with my HighLift, I borrowed from a friend a bead breaker like what you have pictured here. Still took 9 different "Jacks" to break the bottom deep rim section loose and 6 for the top.

 

[Superthermal]

@simp5782 I am now working on one of the front tires. It had a clogged valve stem which would not take or release any air. I had to cut the valve stem body to release the air so I could safely disassemble the rim clamping bolts.

The hardened rubber not allowing the bead breaker to edge up next to the rim center face. It gets close but the pinch clamp tops out on pressure and then starts to jack before being in the optimum location. Resetting it over a few times is gets a bit better but never at the point to make the bead breaker 100% effective. The bead never unseats from the rim. I have been unsuccessful on either bead on this tire.
So, tell me about using diesel to soften the rubber to rim adhesion. How much do I need? How long should it soak or reapply? Any dangers I need to be aware of?

Use diesel and use a crowbar to beat under the lip.

 

[HDN]

if it holds air, loosen all the nuts to the top of the bolts, and inflate.

Oughta pop apart.

Worked for me.

I don't think I'd want to try that without putting safety chains around the wheel center and rim, or a wheel cage. I'd hate for that thing to launch and break something.

Duckbill hammer or flat end of a pick axe works too. But if you have no reason to keep the tire intact, just sawzall it off at the sidewall.

 

[simp5782]

I don't think I'd want to try that without putting safety chains around the wheel center and rim, or a wheel cage. I'd hate for that thing to launch and break something.

Duckbill hammer or flat end of a pick axe works too. But if you have no reason to keep the tire intact, just sawzall it off at the sidewall.

You just leave a few beadlock nuts on with a few threads.

I normally break the wheels down when they are full of air. I loosen a few off then loosen more in the air to let the area blow the bead.

There isn't enough pressure to shear 4 or 6 nuts off of 3/4" fine thread studs

 

[simp5782]

@simp5782 I am now working on one of the front tires. It had a clogged valve stem which would not take or release any air. I had to cut the valve stem body to release the air so I could safely disassemble the rim clamping bolts.
View attachment 882335
The hardened rubber not allowing the bead breaker to edge up next to the rim center face. It gets close but the pinch clamp tops out on pressure and then starts to jack before being in the optimum location. Resetting it over a few times is gets a bit better but never at the point to make the bead breaker 100% effective. The bead never unseats from the rim. I have been unsuccessful on either bead on this tire.
So, tell me about using diesel to soften the rubber to rim adhesion. How much do I need? How long should it soak or reapply? Any dangers I need to be aware of?

Just put diesel on it and let it sit. It loosen it and seep thru into the tire.


Then walk the wheel up using this method.

 

[G744]

If you're using a duckbill hammer, little dish soap around the where the ring meets the rubber, It makes the wedging action much easier.

 

[Superthermal]

Well, all as I can say in the end is IF your not looking to save the tires I found that just using a Sawzall with a carbide Diablo blade to cut along the mid sidewall doing a vdip down to just short of the rim and then plunge your diegrinder into the bead metal bands was faster then any other method. Note to self, have a bucket of water to douse the flames nearby when the steel gets... HOT. Also is handy to cool your smoking hot blade from time to time as you cut the guts out of a bygone tire that wore its life out in MV serivce.. Rest in smoke my friend.
My problem was that there was enough rust just along the tire to wheel connection that the old tire would fold under itself along the rim face making it even tighter on the rim. After having the right tool and still spending cautious hours not to have the bead jack sprain my other wrist I found this method fast. I did accidentally catch the rolled edge of the rim on my first go with my Diablo blade but lucky for me it was not in the lower saddle of the bead seating area. Notice the rust on the rim. Nothing structural to say but it is Making me consider using only air dried air and no antifreeze/water in the tire to keep the tire balanced. We will test that when I have some time to drive around on the new shoes
Thanks again for all the help and pointers.
Rustolium pro flat black paint is drying on the last rim after a long hard scowering of wire wheels, sander, files and wire brushes.

 

[HDN]

I found that a Harbor Freight bi-metal reciprocating saw blade can cut through two tires before losing enough teeth to become ineffective I remember having melted rubber gum up the blade too, but I found that improving my cutting technique helped with that!

Looking at the way you cut the tire, you might've been able to save some effort by avoiding cutting through the bead - there is a lot of steel in there as you described. What I did is start my blade horizontal to the sidewall then plunge it in and completely cut around the bead. Once that was done I worked the bead still on the rim off by hand, loosening it with a pry bar if I had to.

I just added a pic of my work. Note the intact bead on the rim.




Out of curiosity, how thick are the side walls on the tires you're taking off?

Edited for clarity.

 

[Superthermal]

I found that a Harbor Freight bi-metal reciprocating saw blade can cut through two tires before losing enough teeth to become ineffective I remember having melted rubber gum up the blade too, but I found that improving my cutting technique helped with that!

Looking at the way you cut the tire, you might've been able to save some effort by avoiding cutting through the bead - there is a lot of steel in there as you described. What I did is start my blade horizontal to the sidewall then plunge it in and completely cut around the bead. Once that was done I worked the bead still attached to the rim by hand, loosening it with a pry bar if I had to.

I just added a pic of my work. Note the intact bead on the rim.

View attachment 883168


Out of curiosity, how thick are the side walls on the tires you're taking off?

They are Goodyear 16s AT-2A tires. Looks like the bead is 1.5ish inches. Here is a pic of my last cut side, uou can see I modified my "V" cut to ensure I was far fron the bead seal and my die grinder cut goes diagonally from there to ensure my depth was controlled. Like you, once I had the main steel cords cut I used my prybars to release the rest.