peakbagger
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Rather than add to the "infinite" SEE thread I thought I would post a new thread on changing SEE tires. It also applies to my 1300L tires as is also is a Steel Soldier as its former German Ambulance. Both have the same tire size and rims but my 1300L has Conti MPT MIL military tires which have a lugged pattern with a center rib for better highway use. I would have switched to that tire for my SEE but they are no longer in production so the next best thing are set of used Pirelli Pista's which will replace the beat up Michelin XLs which have a lot of sidewall cracking.
The hassle is getting the tires changed out. There are only two places that will change these tires in my area and for both or them its low priority as they didn't sell the tires. Therefore I have to block up the SEE, remove the four tires, make two trips to the tire place to drop them off and then wait a day or so until they get around to changing them and then make a couple more trips to haul the mounted tires and cores home as they charge a bundle to get rid of the old tires and I can get rid of them for free. Its an hour via normal truck or 2.5 with the SEE one way to either one so it eats up a lot of time and hassle. The trade off is change them myself. Long ago I helped change a large stiff tractor tire with spoons and it was major effort. My solution is one of these kits https://esco.net/products/pneu-tek-agricultural-truck-tire-kit/. Not cheap, but expect its going to pay for itself sometimes around the next tire change or puncture. I plan to use the ceramic beads for balancing the new tires so that cuts out balancing. I have see another accessory that centers the bead in the right place when reinstalling the tire but I will try it without it and worse case is I can hack something up. Doing it this way I can do one tire at a time and can use the hydraulics to assist. I already have a bead breaker. I don't have an air blaster yet so may do the ether method for reseating the this time around. I had to reseat the XLs
I will report in when I make the swap but it may be a month or so as the SEE is still surrounded by 2 foot snow banks.
The hassle is getting the tires changed out. There are only two places that will change these tires in my area and for both or them its low priority as they didn't sell the tires. Therefore I have to block up the SEE, remove the four tires, make two trips to the tire place to drop them off and then wait a day or so until they get around to changing them and then make a couple more trips to haul the mounted tires and cores home as they charge a bundle to get rid of the old tires and I can get rid of them for free. Its an hour via normal truck or 2.5 with the SEE one way to either one so it eats up a lot of time and hassle. The trade off is change them myself. Long ago I helped change a large stiff tractor tire with spoons and it was major effort. My solution is one of these kits https://esco.net/products/pneu-tek-agricultural-truck-tire-kit/. Not cheap, but expect its going to pay for itself sometimes around the next tire change or puncture. I plan to use the ceramic beads for balancing the new tires so that cuts out balancing. I have see another accessory that centers the bead in the right place when reinstalling the tire but I will try it without it and worse case is I can hack something up. Doing it this way I can do one tire at a time and can use the hydraulics to assist. I already have a bead breaker. I don't have an air blaster yet so may do the ether method for reseating the this time around. I had to reseat the XLs
I will report in when I make the swap but it may be a month or so as the SEE is still surrounded by 2 foot snow banks.