Having trouble seating beads on 16.00 AT-3A's

[LCA078]

I picked up some unused Goodyear AT-3A's at my local govplanet. Tires are good shape and less than 3-4 years old on average but they were stored flat on a pallet so the tires are collapsed some. When I try to mount them on my combat rims, there is 2-3" inches of space between the bead and rim so I can't get the bead to seat when airing up.

I've done all the usual stuff and researched what I could find here and on the web:
-removed schrader valve and even drilled out my clip-on inflator so it's max air volume
-liberally used undiluted murphy's tire soap
-tried laying tire flat on ground with rim supported by bucket (seats the bottom bead)
-tried tire standing up and floating the rim in/out to see if I can catch enough air to pop it closed
-used our front end load tractor and squashed the tire when standing up;
-was going the use the Hutchinson bead lock (the metal band with two rubber strips) that came out of some 395's but couldn't even get the tire spread open far enough to insert the bead lock.
Note: if you remove the rubber strips, the bead lock band is 6.7" wide. The GY AT-3A bead is 1.7" thick. 6.7 + 1.7 + 1.7= 10.1" which would be perfect for this but I couldn't even get bead lock inserted into the tire.

-I don't have a tire seating blast tank (but not sure it would work anyway since there is no hollow in the rim to insert the nozzle)
-I haven't used ether or propane or any other boom-spray (didn't have it available and ran out of time)
-I left the tires standing upright so maybe they'll spring open a bit when I head back down in a couple weeks.

In the meantime, any recommendations? Any try using a bead donut? Know where to get one?
On the way home, I thought about using a bicycle inner tube as a seater but I would have to relocate the stem to the outside of the tube.

Thoughts?

 

[MAdams]

Use a high lift jack to spread the bead and insert the bead lock.

 

[simp5782]

18 in or 20in bike inner tube. X 2. Stuff it between the tire bead and wheel deflated.on both sides. Then add a little air to the tube. Then air the tire up. Itll push the tubes out

 

[gringeltaube]

This is the correct method (click on the link where it says youtube)

Of course I'm cheap and would never buy such a tool. Instead, I use something homemade (made out of sheet-metal and a piece of 1/4" insulating foam rubber) - which works just as nicely....

 

[Floridianson]

Tire / wheel standing up and tire soap packed between bead and wheel is what I had done before. Or for the Brave Heart the starting fluid trick.

 

[LCA078]

Use a high lift jack to spread the bead and insert the bead lock.

Was that bead lock from a 16.00 tire? I see you're keeping the rubber strips on the outside so I assume it was designed for a 16.00. The bead locks I have were designed for 395's so I have to remove the rubber strips since I'm replacing the old 395's with 16.00's. Also, I had two bumper/ farm jacks (that's what we call them down here) and plenty of cargo straps so I'm kicking myself for not thinking of using those like you did. Will definitely do that when I head back down.

Simp- I'll get some inner tubes as suggested. I like Gringel's set-up (very cool idea) but making a special tool will eat into my time budget. I'll try the cheap bike tubes first.

 

[mzak88]

20" bike tube all the way

 

[LCA078]

I tried the bicycle inner tube but couldn’t make it work. Ended up standing the tire up and using a can of starter fluid. Lubed up the wheel and tire pretty good with tire soap, sprayed about 5-7 seconds of starter juice inside as best as I could and lit it with a rag on a pole. All it did was flame up on the outside so I squeezed the sidewall in a bunch of times real fast to suck in the flame. Once the flame sucked in, it made a large pfffftt! sound and seated. Second tire did the exact same.
Would have done this as the first option if I knew it was this simple. I guess they don’t make ether like they used too because it was definitely a much faster burn (almost explosion like) when I remember seeing it done as a kid. That’s why I was hesitant doing but seems different now.

 

[charlesmann]

I had to ether a 395/R20 bc i took the runflat out and there wasnt anything to act as a bead lock. I used a prybar to open the tire for ether, then hit the valve stem with a shot and lit the valve stem. It swelled kinda fast, then i got on it with air chuck to keep air and gas in it till i was sure it would stay on the bead