New Goodyear Wrangler MTs appear to be available again

[mgFray]

Don't forget the runflat if you choose to keep them installed. Swapping them from one tire to another seems to be a chore. Also, I would NOT expect the balance to just be okay. Every balanced military wheel I've seen has a HUGE amount of weights on it.

Don't plan to run any runflats. Current tires don't have runflats in them. Previous owner gave me the old runflats in a box in case I wanted them.

As for balance, I have the centramatics. So I'm hoping balance is "close enough" to compensate.. as I've not found anyone who will balance a wheel they didn't assemble.. (and of course nobody will assemble them due to the 2-piece nature.)

 

[BruDogGA]

Find yourself a "4 WHEEL drive shop" that works on JEEPs . Off road stuff. They can help you out. A regular tire shop hears" two piece rim" and they turn white! Goes back to old style truck rims that used to kill people quite regularly. You can do these yourself but I would not recommend it with out an air compressor and an air "wrench". Takes me all day to do four, Work, break, work, break, nap. work .... you get the idea. But I'm old and should know better. My two cents.

Great suggestion. Thank you.

 

[blutow]

If you

Are Humvee owners able to find shops that can install the replacement tires? I just went to my tire place that I've always dealt with and they told me they wouldn't be able to help if the vehicle still had the automatic tire inflation system or if the tire was in half sizes. I've seen videos of people doing the tire replacement on their own by rolling another car over the tire to break the bead seal to separate tire from wheel. My vehicle hasn't arrived yet so I can't tell if I'm going to need tires on it.

I'm not sure what type of shop you tried, but I think your best bet would be a small local independent shop if you can find one (tough these days). A "production" shop isn't going to want to touch anything out of the ordinary and these hmmwv wheels/tires/runflats are about as unusual as it comes. +1 on trying a shop that deals with 4wd, even better if they do custom fabrication (those shops tend to be a bit less risk averse and better at dealing with weird stuff compared to shops that just bolt on parts).

Ideally, you want to find someone who has done hmmwv wheels/tires before. None of it is hard once you figure it out, but there are some tools and techniques that your typical tire shop wouldn't have a clue about. They'd be jumping on youtube (and sites like this) to figure it out just like you would.

Whatever you do, I'd recommend jumping on youtube to get an idea of what's involved. You'll know pretty quick whether it's something you want to tackle or not. It might also help you convince a shop to do it for you (you can at least explain what needs to be done). You may also decide to tackle the job yourself. I did my tires (and reinstalled the runflats) and the first one was tough, but it was quick and easy by the time I got to #5. There is some strenuous work involved, but it's 90% technique. If you aren't doing the runflats, it's really simple, but I personally wouldn't mount the tires on the stock rims without runflats or PVC beadlock inserts. The wheels are designed to be used in a bead lock system. That's a whole different topic with much debate, it's worth a search.

Also, you will almost definitely need new tires if this is a govplanet purchase. Just look at the date codes on the tires when you get them. Even if they look OK, it's not worth the risk running a 10+ year old tires at speed (in my opinion).

 

[Mainsail]

My guess for why tire shops won't do them is it comes down to throughput.

They typically charge by the wheel, not the hour.

Tire mount & balance (including lifting the vehicle, remove the lugnuts, remove the old tire, install the new tire, balance, remount) takes one Tech 20 minutes and the customer pays $XX. Tire machines are easy to learn and very fast to dismount and mount a tire.

Two-piece wheels takes one Tech 60 minutes (not including ruunflats) and the customer pays the same $XX.

Then add in the extra stock you need to keep on hand for the off-chance some HMMWV owner might pay you a visit, like weird shrader valves and o-rings, and the very likely chance the customer will complain when the new tires don't feel balanced....

So if you were the general manager of a chain tire store, would you do two-piece wheels?

That's my theory anyway.

So if you want someone to do it for you, find a general automotive repair place that charges by the hour. They'd probably accept the work because swapping tires (12 or 24 bolts per wheel) is much easier than changing a starter on some of the newer vehicles.

 

[mgFray]

Not an update, update. Still waiting on the call the tires have arrived. Guessing I won't get them until next week. HURRY UP!

I did get the PVC inner beadlocks from Wigspliiter, so far they're exactly what I was expecting and should be good to keep the bead in a low pressure situation since I don't plan to run the runflats...

 

[Mogman]

Not an update, update. Still waiting on the call the tires have arrived. Guessing I won't get them until next week. HURRY UP!

I did get the PVC inner beadlocks from Wigspliiter, so far they're exactly what I was expecting and should be good to keep the bead in a low pressure situation since I don't plan to run the runflats...

Bravo! half the price of Trailworthy fab bead locks!

 

[mgFray]

Bravo! half the price of Trailworthy fab bead locks!

I looked at Trailworthy, they didn't have them available anymore.

 

[Mogman]

I looked at Trailworthy, they didn't have them available anymore.

Yes they still have them at $135 ea. they had them listed for $75 ea with a purchase of wheels but now they are $135 even with wheels, will not buy them anymore, they used to be reasonable.

 

[Mainsail]

If you don't plan to air down much, or at all, can you go sans runflats, inserts, and beadlocks?

 

[mgFray]

From the research I've done, it sounds like there is a debate if it's safe or not.

From what I read the angle of the bead on the HMMWV rims is 15 degrees, while a normal one-piece rim is 5 degrees. Either way the air in the tire pressing against the bead should hold it solid.

When originally mounting the tire, it will be harder to do the initial air-up as the bead won't be solid. And I will NOT use the ether or other dangerous inflation techniques. The inner beadlock (PVC or runflat) will press the bead to the rim and help seal this so the initial air up is much easier.. but even then...

The real different comes when you lose the air, I don't plan to 'air down for off-roading', but instead worried about a puncture while driving. Due to the additional 10 degrees the tire is more likely to lose the bead. Best case difficult to air back up, worst case it could work it's way off the wheel and cause damage to comeone else. (I don't know that I necessarily believe this part of it, BUT it's been reported to be a concern.)

From this, I decided that less then 20 lbs for an $80 PVC insert, per tire.. was a small price to pay for easier mounting and possibly less likely to have a bad accident in case of a puncture. (I don't want to deal with the runflats, tire grease, balancing, etc etc etc.. so this was a good compromise.)

There was also a post I saw that someone indicates that the rims are only DOT approved when an internal bead lock is present. I could not find anything that ACTUALLY indicates that is true though. (Nothing on the DOT website indicates it is, that I found.)

So.. in short. Running the tire without an insert or any type? Absolutely works.. it works for a lot of people. Is it safe to do? As long as their is air in the tire it is probably just fine. The question comes in, when air is lost is there a danger -- not sure. Is it difficult to put air back in the tire if the bead breaks free? Absolutely.

 

[Mattguy]

I run my 2 HMMWV's and 1 CUCV all without beadlocks. Keep them aired up and you'll be fine.

 

[Mogman]

I run the Detroit without bead locks and have never had an issue, I have been rather conservitive when airing down for the beach staying at 18 psi min.

 

[mgFray]

To be clear, this is pretty much devolves into a religious debate "OMG you need beadlocks!" to "Na, just run them as is." Without any specific DOT or wheel manufacure information that you MUST have an inner beadlock, it's all guess work.. some of which is even educated guessing.

With that said, I think it's safe to run without any insert, but it's safer to run with at least a beadlock... and safest yet if the tire is properly assembled (with the special tire grease) using the runflat.

For me the $300 ($80 x 4 + $80 shipping) is worth it for the "safer" option, w/o the weight or balancing headaches that the runflats introduce into the process. (I have centramatics, but since I don't have the runflat I know I can pour in some BBs if the balance still isn't right.. with the tire grease, it HAS to be balanced on a machine and so far nobody around here will do that for me.)

 

[mgFray]

I'd settle for an engineering report from whomever the vendor was that designed the 12 and 24 wheels.. or a DOT rule that says that a 'DOT T' stamped 2-piece rim does or does not require an inner beadlock.. (I suspect it does not.)

 

[mgFray]

Still waiting for the tires to arrive, but figured I would pull the run flats out of the old tires I got with the HMMWV (not the ones ON the HMMWV when I got it.)

Whoever figured out to use an engine hoist to pull the runflat out was a genius. I was very hesitant to do it, but now that I have I will say it works well and as long as you aren't stupid may be far safer then even using the compressor the TM says to use.

 

[rolling18]

I looked at Trailworthy, they didn't have them available anymore.

I got a set of 5 for sale if your intrested..

 

[mgFray]

I got 4 from wigsplitter. 5th (spare) not going to bother with an inner beadlock.

 

[mgFray]

Update, tires should get to the tire store sometime on Monday. Then I can pick them up. So just about 3 weeks from when I ordered them to delivery, not so bad.

 

[mgFray]

Got the tires. All four have a date of 2022 on them. 20th week of 2022 or May16th (or so) 2022. Going to try to get one of them mounted tonight after work.

 

[mgFray]

Ok, I have NO IDEA how to get the PVC beadlocks into the tires. The youtube video I found showed the guy standing on the inner tire, lifting up and then sliding the PVC in and rotating it into place.

I am NOT heavy enough or strong enough to do that. between beads of the tires is only about 4-6 inches.. no where near enough, and with me lifting I can bring it only up maybe an inch.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to do this?