Problems mounting tires on lawn tractors, ZTs and such.

[Texasmark]

Posted this on another forum and thought I'd toss it in here too as I know full well I'm not the only person facing this fiasco:

Still chasing a soft rides so current task is removing the 13x5x6" fronts on my Ferris IS700z and replacing with 15x6x6s. Getting tires on 6 and 8" rims are usually difficult but this rim was only 4.5" wide and that added to the hassle. As you all have experienced I'm sure, the assembly won't sit still and you play chase the bar around the wheel as you try to get the tire mounted, especially on new, freshly painted wheels.

I made an adapter for small tires to fit my regular hard mounted tire changer but the mounting stud is ｾ" and this wheel has a ｽ" axle opening. I tried putting it in my 6" vise but wound up wrestling it on the floor.

Initial mounting the first side with soapy water, was just a matter of pushing it on. The other side as usual was the problem.

The lip on the rim was such that it accepted vise grips...one of those improved seal types with a little extra rim sticking out beyond the tire bead. One pair locked the starting point and the other pair followed the screwdriver around the side as it made some headway I followed with the grips so I didn't loose progress made on that end. This way the locking point didn't follow you around the wheel and nullify any progress you thought you were making. Working dry worked better than wet on this side and in short order the tire was on the rim.

Thought you might find this helpful the next time you challenge those little boogers.

 

[TractorGuy]

The last time I did small lawn mower tires I clamped the hub in my bench vise, pushed the inside bead on, clamped vise grips on the rim, and spun the tire by hand to get the outside bead on the rim. Worked like a charm. Had to lube the tire bead of course.

 

[4570Man]

I grease them up with dish soap and I can usually push them on by hand. If not it’s not hard with minor pry bar work. Dismounting the small tires is harder.

 

[zzvyb6]

I use a threaded rod in a bench vise with nuts on both sides to hold the wheel. Dawn dish soap. Standard ViseGrips to walk the edge of the wheel and a wide screw driver to lift the tire bead into the bead retainer. The trick for me is to use a very wide ViseGrip welding clamp to compress the tire sidewalls so the opposite side of the bead is in the drop center area of the wheel. Then the tire is easily and incrementally walked onto the wheel. The sidewall on my 4" tires is so stiff I could not keep the bead in the drop center until I made use of the sidewall compression. Bead wires prevent the tire from going over the rim edge unless one part of it is in the wheel's drop center area.

 

[rhunt]

Been down this road before, went to Harbor Freight, purchased their small tire changer thing for less than $40 bucks and the problem goes away. One of their better tools. Bob

 

[Texasmark]

Thanks for the ideas. I did try using a C clamp to squeeze the tire down which did help somewhat and I do have the very large welding double C clamp which I will try and should work better. I agree on the importance of getting the bead in the drop center of the wheel. Got one mounted yesterday and will do the other this morning. Will digest your comments and proceed.

The HF small tire mounting hootus will be my next HF purchase. Town is 25 miles distant and next time I'm that way will drop by their new store.

So, here's a perfect case of giving without a thought of compensation and receiving as a result. Wink!

 

[Ford850]

Been down this road before, went to Harbor Freight, purchased their small tire changer thing for less than $40 bucks and the problem goes away. One of their better tools. Bob

I use the same Harbor Freight small tire changer. It works great!

 

[Texasmark]

I just pulled it up on HF www and looked at the video. Just changed my mind on going to check it out next time I go to town. Going to town this AM and get one THEN mount my second tire. Many thanks guys.

 

[dog13]

I've used the HF changer with motorcycle tires and it worked pretty well. I also picked up one of these to stop the bead from walking. For a funny looking/simple rubberized tool this thing worked great. Haven't tried it with anything bigger than a motorcycle tire yet, but it definitely did the job of being an extra set of hands when mounting
Amazon.com: No-Mar AC-Y-5111 Yellow Thing Tire Tool: Automotive

 

[Industrial Toys]

I made up a jig to fit in my vice. Basically like a hub with a couple of studs just to hold the rascal still. 2" square tube to go in the vice and a suitable round steel plate with the bolts welded on to act like studs.

I had to stand on something to get the proper working height over the bench mounted vice. Kind of awkward. My vice pulls out on a 2" tube which kind of helps. Good for grinding and welding keeping stuff away from the bench.

I learned the hard way recently that since the rims are offset, one side is near impossible to work with. I couldn't figure out why the first wheel was relatively easy and the second impossible.

I wrap electrical tape around the ends of my pry bars as I almost always use tubes, but I really should get some spoons.