# Changing Tires



## robisra (Dec 13, 2009)

I just bought a set of 29.5 laws and a set of itp112 wheels from different sources. Yeah, I could take them to a local garage, but in the spirit of doin it myself, I'm thinking about trying to mount them myself with hand tools. I change my 8" skido and 12" utility trailer tires several times on my garage floor, but they have steel rims and I can pry as hard as I want to get the tires on. Am I asking for trouble trying to pry big tires onto alloy rims? Do people do this, or does everyone take them into a shop?


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## ctluongo (Aug 14, 2009)

i do it all the time put the tire on a sheet of plywood break the beads by useing a truck run the truck around the edge of the tire, and then when prying the tire use a cloth on the pry sports and to put the new tire on alot of soapy water, i have never scratched my rims


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## derk (Nov 24, 2009)

breaking the beads will probably be the toughest part. you can use a vehicle to run up on the tire and that usually works. to get the tires off make sure you have a few pretty big pry bars and basically peel them off. Going back on usually the bottom bead will go on pretty easily if it's lubed well. the top bead you're basically wanting to make sure one side of the bead is bellow the bead of the rim and use a pry bar to pull the other side of the tire over and down. the key is keeping them lubed very well, it'll make it go a lot easier.

i take for granted sometimes that i have a tire changer at my shop. the changer will not do anything lower than 12" rims so i always have to change tires manually on wheel barrow and lawn mower tires. It'll take some time on your first few but on your last couple of tires you'll have the hang of it.


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## FABMAN (Dec 18, 2008)

I do it allot. I built a tool to brake the bead. We had one to do race car tires at the track then sold it all. Hear is a video its the first tool they show. I made mine so it will collapse down to 12" so I can take it along on the trail with me and carry a tube.


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## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

That is so cool. Beats my manual tire machine all to heck. Gota have one now.


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## GWNBrute (Mar 4, 2009)

seems pretty slick, I got a manual tire machine that I mounted to the floor in my garage and it works good, I only paid 150 bones for the thing too. The way I see it you change 5-6 tires with it and it pays for itself.


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## gpinjason (Nov 10, 2009)

My buddy has a little Harbor Freight tire changer... it works pretty good for the price... We've changed about 8 sets of tires on it so far, so it's pretty much paid for...


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## robisra (Dec 13, 2009)

I respect you guys that change these atv tires yourself. I tried it. Every time I touched the back of the rim with my tire iron, it took a little paint off. I just couldn't take it after the first few nics. I gave up and outsourced this work. I took the set to 5 different auto tire shops and none of them would do it. They said they didn't have the right equipment or that seating the big tires was too dangerous for them. I ended up taking them back to my kawi dealer, who charged me $93 bones for mounting the set. This is after a "discount" for being an existing customer. 

Moral of the story - don't try to save a buck by buying tires and rims separately over the Internet. Either pay a little extra and get them from your local dealer or buy the rims and tires mounted from the same dealer. I hate learning lessons the expensive way....


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## gpinjason (Nov 10, 2009)

I bought my executioners from a guy and he still had them mounted when I met him to get them. We tried Walmart to get them to break them down for us, but they wouldn't. So we went across the street to NTB and at first they didn't want to do it, but then one guy said he'd do it... I think he pocketed the cash ($15) but their machine made short work out of it... I think they just don't like to do them because of the size of the rim... it can't be the size of the tire, because they mount 33" and 35" tires all day on big trucks...


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## 09_650i (Jul 7, 2010)

what pain in the A$$ it is to get the stock tires off the rim. I just bought some mud lite xtr's and i called around to try to get someone to put them on the rim for me but everywhere i called told me that they couldn't do it until the first of the week. so i decided to do it myself so i could try out the tires this weekend. i tried everything to get these rotten ........ things off and couldn't do it at home, then i remembered that i have the luxury of a 200 ton press at my disposal where i work and with some ingenuity and a lot of head scratching i turned it onto a tire changer. putting the other tires on was a snap compared to taking the old ones off. to make a long story short i did it myself and got to ride my wheeler this weekend and saved some money in the process.


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## gpinjason (Nov 10, 2009)

Yeah, when I changed out my stock tires to silverbacks we used my buddy's harbor freight tire tool and one of them was a biaaa to get off the rim... 


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## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

gpinjason said:


> Yeah, when I changed out my stock tires to silverbacks we used my buddy's harbor freight tire tool and one of them was a biaaa to get off the rim...


No sheet, I have never had such trouble getting tires off rims before as I did getting my stockers off the stock rims. I have a Harbor Fraight changer too and I even had to beef up the breaker wedge to keep it from bending. Finaly got them but man...I'll be taking the next set in for someone else to do on an air machine.


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## blackbluebrute (Feb 16, 2010)

fasttire ''chain tire service'' put my wheels together for $30 with some 
nice chrome steems and caps


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## 09_650i (Jul 7, 2010)

well as long as i work where i do and have access to the press i think i can do it myself now that i have the technique down. but without it i would have been dead in the water. i don't know what they put on the tires but it was like they were glued to the rim, what a pain in my arse.


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## Col_Sanders (May 16, 2010)

I've had Wal Mart do 3 different sets of tires for me. It cost me $5/tire. For that price it isnt worth the hassle of doing it myself. lol


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## 09_650i (Jul 7, 2010)

yeah i just found out yesterday that a place just up the road where i work will also do it for 5 bucks a tire, will not be doing it myself next time for that price. only reason i did it this time i just had to try the new tires and couldn't wait until monday to get em done lol.


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## Brute650i (Dec 17, 2008)

I mounted my last set of 29.5 laws with a pry bar and rubber mallet. If you have the technique down and lots of lube its not to bad.


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## Coolwizard (Feb 28, 2009)

I have changed them before by hand. The last set I had mounted was on my little honda. A local tire shop only charged me $10 to change all four. I don't know if they made a mistake on my bill, but at that price, I'll never get my hands dirty on a tire again!


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## islandlife (Jul 4, 2010)

either get some proper tire spoons or take your prybars to the grinder and smooth them out, any sharp or kindof sharp edges will damage the bead of the tire. i've done truck tires and motor bike tires, and usually you have the technique down by the last tire! haha. hint: use three prybars.


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## grizz825 (Feb 20, 2011)

my buddy uses an old car jack for his to break the bead. but the truck thing does work too.


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