Split Rim Safety

[Tlauden]

Found and Interesting video on split rims that shows you what can happen if you do something wrong, Personally I never have messed with my split rims, there is a big rig shop locally that still works on them for me.

This apparently is just a little clip of the whole safety video but i cant find the whole video and I think this demonstrates the point they wanna make



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3_PMhBa_-c

 

[two.fiveM35]

Wow, that's scary.

 

[F18hornetM]

Thats impressive.
Not long ago we had a 315/80R22.5 blow the side wall out while the guy was blowing it up. (not a split rim, or lock rim) Thank the lord it was in the cage, and for safety glasses. As it was it still shook him up. Pretty violent.
Great reminder to be careful or let someone else repair them.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

"In the blink of an eye" your life can END. BE SAFE !

 

[millfire517]

Makes me think the little extra money to pay a shop might just be worth it.

 

[RedbeardTheZombieHunter]

A friend of mine worked in a tire shop years ago. The manager had just changed a tube in a split-rim truck tire, and the rim's lock ring wasn't seated correctly. Also the bonehead forgot to put the wheel in the safety cage before hooking up the air hose and attempting to seat the beads. With the wheel lying flat on the floor, he started filling the tire when the lock ring popped off and the outer half of the rim shot straight up decapitating the tire shop manager. His head rolled halfway across the shop and came to rest on the floor about 18 inches from where my friend was standing. People wonder why split rims make me nervous! DUH!

 

[6x6guy]

What do thay say about natural selection - stupid people die young- and there's a lot of those around.

 

[marsman]

Wow you have convinced me to pay someone to work my tire now. Thanks for posting the video.

 

[mark salanco]

I used to work on the old split rim truck tires, we didn't have a cage for them, so we would wrap a 3/4 inch log chain around the tire several times.. Never had one come appart thank God.
I did have one blow out on a ten wheel dump truck while I was driving it , it was like a stick of dinamite going off.

 

[eagle4g63]

It is amazing to see just how violent it is when they go wrong...........people just don't seem to think they can do that much damage.

 

[juanprado]

tires

I had a tire tech at Western Auto decide he was smarter than the rest of the world. Instead of taking 15 seconds to deflate a tire and pull the valve core, he decided the coates tire changer would do it for him. Unbeknown to him, the tire was full of water and in real bad condition. The tire blew and spewed steel and rubber everywhere including 16 feet straight up at a 4 bulb 8 foot fluorescent high output fixture.

Besides all the tire debris he had 4 tubes in itzy little pieces rain down on him. Luckily he did not look up and walked away with a few scratches. He then learned to value his life over 15 seconds of time saved on a possible extra $ in commissions on a labor ticket.

It is amazing how many pieces of glass and stuff you can get out of a 8 foot florescent tube x 4 in small chunks.

Be Safe!

 

[Fredo Corleone]

I used to mount tires for a living when was younger and I used a tire cage on all two and three piece rims. Tubeless tires on regular tubeless rims, if the cage was free I would air them up there. Split rims are a different thing and many people call two piece rims "split rims" but they are not. split rims hook together in the middle and there is no way of even seeing the locking joint and they can pop apart even after the bead is seated. I have never done one because they are so rare I only know of one person who has them on a truck, a 1950's Chevy 3/4 ton. I purchased a tire cage for $100 and it is cheap insurance.

 

[m16ty]

It's gotten to where a lot of tire shops won't mess with the two piece wheels anymore.

Don't let the vid scare you away from doing it yourself. I'd suspect in the vid they way overpressurized the tire to get it to blow apart like that. Just know what can happen and be safe. If you bolt the rear duals on before you air them up you're pretty safe (the only place the ring can go is into the other tire). The front is a different story. When the front is bolted up, you're starring right at the ring. A good chain around the tire (as was mentioned earlier) will keep stuff from flying too far.

 

[Amram]

I agree. I assemble my split ring rims in my garage. The 3/4 log chain wrapped around all 4 cardinal directions of the tire should protect you enough to get out of way incase disaster happens. Also to be clear the chain is fed through the holes in the rim then around the tire many times.

 

[supermechanic]

About 30 years back, I had a 2-piece rim come apart when I was inflating it.
All of the precautions I took likely saved my life.
Chains were wrapped around the tire, through the 'hand' holes.
Locking ring facing away from me, clamp-on inflater chuck.
As the tire aired up, it separated violently, the inner tube and flap shattered, a large chunk of the flap hit the side of my face.
My hand instinctively went to where I had been hit.
I waited a few seconds, absorbing what had just happened, dreading what I thought to be inevitable.
Slowly I realized that other than being scared witless, no major damage had befallen me.
I had escaped this with only a large welt, extending from mouth to ear.
This episode had cured my need to do everything myself.
Since that day, I have not worked on two piece rims, it is not worth it, tire professionals have specialized tools and training, let them do it.

 

[swbradley1]

Split rims are a different thing and many people call two piece rims "split rims" but they are not. split rims hook together in the middle and there is no way of even seeing the locking joint and they can pop apart even after the bead is seated.

I get chastised every time I call military truck tires split rim. Like Fredo says, they aren't.

I took a real 4 inch split rim into a tire place and they wouldn't even touch it for fear of failure. It was a turf wheel on a golf ball picker. I had to do it myself. It was truly a split rim, two pieces held together in the middle by 4 bolts. I put a new tube in and tire and then bolted it all back together and slowly aired it up until the tire seated. Checked everything and then filled it with air.

Would I do a full size split rim? No, but we did the front tires on Ferro's M818 last year at the Georgia Rally. Just takes care.

 

[hemichallenger]

Split rims have also been out lawed years ago for what its worth.

 

[supermechanic]

This is a split rim.
http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/4842/2205440550103359634S425x425Q85.jpg

These are the ones that are illegal.They are the hub-less 'Dayton' type.
The type with a center section (Budd type) is not a true 'split rim', but is properly termed a 'multi-piece' rim.
2 piece and 3 piece exist.
As long as the identifying numbers on all wheel parts match, they are legal for use.
I consider multi-piece wheels dangerous, and will not work on them.

 

[emr]

Just wondering , for all the times the guys who know tell us we do not have split rims, and they are rare and just not used, and illegal, and well we dont have any, why so many guys call ours split even in the same thread, From the awesome pic and knowledge of guys like supermachanic above, We really should be calling our rims what they are, and not misleading those who dont know yet, the proper terms are important i think on this site at the very least. 3 cents///

 

[m16ty]

I took a real 4 inch split rim into a tire place and they wouldn't even touch it for fear of failure. It was a turf wheel on a golf ball picker. I had to do it myself. It was truly a split rim, two pieces held together in the middle by 4 bolts. I put a new tube in and tire and then bolted it all back together and slowly aired it up until the tire seated. Checked everything and then filled it with air.

This isn't really what I'd call a split rim. Most small lawnmower type tires air made like this. They are so small that you can't hardly get the tire over the rim without the rim coming apart. With good bolts and the low pressures involved, I'd say these are fairly safe. My newer Kubota lawnmower has bolt together rims.