Inflating tube tires with lock ring wheels

[Guyfang]

I wondered about doing this. I was curious if the bead on the back of the wheel would fall down in that position and fail to seat. I don't doubt you for a second, but the manual I read said to use a tire cage. (Page 9-9 of the -20). Often, I take things way too literally. Of course there are probably no inflation cages out in the field or during a convoy.

I'll give it a go.

No. You are not taking things too literally. The cage has a real good reason to exist. But using a tube changes that reason. The cage, is never a bad idea. I came to work one morning to see a new hole in our Motor Pool roof. A guy on night shift did not want to bother anyone for help moving the tire cage inside, out of the snow. The building belonged to us not even 3 months. The Germans were not happy. The ether trick is always fun. Till it aint. And then its not nice at all.

 

[G744]

A tip from a guy that has done hundreds of military tire changes:

Get a "tire spoon", and after the ring is off, shove it down between the wheel and flap in several places. This will break the bond between those two evil players and let the wheel come out of the tire without more trouble.

DG

 

[BEASTMASTER]

if you're afraid of doing it "DON'T DO IT"

 

[Mullaney]

if you're afraid of doing it "DON'T DO IT"

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A little fear will make you smarter - or maybe stated differently:
Respect for a potential catastrophe is healthy!
Hopefully it will make you THINK before you ACT.

OR maybe you buy those services that could be hazardous to your health.
.

 

[G744]

I've written this many times on several military vehicle forums:

With Firestone/Goodyear LTS wheels, the "S" stands for safety. With the deep drop ring goes onto the rim first thing, it is very hard for that ring to come off once the tire bead slips up on it. That action forces the ring to close fully in the groove in the rim.

The M35, M37, and M54's all used that style of wheel. They are the safest type of lockring wheel made.

This feature was not incorporated in many commercial wheel designs of the era, and many terrible shop accidents are owing to that lack.

A good way to set the ring is to use your spoon thru a hole in the rim to pry it down, moving around till it is fully locked. Don't beat on it with a hammer, a good stomp at the end will usually do the trick.

When it works rightly, the last little bit of setting the ring will deliver a satisfying 'clank' when it goes home, signalling it is time to air it up.

A safety of using a cage or looped chain is still a good idea, as a previous screwup could distort the ring and give trouble.

Lubing the ring/wheel with anything other than soap can cause premature failure of whatever rubber it comes into contact with down the road.

Always put a sprinkle of baby powder in the tire first before putting the tube in, and a bit more on the tube before the flap. It lets the rubber adjust without any undue friction upon inflation.

DG

 

[Ajax MD]

if you're afraid of doing it "DON'T DO IT"

I'm not afraid, I'm vigilant. I know what I don't know, so I'm here to get that knowledge and assess my skill set against the requirements. If I feel that even with the knowledge that I won't be able to do the job safely, I'll find a professional to do it for me. What I know right now, is that there are a couple of tools that I should buy so I can do the job correctly.

Right now, I have 6-8 tire/wheel assemblies that need breaking down for disposal. After deflating the tires, there is almost nothing hazardous about that.
When I start looking at mounting and inflating a couple of tires, that's a different story.

 

[US6x4]

Are you thinking of upping your tire size to 12.00R-20 NDTs?

 

[Ajax MD]

Are you thinking of upping your tire size to 12.00R-20 NDTs?

No, I'm very vanilla. Just sticking with the stock tire size and configuration. Wouldn't 12.00's require the bridge truck spacers?

 

[US6x4]

That would be the 14.00s on the bridge truck. I believe the M819 came with 12.00s?

 

[CGarbee]

I find that a standard sledge with a few pieces of angle iron makes for an easy time breaking these wheels down (there are more than one post showing the process with photos...). Nice thing is that you can use three at once to help wedge and hold down the bead on older tires and you can leave one or two in on one side of the gap to hold the tire down when you put your lockring tool on the other side to pop the ring off... It's a method that the late Scrounger showed me...

Valve stem goes on opposite side of the tire from the gap in the lockring (or, in order of assembly, the gap goes on the opposite side from the valve stem...).

When you put the wheels back on the truck, orient the valves 180 degrees apart on the rear duals (you can't quite get them exactly 180 apart, but you can come close...).

A thread with photos that I took showing the process and tools that I use is located at
9.00x20 Tire Question | Page 2 | SteelSoldiers

Good luck, be safe, and if it looks wrong, it likely is...

 

[Ajax MD]

That would be the 14.00s on the bridge truck. I believe the M819 came with 12.00s?

Ah, quite right. I've been staring at deuces and had 9.00 on the brain.

 

[Ajax MD]

I find that a standard sledge with a few pieces of angle iron makes for an easy time breaking these wheels down (there are more than one post showing the process with photos...). Nice thing is that you can use three at once to help wedge and hold down the bead on older tires and you can leave one or two in on one side of the gap to hold the tire down when you put your lockring tool on the other side to pop the ring off... It's a method that the late Scrounger showed me...

Valve stem goes on opposite side of the tire from the gap in the lockring (or, in order of assembly, the gap goes on the opposite side from the valve stem...).

When you put the wheels back on the truck, orient the valves 180 degrees apart on the rear duals (you can't quite get them exactly 180 apart, but you can come close...).

A thread with photos that I took showing the process and tools that I use is located at
9.00x20 Tire Question | Page 2 | SteelSoldiers

Good luck, be safe, and if it looks wrong, it likely is...

Thanks!

 

[US6x4]

These guys are using some sort of special tool during Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

 

[Mullaney]

These guys are using some sort of special tool during Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

View attachment 857700

View attachment 857701

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Looks an automated version of the Duckbill Hammer!

 

[silverstate55]

Hydraulic Bead Breaker

 

[Mullaney]

Hydraulic Bead Breaker

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Neat!

Available @ Northern Tool

 

[Ajax MD]

I also found manual/mechanical versions of the bead breaker that are much more affordable. You simply use an impact gun to crank down a jack screw to break the bead. Given that people break these down with a tire sledge, I think the hydraulic bead breaker is overkill for the MV hobbyist.

Mechanical bead breaker

 

[Mullaney]

I also found manual/mechanical versions of the bead breaker that are much more affordable. You simply use an impact gun to crank down a jack screw to break the bead. Given that people break these down with a tire sledge, I think the hydraulic bead breaker is overkill for the MV hobbyist.

Mechanical bead breaker

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Agreed. Saw others after I posted that. Several were mechanical - operated with a wrench. Least expensive version that I saw was $150. Looks a bit flimsy...

 

[Ajax MD]

Yeah, I wouldn't use them in a pro shop environment.

I'm swapping tires worn down to the indicator bar with some decent used (mounted on wheel) tires I bought a while ago. I got exactly one swapped out yesterday after work. The short daylight hours plus the time it takes me to drag out the tools is brutal.

 

[silverstate55]

I have broken down tube tires mostly with a duckbill hammer and tire spoons. For the stubborn ones where the rust & ancient rubber bead have fused and wouldn’t move with any hammering, I pushed the tire/wheel under my flatbed equipment trailer and used a hydraulic bottle jack to break the beads loose.

I’ve heard others who soaked the fused bead overnight in gasoline, vinegar, or 50/50 mix of acetone/ATF, to get the bead to break loose from the wheel.

And then of course when I was borrowing a friend’s backhoe loader last year & spun the tire on the rim (causing tube to leak), I used the backhoe bucket (additional digging teeth removed) to break the bead so I could get new tube/flap on….handy if you have access to it!