Runflat removal and install - some good and bad

[blutow]

I'm putting new tires on my m1123 that I recently got from auction. I wanted original hmmwv rims and decided to swap to 24 bolt wheels as long as I was messing with it. I also decided to go with the original runflats, so I had to figure out how to deal with those. I know some folks do without runflats and some use the PVC inserts. I'm not comfortable running without a bead lock and trailworthy fab appears to be out of business, so I figured I'll try the stock runflats first and I can look at other options later if needed.

There is a good mix of youtube content on runflat removal and install. For removal, it seems it's either pulling them out with a rope tied to a truck and yanking or using an engine hoist to slowely extract the donut. I elected to use the engine hoist technique and it was quick and easy with no drama. I think the truck yank approach is better youtube content, but I wanted to save the runflats and it seemed a little out of control (but did look like more fun).

For installation, there were multiple examples of people using big ratchet straps and a couple folks using the original runflat compression tool that has a strap and crank. The tool was pretty cheap on ebay and I figured "it's the right tool for the job", so I bought one. In my opinion, it's a pretty crappy tool (and a little scary), but it works. I got 2 tires done so far, the 2nd was much quicker than the first after figuring out a technique.

For anyone else attempting this with the compression tool, a couple tips - I recommend using a big vise grip to hold the compression tool steady when cranking on it and also continuously grease the teeth as you are cranking. When installing, also use a couple ratchet straps connected to trees to pull the tire beads out at the bottom a bit, that made getting the runflat easier to slide in.

In the video linked below, you can see another approach using a hydraulic jack (I saw this after I already bought the compression tool). It certainly looks easier than the compression tool, but I'd be worried about that jack slipping one way or the other before pressure is released. The amount of energy stored up in these compressed runflats is scary stuff. I did use his technique of pulling the tire beads apart at the botton and that worked well.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Vw5RhUZ7v9Q

2 down and 3 to go. I really like the look of the stock 24 bolt rims and they were a cheap upgrade, just needed a little labor and paint to clean them up.

 

[Hammer]

I hate that tool!
I changed over to using a 2" ratchet strap. Works MUCH faster!
Just make sure to flex the runflat at the notches. This point alone makes the single biggest difference.
Once you do that, you can compress the runflat a lot more, and you barely need much effort to get the runflat into the tire. I use a little tire soap and my 36" spoons. But I can almost kick them in.

 

[Hammer]

Btw, Feltz Tire made a simple youtube video that explains it nicely.

 

[T9000]

Getting it installed it's only part of it, the other being getting it to run smooth, without vibration at freeway speeds.
I had a shop balance all four tires at 0 (I watched closely the whole process and wrote down the weights on each tire) and around 65-70mph I get some vibration.
Action gave me a good tip (which you may already know), to secure the truck and run the transmission in 1 (with TC in HI) with the wheel you are working on lifted, then you can see the high and low spots on the wheel and on the tire. I ran each tire like that and was able to see which ones have higher runout and plan to redo them.
Also check where the tire yellow and/ or red dots are, the tire valve should be positioned accordingly.

I am curious if you get any vibrations at freeway speeds?

 

[Hammer]

I did two trucks. One runs SMOOTH!!!
The other does have vibration around 40 ish mph. I put centramatics on that one, but it is still there. So I know I have one tire a bit out that I need to go over again.
Btw, getting them balanced is good. Adding Centramatics or Balance Masters is even better! Continual dynamic balancing is a good thing to have.

 

[blutow]

Getting it installed it's only part of it, the other being getting it to run smooth, without vibration at freeway speeds.
I had a shop balance all four tires at 0 (I watched closely the whole process and wrote down the weights on each tire) and around 65-70mph I get some vibration.
Action gave me a good tip (which you may already know), to secure the truck and run the transmission in 1 (with TC in HI) with the wheel you are working on lifted, then you can see the high and low spots on the wheel and on the tire. I ran each tire like that and was able to see which ones have higher runout and plan to redo them.
Also check where the tire yellow and/ or red dots are, the tire valve should be positioned accordingly.

I am curious if you get any vibrations at freeway speeds?

No on-road testing yet. I got 2 of them installed and won't get to the other ones until later this week. I did do a test run on jack stands with the tires spinnng and one of the 2 tires looks wonky when spinning. The wheel/rim runout looked good, just the tire appears to have a significant wobble. I'm not sure how to fix, but figured I'd try remounting it to start. Any tips on this? I thought I had mounted it just like the other one (which visually looks very smooth.

I did not know about the yellow & red dots for tire/rim alignment, why would it matter if they were aligned with the valve stems?

I won't be able to test at highway speeds for a while since it' not titled yet. I plan to take the loose tires in to get them balanced once I am happy with the mounting.

 

[Action]

I have noticed about 1/4" from low to high on tread while spinning in air. I did not feel anything on the road with it like that.

 

[blutow]

I have noticed about 1/4" from low to high on tread while spinning in air. I did not feel anything on the road with it like that.

One of mine had a visible shimmy side to side (just the tire, the rim has no shimmy). I hope it's not a bad tire. It's a new tire, but I didn't buy them locally, so it will be a pain to return/exchange if it turns out to be a bad tire.

 

[T9000]

No on-road testing yet. I got 2 of them installed and won't get to the other ones until later this week. I did do a test run on jack stands with the tires spinnng and one of the 2 tires looks wonky when spinning. The wheel/rim runout looked good, just the tire appears to have a significant wobble. I'm not sure how to fix, but figured I'd try remounting it to start. Any tips on this? I thought I had mounted it just like the other one (which visually looks very smooth.

I did not know about the yellow & red dots for tire/rim alignment, why would it matter if they were aligned with the valve stems?

I won't be able to test at highway speeds for a while since it' not titled yet. I plan to take the loose tires in to get them balanced once I am happy with the mounting.

The red dot has to do with the tire uniformity and the yellow with weight:

Mounting Your Tires

Yokohama places red and yellow marks on the sidewalls of its tires to enable the best possible match-mounting of the tire/wheel assembly. There are two…

www.yokohamatire.com

What are the red and yellow dots on my tires? - The Tires-Easy Blog

The red and yellow dots on new tires were specifically placed by the manufacturer to guide the tire installation process.

www.tires-easy.com

Looking back on how I built the tires, maybe on some I used more soap and the run flat was more slippery (I think?) because when I inserted the inner rim there was very little resistance to center it, therefore I would say to make sure that the runflat moves easily as the rim will try to center everything and too much friction could create an offset with the rim.

I have the bump on some and my plan is to mark where the high tire point is, then remove it from the rim and find the low point of the rim, then match them. I don't have the side to side wobble so far, maybe because I used the bucket to assemble the tires and it sat evenly (not sure if that's it but it seemed to have worked).

I am at the peanut galery, but there are others on the forum that are Masters of the HHMWV Universe when it comes to tips and workarounds and maybe they can comment more.

Lots of fun lifting those 175lbs pieces around...lol

 

[T9000]

I did two trucks. One runs SMOOTH!!!
The other does have vibration around 40 ish mph. I put centramatics on that one, but it is still there. So I know I have one tire a bit out that I need to go over again.
Btw, getting them balanced is good. Adding Centramatics or Balance Masters is even better! Continual dynamic balancing is a good thing to have.

I did try the Balance Masters and I am sure it does help, in my case I have the up-and-down bump, which neither of them can help with (I am planning to go back with Balance Masters once I fix the bump).

Do you remember if you did something different on the first truck that made the tires run smoother than the other one?
I presume both have the same 16.5" split type rims?

 

[Hammer]

Honestly, I think one of my run flats was a little wonky. It looked like one of the edges was a little warped.
After it was in the tire and wit the rim in it, it looked good, but I imagine it only take a little bit to be out enough to feel the difference.
I figure that I will make that tire my spare tire. I need to get another rim/tire combo soon and swap the entire tire out.

 

[Hammer]

Both trucks have very nice 24 bolt paired rims.
The truck that runs smooth has the MT tires, and the one with a little vibration has Bajas.

 

[T9000]

Honestly, I think one of my run flats was a little wonky. It looked like one of the edges was a little warped.
After it was in the tire and wit the rim in it, it looked good, but I imagine it only take a little bit to be out enough to feel the difference.
I figure that I will make that tire my spare tire. I need to get another rim/tire combo soon and swap the entire tire out.

Can you tell which tire vibrates when you drive? Can tell if its the one with the wonky runflat for sure? I did the same, made the worst tire the spare, but still have one that's a little bumpy, it starts around 65-70mph, until then it's smooth. I took some air out of the tires for now, which improved the situation, until I fix it.

 

[T9000]

Both trucks have very nice 24 bolt paired rims.
The truck that runs smooth has the MT tires, and the one with a little vibration has Bajas.

I have MTs too and same 24 paired bolts, I think those rims are the best.

 

[Hammer]

Can you tell which tire vibrates when you drive? Can tell if its the one with the wonky runflat for sure? I did the same, made the worst tire the spare, but still have one that's a little bumpy, it starts around 65-70mph, until then it's smooth. I took some air out of the tires for now, which improved the situation, until I fix it.

Not sure which tire. I need to jack up one tire at a time and see which one 'looks' different. I imagine that because it is at a lower speed, that I should be able to see the wobble or out of round tire.
If not, well, I guess I could get them all balanced. The worst one is the bad one.
I think it is either the runflat, or maybe the tire is just out of round.
No flat spots, these are new tires. But could be out of round from the get go.

 

[TOBASH]

The video that showed installation of the runflat omitted one extremely important point. One should never run runflats without oil otherwise you will get a tire fire due to friction forces if you get a flat.

I do not know the type of oil that is supposed to be added to the tire however I am certain that someone like Retired War Horses will absolutely be aware and can document what type of oil must be utilized when using runflats.

 

[Coug]

The video that showed installation of the runflat omitted one extremely important point. One should never run runflats without oil otherwise you will get a tire fire due to friction forces if you get a flat.

I do not know the type of oil that is supposed to be added to the tire however I am certain that someone like Retired War Horses will absolutely be aware and can document what type of oil must be utilized when using runflats.

Hutchinson has a runflat lubricant for them
It's $55 or more per 12oz tube.
According to one website, a 27x12.5R16.5 tire is supposed to have 4 tubes of it.

That allows you to drive up to 30 miles at 30 miles per hour.

I say screw that. If the tire fails on me, I'm only driving it far enough to be able to safely swap out the tire for my spare. I can buy a surplus tire in 90%+ tread for less than the cost of using the runflat lubricant.
I can understand worrying about it catching fire if I was trying to drive a long distance at high speed, but limping along just far enough to change it out, usually no more than a few dozen feet, doesn't seem like it's worth it.

6004832 / 01-419-6200 / 2640-01-419-6200 - LUBRICANT, RUNFLAT (1 TUBE 12OZ) | Hummer Parts Guy (HPG)

www.hummerpartsguy.com

Hutchinson D528235-H1 RunFlat Lubricant - Kooker Tech

Includes: (1) – RunFlat Lubricant (D528235-H1) Specifications: Manufacture: Hutchinson Industries, Inc. Volume: 340g (12 oz) NSN: 2640-01-419-6200 IPD: Lubricant, Runflat Cage Code: 62161 Directions: Use Soft Cloth or Brush to apply lubricant to inside crown of tire as shown. Guideline for...

kookertech.com

 

[TOBASH]

Coug, the military crap might be 220 per tire, but is there a civilian lubricant equivalent for less? Would not be the first time a military spec item cost 10x more than an off the shelf product. Anyone remember the rumored $150,000 toilet seat?

 

[blutow]

Hutchinson has a runflat lubricant for them
It's $55 or more per 12oz tube.
According to one website, a 27x12.5R16.5 tire is supposed to have 4 tubes of it.

That allows you to drive up to 30 miles at 30 miles per hour.

I say screw that. If the tire fails on me, I'm only driving it far enough to be able to safely swap out the tire for my spare. I can buy a surplus tire in 90%+ tread for less than the cost of using the runflat lubricant.
I can understand worrying about it catching fire if I was trying to drive a long distance at high speed, but limping along just far enough to change it out, usually no more than a few dozen feet, doesn't seem like it's worth it.

It's still expensive, but macmotors has it for $45 per tube and says one per tire. I decided to skip the lube for the same reason you are stating - I don't plan to ride on the runflat any longer than needed. I also figured a tube of lube in the tire could make balancing an even bigger challenge, but I'm not sure about that.

For what it's worth, I only had noticeable lube inside 1 ot the 4 tires/runflats I removed. I'm not sure if it dried up or was never installed.

Part Details - Mac Motors

.

www.macmotors.com

 

[T9000]

Hutchinson has a runflat lubricant for them
It's $55 or more per 12oz tube.
According to one website, a 27x12.5R16.5 tire is supposed to have 4 tubes of it.

That allows you to drive up to 30 miles at 30 miles per hour.

I say screw that. If the tire fails on me, I'm only driving it far enough to be able to safely swap out the tire for my spare. I can buy a surplus tire in 90%+ tread for less than the cost of using the runflat lubricant.
I can understand worrying about it catching fire if I was trying to drive a long distance at high speed, but limping along just far enough to change it out, usually no more than a few dozen feet, doesn't seem like it's worth it.

6004832 / 01-419-6200 / 2640-01-419-6200 - LUBRICANT, RUNFLAT (1 TUBE 12OZ) | Hummer Parts Guy (HPG)

www.hummerpartsguy.com

Hutchinson D528235-H1 RunFlat Lubricant - Kooker Tech

Includes: (1) – RunFlat Lubricant (D528235-H1) Specifications: Manufacture: Hutchinson Industries, Inc. Volume: 340g (12 oz) NSN: 2640-01-419-6200 IPD: Lubricant, Runflat Cage Code: 62161 Directions: Use Soft Cloth or Brush to apply lubricant to inside crown of tire as shown. Guideline for...

kookertech.com

When the tire fails it starts falling apart as you drive on it and pieces of it that are still attached start to hit the wheel well, which really limits how fast you can drive because it slams it very hard, therefore be prepared to have something handy to cut the tire belt as it separates from the side walls, otherwise you can only go a few miles an hour…it’s faster to walk lol