From: none@none.com99   
      
   If you hung around shops and work spaces at any time I'm sure you have   
   seen and heard all kinds of things.  Yes split rims are as dangerous as   
   they say they are.  I never saw one go, but I met a fellow who was   
   leaning over one when it went, and it bounced him off the ceiling 16   
   feet up.  Broke a couple ribs, and took the tips off two of his fingers.   
      
   I'm in the process of slapping some new rubber on the '42 GPW to make it   
   a little easier to roll around the yard.  Breaking down the old tires   
   (not split rims) was quite a chore.  Nothing work.  The bumper jack   
   trick didn't even make the beads break a sweat much less break loose.   
   I bent the lever on the bead breaker on my manual tire changing stand,   
   and the hydraulic bead breaker I bought wasn't (in my opinion) setup   
   right.  Over the last few months  I played with all of that.   
      
   The hook feet and the press foot on the air over hydraulic bead breaker   
   were no in a line in the shelf state.  Made it impossible to get them in   
   between the bead and the rim.  I unbolted the hook feet, and machined   
   0.180" off of them and it looked a lot better, but I still couldn't get   
   them in between.  Not even with a 3lb hammer.  I tried hammering in   
   wedges, and that was okay, maybe, but it wasn't enough.   
      
   Now to be fair those tires have been on those rims well over 40 years in   
   one of the hottest climates on earth.  I imagine the rubber is melted   
   and extruded into the pores in the metal.   
      
   I soaked the bead with penetrating oil, and invented my own slide hammer   
   style breaker bar.  I ground the pointy end of my straight pick flat,   
   and slid a post driver over it.  BAM!  Slide hammer style bead breaker.   
      
   IT DID NOT BREAK THE BEAD.  Maybe if I kept at it way to freaking long   
   it might have, but it did give me enough purchase to drive the hydraulic   
   bead breaker in between.  After several presses I was able to get the   
   bead off the bead seat.   
      
   Then it wouldn't flex enough to come off the rim.  My duck foot was a   
   total waste of time.  Its fine for soft pliable tires, but this thing   
   was half rock and half rubber band.  I had to cut the beads with a   
   sawzall to get it off the rim.  That first tire took me well over 3   
   hours.  Maybe closer to 4.  I had to take a break after that.  First I   
   sprayed all the beads with penetrating lube.   
      
   When I worked up the gumption out back of the shop again, the second   
   tire took me just 30 minutes.  It was all the same work, but no wasted   
   work.  It actually seamed easier, but 30 minutes to get a tire off a rim   
   is not what I would call easy.   
      
   The third tire seemed easier than the second, but it took a little   
   longer.  I guess I'm getting old.   
      
   Anyway, if the wedge end isn't to sharp a straight pick and a post   
   driver make a fair slide hammer style bead breaker.  I bet it would work   
   pretty good if the tires weren't nearly rock hard and dry rotted in   
   place.  A cheap Chinese air over hydraulic bead breaker works pretty   
   good if it can actually get some purchase to do its job.   
      
   I still haven't dragged the 4th tire over to work on it.  I needed to   
   take another break.   
      
   --   
   Bob La Londe   
   CNC Molds N Stuff   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)