Homemade bead breaker

[Billy Ricks]

I needed to pull a tire off of a rim to get it ready to ship so I thought I'd share a few pictures of the ram I made years ago to break the bead. A little soapy water and a few pushes on the lever and the bead is off of the rim. It takes longer to pull the hunk out of storage than to break the bead. I end up standing on the tire then forcing the lever down. A few 2x4 and a couple of bolts are all that's needed.

[chuck hahn]

Thats slick as dog snot on a screen door handle!!!! Wheres the duct tape for the handle grip...LOL

[Frank Z.]

Nifty piece of ingenuity there Billy. I'll be down when it's time to re-shoe!

[Nessism]

Nice work Billy.

This what Dan and I used until he bought a bead breaker from Harbor Freight.

[UncleMike]

Never popped a tire off a motorcycle wheel myself, just bicycles. Why is the bead so hard to break?

[Billy Ricks]

Never popped a tire off a motorcycle wheel myself, just bicycles. Why is the bead so hard to break?

Tubeless rims have a lip on them to keep the bead seated. The tires fit on the rim so tight and over time stick to the rim, they are a bear to get popped off the rim with just tire irons. A few minutes with some long irons and the tire will be off the rim.

[Billy Ricks]

Thats slick as dog snot on a screen door handle!!!! Wheres the duct tape for the handle grip...LOL

I may screw a 2X across the handle so I can just sit on the lever.

[UncleMike]

Tubeless rims have a lip on them to keep the bead seated. The tires fit on the rim so tight and over time stick to the rim, they are a bear to get popped off the rim with just tire irons. A few minutes with some long irons and the tire will be off the rim.

Makes sense. Thanks.

[chuck hahn]

Even tubed tires are a bugger. The rubber as mentioned will adhere to the rims and need the pressure to slip them free of the bead.

[willie]

NICE bead breaker, good buddy! Unfortunately, I don't have enough "body mass" to use Billy Rick's device and my truck sits too high to use Nessism's idea. Sooooo, as crude as it may sound, I've been putting a 2X4 across the tire as close to the bead as possible and placing a board on the driveway with one end on the concrete and the other on the board over the bead. I then use that board as a ramp and slowly back my truck up the board. The bead pops instantly. I know, I know. It does sound pretty crazy and maybe I've been lucky but its worked great the last 5 tires I've down this way.
Willie

[Billy Ricks]

NICE bead breaker, good buddy! Unfortunately, I don't have enough "body mass" to use Billy Rick's device and my truck sits too high to use Nessism's idea. Sooooo, as crude as it may sound, I've been putting a 2X4 across the tire as close to the bead as possible and placing a board on the driveway with one end on the concrete and the other on the board over the bead. I then use that board as a ramp and slowly back my truck up the board. The bead pops instantly. I know, I know. It does sound pretty crazy and maybe I've been lucky but its worked great the last 5 tires I've down this way.
Willie

Whatever works Willie. It beats busting knuckles and scratching rims trying to do it with irons. I'm down to under 160 now so I'm not big by any means. The length of the lever means not much muscle is needed.

[chuck hahn]

One could just make a secondary box frame above the tire that will accept a small bottle jack. Trap the jack between the upper frame and the rubber and a few pumps and i would think it will break rather easily.

[Desyboy]

A good sized "G" clamp works wonders and no knuckle skin loss!!!. :-)

[rustybronco]

I bring them to work and use the tire machine. I hardly work up a sweat.

[Guest]

I use the fender of Jim's (posplayr) Winnebago.