A Redneck Installs New Tires

[the_Journeyman]

Tires.  A tutorial from a low-tech perspective.  I have no changer, breaker bar etc.  I have two tires to swap, two tire irons, one jack, one truck, and one spray bottle of diluted dish soap.

First, a couple things:

Gather all needed materials.  New tires, necessary tools, and at least one cheap beer.  Probably several cheap beers.


You should change your tires when they start to look like this.


Since changing your tires involves removing the caliper, you should check your brake pads  If they look like mine, you should change them as well as you tires.


[Redneck Tutorial on removing front wheel]

Remove brake caliper (repeat for other side if you have TWO front brake discs)


Inspect brake pads.  Notice I have almost ZERO friction material.  If yours are like this, drive to every dealer in town and find in-stock replacements.  Even if you have to  make a second 30 mile trip to get them.


Once you’re done looking your brake pads over, you have to put the caliper somewhere. Don’t let it hang by the brake line either.  I just tie mine to the frame.  Trellis frames make this easy.  If you’re really good at knots, you can always tie a noose to ‘hang’ your caliper.


Support the front tire at whatever height it is.  It is much easier to pull the axle with the tire supported.  It won’t suddenly come crashing to the garage floor when you pull the axle out if you do this.


Ok, now you’re ready to remove the front tire.  First, loosen the pinch bolts from the side where the allen socket fits.  If you loosen the pinch bolts on both sides, you will wonder why you keep turning the axle and it doesn’t unthread.


 Now, get your 14mm allen socket and place it into the axle so you can unthread the axle and pull it through.


Now, got back to the toolbox and get the 3/8 to ½ adapter because you forgot your 14mm allen socket was ½ inch and your socket driver is 3/8 inch.


Now, you should have the front tire free from the bike.  Go lean it on something somewhere so it won’t roll away.

[/Redneck Tutorial on removing front wheel]

[the_Journeyman]

[Redneck Tutorial on removing rear wheel]

Locate the correct size socket.  Mine needs a 22mm.  Yours may have different needs.  Loosen the bolt on one side.  If you have a single-sided swingarm, I’m no help.  Consult your service manual.


Remove bolts for rear brake caliper.  Inspect pads.  Then, slide out the axle from the opposite side you took the bolt off of,


So, the chain still has a hold on the wheel, even with the axle out.  Push the tire forward so the chain has slack.  Slip it off the sprocket.  Inspect chain.  If you see the rusty red stuff on yours like mine shows, you should put a new chain on soon.


Once the chain is removed, simply roll the tire free.


Go ahead and remove the sprocket assembly from the cush drive.  It’s going to fall out at some point anyway as you flip the tire this way and that trying to get the old tire off.


[/Redneck Tutorial on removing rear wheel]

[the_Journeyman]

[Redneck Tutorial on changing out front tire]

Remove valve stem core.  Failure to remove valve stem core will result in failure to break bead.


Find three board pieces the same thickness.  Place them on the floor with your wheel on them as shown.


Break bead.  This is where it gets pretty redneck.  Go get your truck.  Back the rear into the garage where the hitch is over the concrete that makes up the garage floor.  Get your scissor jack from your truck.  Put the jack upside down as shown (mine has a lip that makes it a GREAT bead breaker) move the tire & jack assembly where it is directly under the truck’s hitch and raise the jack until there is a bit of tension that holds it in place.  Adjust as necessary so you have the jack as close to the rim as possible without touching.


Now, start jacking.  You’ll see what is in the picture below if you’ve got the jack positioned properly.  That’s the tire pulling on the bead and it will give soon.  Don’t forget to flip wheel over and break on the other side.


With the bead broken, insert rim savers (yes, you really do need them so buy them) and tire irons as shown.  Spray the entire are where the tire meets the rim with the soapy stuff.


Pull both tire irons back and you should slip the bead past the edge of the rim.


Once that happens, grab the tire where at the last spot the bead is over the rim with one hand, grab the rim with the other.  


Give a mighty tug, a few grunts, and keep the pressure on for a few seconds and you’ll find the bead suddenly slips past the rim.  One down bead down, one to go.


Your rim savers should still be in place, so find them and slip the tire irons through over them and past  the bead still on the rim:


Lay the tire down and put pressure on both tire irons,  It should slip the bead right past the rim and you can pull the tire the rest of the way off easily by hand.


Now to get the new tire on.

Spray the rim & bead area of the new tire with the soapy stuff.  Liberally.  Push tire onto rim as much as possible by hand.



Put rim savers opposite the side that is deepest into the rim, insert tire irons using the rim as the leverage point.  Put pressure on the iron and it should slip the bead right past the rim.  Not for the other bead.


Again, push the bead on over the rim as much as possible by hand:


Place rim savers opposite like you did for the other bead.


Start walking the bead over moving along where the rim savers are.  It’s a REALLY good idea to put your knee on the tire where the bead is past the rim to keep the bead from slipping off as you work your way around the tire.


Eventually you get to the last section of bead.  It’s the hardest too, but just be patient.  Move the irons around and you’ll find the perfect spot where it suddenly just slips over the rim.


[/Redneck Tutorial on changing out front tire]

[the_Journeyman]

[Redneck Tutorial on changing out rear tire]

I usually find the rear tire to be a bit tougher to work with than the front.

Put the rear tire on the three boards like you did the front tire.


Get the jack in position under the hitch just the same as the front.


Once there is space to insert a rim saver, put one in place.  Otherwise, when the bead suddenly gives, the jack will slam down against the rim leaving a nice mark.  If you haven’t yet, spray the entire rim/bead area with the soapy stuff.  


Now, put a tire iron in at the end of a rim saver (but still on it of course) and start to pull the bead over the rim.


Get a second on in there to so you can coax a bit more bead over:


I find crushing the tire into the deepest part of the ri =m opposite the irons is pretty much necessary.


Now, you should be able to add a second rim saver and wedge in an iron a few inches from the other one.


Once again, once you have the tire pulled to the point it doesn’t want to slip back on, grab the rim with one hand and the tire with the other and give a mighty tug and hold the pressure.  If it won’t start to slide over, re-apply the soapy stuff and do it again.  If you’re as strong as a good mule, the bead  will slowly start to slide over rim.  Keep the pressure on until slips over like this.


Put the rim savers back into place, and just like the front, slip the irons through from the backside of the rim, just like before.


Start with one iron, and start pushing remaining bead off.


Add a second iron for more pressure:


Grab rim and tire as before


Put pressure, add an iron, hold irons down to concrete with knees:


Once you can slip your hand in between the rim and tire, do so.  DO NOT let up on the irons held by the knees.  Your fingers will thank you.  Now, give a mighty tug and hold the pressure again.  It should slowly start to slip by and pop right off.


Now, to mount the new tire.

Spray rim & bead liberally with the soapy stuff.


Press the bead over the rim as much as possible like before.


Put rim savers & irons like shown, push them over and the bead should slip past the rim


Other bead.  Put on as much as you can by hand.  Then, start using irons like shown to start pulling the bead over.


Work the bead over one iron at a time:


Once you lack the last few inches, you can put the irons in place and pop the bead over:


[/Redneck Tutorial on changing out rear tire]

[the_Journeyman]

[Redneck Tutorial on reinstalling front tire]

Support tire and put axle in position to be pushed through:


Lube axle


Lube bearing on speed drive side:


Ease axle into place:

Make sure speedometer drive is in place:


Torque axle to proper settings:


Torque pinch bolts to proper settings:


Remount caliper(s) and torque to proper specs.  (sorry, no pics, forgot to snap as I went)

[/Redneck Tutorial on reinstalling front tire]

[the_Journeyman]

[Redneck Tutorial on reinstalling rear tire]

Put sprocket assembly back in cush drive


Clean and grease hub


Support tire & move into place


 Roll forward as far as possible and slip chain back on sprocket (yes, mine should be replaced soon)


Pull rear brake hanger into place and push axle through.  Be patient, it’s not as easy as it sounds.


If necessary, gently persuade with a rubber mallet


Align rear wheel. I use a piece of angle iron laid on the chain and rested against the front and rear portion of the rear tire:


Once aligned, torque to spec


Put rear caliper back into place and torque to sped:


You should be done!

Don’t forget to pump front and rear brakes to get the calipers re-settled and ready to grip.

Take a low speed shakedown ride to see everything is in good shape.

Don’t forget to recheck axle & caliper bolts after a couple rides for proper torque.

[SDkid]

I've done car wheels professionally before, and balancing them took a special machine. How did you do this yourself with your setup?

Nice write up.

[the_Journeyman]

My rims are balanced and I use the paint dot method to get the tires as close to balanced as possible.  This bike won't go past 115MPH, and I've never felt any balance issues, even at higher speeds.

JM

[Nubes]

Can't wait to read the comments

[jaxduc]

I say good job

[ungeheuer]

   I've heard of your bead breaking method before, simple but effective.  Love it  .

I wanted to be able to remove a tyre on my DR650 alone, using just the hand tools I can carry on the bike (so clearly your truck, its tow hitch and scissor jack are not an option  ).   Found I could do everything with the tools I had onboard.... except break the effing bead.... I huffed... I friggin' puffed.... but no joy  .

I eventually resorted to using one of these..

..which has now been added to my onbike tool kit 

[koko64]

Good work and entertaining!
Yeeehaa!

[The Mad King Pepe']

I find the title of your topic misleading: a proper 'Redneck' would not use a jack. He would have a few beers, invite his friends over, have some more beers then they would all start stomping on the tires to break the bead, jump on the rims instead, have some more beers, try again, fall on their asses this time, get pissed and finally set fire or shoot the damn thing. 


Mods, how about we put this in the Tutorials section?

[IRISH]

I have to agree, much too informative.

Not enough of the gratuitous "redneck" motifs.

[the_Journeyman]

Well, I figured cheap beer & a 4x4 pickup was close enough.  That coupled with the fact I live in the NC mountains.

Forget about setting the new bead though.  It take a lot less pressure than a lot of people think.  Front seated with just 20lbs, and the rear with 22lbs.  Can't be a volume thing either, I only have a 3-gallon compressor.

JM