home made bead breaker

[the snooper]

I've got tyres on the disco that seem to have particularly soft sidewalls and the beads on the alu rims are, well, enthusuastic...

They defeated one tyre fitting place completely (gave up and said they couldn't do it) and a neighbour (who used to do agri fitting) tried with 'the good old lump of angle. After walking 15 feet to retrieve the bit of angle for the nth time after it bounced out, he gave up too.

I got the beads broken by using the machine in the fitting place I used to work, but they were the most awkward I've ever been presented with.

If anyone who reckons a bit of angle is foolproof and will never damage anything fancies a go, pm me and I'll let you have my address - I know which wheels I'd like as replacements when you fubar them

Seriously, if you're prepared to put your money where your mouth is, I'll let the air out and you can have at it, on or off the car (I'll even do the reseating if they're in a fit state to use afterwards, and supply a cup of tea.)

ive had some disco rims that you have to constantly turn on the breaker to get the bead to go, they aint easy at all

 

[brightspark]

work in progress tacked up. all cut with 1mm slitting disks *-even the round plate

 

[Member 66061]

My breaker took about half an hour to make, from what was lying around, scrap. It has been breaking bike tire beads for about 7 years now, without causing any damage. I wouldnt let anyone with a mallet near my bike rims.
There were only two bike shops, one in town, the other 20 miles away and both didnt like changing tires they didnt supply. The local shop charges £25 a wheel!
Naturally, i said ******** to that and learned to change them myself. Ive never balanced them, never had any problems.
Theres a new shop in town and he charges £15 a wheel, loose, still do them myself.

 

[sardine]

When I first read the title I thought it said bread maker and was a bit confused when I opened it to see those pictures

Nice work!

I did as well, i expected an oven, and a crusty loaf.

 

[colnerov]

I've got tyres on the disco that seem to have particularly soft sidewalls and the beads on the alu rims are, well, enthusuastic...

They defeated one tyre fitting place completely (gave up and said they couldn't do it) and a neighbour (who used to do agri fitting) tried with 'the good old lump of angle. After walking 15 feet to retrieve the bit of angle for the nth time after it bounced out, he gave up too.

I got the beads broken by using the machine in the fitting place I used to work, but they were the most awkward I've ever been presented with.

If anyone who reckons a bit of angle is foolproof and will never damage anything fancies a go, pm me and I'll let you have my address - I know which wheels I'd like as replacements when you fubar them

Seriously, if you're prepared to put your money where your mouth is, I'll let the air out and you can have at it, on or off the car (I'll even do the reseating if they're in a fit state to use afterwards, and supply a cup of tea.)

Hi, yes. It's usually the ones with soft sidewalls that have given me the most grief, Vredesteins are one of the makes that have them.

Colin

 

[graffian]

Hi, yes. It's usually the ones with soft sidewalls that have given me the most grief, Vredesteins are one of the makes that have them.

Not a Repco spanner user are you;-)

15" goodyears were terrible to get off with a bead breaker, I have seen all sorts of cruel thing being done to try and get them off the bead, I
haven't had any for years but I seem to remember it took very little to get them off the bead if you were pressing the right way, yet tyre machines
just slide off. I took my slicks to a mate who managed a tyre service, all their expensive kit failed to break the bead, I cobbled together my first tyre
changer and had no difficulty breaking the bead. No pics of that one but here's on I put together to do several sets of land rover tyres, it works a treat.

The post goes in my engine crane, the wheel goes over the post and the bent bit of fork tube thingie pin's to the hole in the post. The hinged bit breaks the bead.

 

[colnerov]

Hi, yes, I agree a lot of it is technique. In the early days before safety beads I used to use a large screwdriver and went round the tyre walking the bead down. Then I got a slide hammer type bead breaker which that was easier and sometimes would go with a single blow. Now I have a lever type I made and have fettled it. Nowadays there aren't really any tyres that give problems. I don't do enough tyre changes to have a pedestal fixed in position so it's still done with a pair of levers on the floor.

Colin

 

[harryb94]

I think I said that I'll try to post a picture of my bead breaker. This is my longest lasting one ever, despite the shape changing a bit!
I wouldn't like to guess how many tyres this has removed (and yes, not a single tyre or rim damaged).

View attachment 77809 View attachment 77810 View attachment 77811 View attachment 77812

Sorry about the awful photo quality.

Thanks for that, I was definitely using the wrong technique, I'd only read people say 'whack a bit of angle to break the bead'. I'll no doubt be changing more in the future so will give that a go!

 

[Bill Edwards]

Thanks for that, I was definitely using the wrong technique, I'd only read people say , 'whack a bit of angle to break the bead'. I'll no doubt be changing more in the future so will give that a go!

Just make sure to round off the edges so they can't catch the tyre and grinding that angle helps it to get started between the rim and tyre - but again, don't give it a sharp point.
Hit it with the heaviest sledge hammer you have, small hammers make hard work of it and are a waste of time. Aim to hit the metal as hard as you can right on the angle (where my fingers are in the last photo). Remember that you're trying to drive the metal between the tyre and rim - which funnily enough is what most bead breakers aren't good at.
Splash some tyre lubricant on if you have some (don't use washing up liquid though as it contains salt and can rust steel rims).
One good hit and most tyres will move significantly, or come off altogether. The really stubborn ones (i.e where it's had 40 years to rust and for the rubber to harden) take a few hits and need the angle moving round the rim as the bead doesn't break fulling in one place.

 

[Gareth J]

No one else just squeeze them in a vice?!

Tilted to catch the rim behind. Bit of wood for protecting the rim if alloy.

Need a very heft vice to do wide rims but works well on narrow steelies

 

[Member 66061]

No one else just squeeze them in a vice?!

Tilted to catch the rim behind. Bit of wood for protecting the rim if alloy.

Need a very heft vice to do wide rims but works well on narrow steelies

Thats a cumbersome way of doing it. With my bead breaker the wheel is on the floor, im not having to juggle to support it.
I have to keep pressing and turning the wheel until the bead breaks, then repeat on the other side.
Its just faster and easier to position the wheel when its on the floor, and it cant accidentally be dropped.

 

[Gareth J]

Thats a cumbersome way of doing it. With my bead breaker the wheel is on the floor, im not having to juggle to support it.
I have to keep pressing and turning the wheel until the bead breaks, then repeat on the other side.
Its just faster and easier to position the wheel when its on the floor, and it cant accidentally be dropped.

All true. (Although its not really cumbersome or difficult). It looks like a smart job if you change a lot.

Think that on balance it just wouldn't be worth me making something as I don't change many tyres. Plus the vice is always right there!

 

[graffian]

No one else just squeeze them in a vice?!
Tilted to catch the rim behind. Bit of wood for protecting the rim if alloy.

A mate was a bike breaker and that's he took tyres off. I used to squidge the tyre with a jack and pull the wheel out.
Plymouth jack, this has broken a few beads in it's life. It was used under one end of my old lathe or under the front
of a land rover if you couldn't get at the end of the lathe.

 

[brightspark]

got it finished today and works well

 

[jordan1]

My breaker took about half an hour to make, from what was lying around, scrap. It has been breaking bike tire beads for about 7 years now, without causing any damage. I wouldnt let anyone with a mallet near my bike rims.
There were only two bike shops, one in town, the other 20 miles away and both didnt like changing tires they didnt supply. The local shop charges £25 a wheel!
Naturally, i said ******** to that and learned to change them myself. Ive never balanced them, never had any problems.
Theres a new shop in town and he charges £15 a wheel, loose, still do them myself.

My breaker took about half an hour to make, from what was lying around, scrap. It has been breaking bike tire beads for about 7 years now, without causing any damage. I wouldnt let anyone with a mallet near my bike rims.
There were only two bike shops, one in town, the other 20 miles away and both didnt like changing tires they didnt supply. The local shop charges £25 a wheel!
Naturally, i said ******** to that and learned to change them myself. Ive never balanced them, never had any problems.
Theres a new shop in town and he charges £15 a wheel, loose, still do them myself.

Some years ago I tool a loose wheel into the local main Honda dealer to supply and fit a tyre. Scuffed
the rim no end, must have used something as shown on here lol.

 

[Member 66061]

Some years ago I tool a loose wheel into the local main Honda dealer to supply and fit a tyre. Scuffed
the rim no end, must have used something as shown on here lol.

Maybe...
My breaker doesnt do any damage at all. Any damage is done levering the tire off and on. I use short lengths of garden hose cut down one side to try and protect the rim. Its not perfect by any means, but good enough for me.

 

[jordan1]

Maybe...
My breaker doesnt do any damage at all. Any damage is done levering the tire off and on. I use short lengths of garden hose cut down one side to try and protect the rim. Its not perfect by any means, but good enough for me.

Fine, but this was quite an expensive bike and I expected them to be competent enough not to mark the powder coated wheels. Just looked like they had used tyre levers without any rim protectors.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Very likely they did it with tyre levers. You can get 'soft' levers for delicate rims, and also protectors which go over the rim itself which you then lever against.
I hope you kicked up a stink and got something back off them for doing damage.

My angle iron method does not mark rims at all. On car/alloy (i.e cosmetically important) rims I place my steel toe cap boot on the rim in such a place that if I should miss the angle it'll hit the boot and not the rim - though I think I've yet to miss on such a job as it's a doddle when they're laid flat on the ground.
Using levers is another matter though!

 

[the snooper]

surprising what can be done with old iron

 

[cr500dom]

When I was doing Historic race cars, we had a bead breaker similar to the OP`s, but the bar had a pin on the end which just fitted into one of a few holes (To suit rim widths) drilled in the upright of our engine crane.
Board across the legs of the crane, wheel on board, put pin in hole, engage edge of breaker and push down on bar.
Then change the tyres with Levers and plenty of soap.

I have also used the angle iron method, but not on anything with soft sidewalls, on commercial, truck or Agricultural tyres this is by far the quickest method once you have the technique nailed, far quicker that the slide hammer type bead breakers.

Most people struggle to change tyres because they don't use the geometry of the wheel rim correctly, getting the tyre bead properly in the well is the key