Guidance needed - Breaking Tire Bead without Specialty Tools

[CharlieS]

I'd like to pull the TPMS out of one, if not all of my stock rims, and it is tricky to get them to a shop (between the pandemic, long appointment waits, and the holidays).

I have a shop with lots of tools, but I got rid of my tire mounting setup when I got out of motorcycles. I had a nomar with a good bead breaking setup and have changed many motorcycle tires. But again, it is long gone. I still have rim protectors and tire spoons, so I figure if I can break the bead, then I should be able to carefully remove the TPMS sensor(s).

I've changed motorcycle tires by breaking the bead with a kickstand, so I know there are always other tricks.

I don't want to get too agricultural though, or do anything terribly risky.

My plan, if you all don't have suggestions, is to take a long-ish 2x4 to use as a lever arm, wedge it under a sturdy horizontal brace (2x6 screwed between exposed studs in the garage), then take a 2x8 and use it on edge as the contact surface, then use leverage to break the bead. This feels like it is decidedly on side of too agricultural...

Any tips or tricks that will save me from this rickety contraption would be greatly appreciated.

This is related to my ongoing TPMS replacement saga, if I can get them out of the old rims, I have a plan to make the system happy to shut off the light until we are out of the pandemic and I can get the proper fix in place.

 

[rusty87]

Sledgehammer will work. Just watch your aim.

 

[Ratchey]

A jack (highlift, bottle or similar) placed between your tire and hitch can break a bead. You can also drive over the tire to break the bead.
A well proven method is to drop the pressure to a couple pounds and then do a power slide in the dirt or sand, but I don't recommend this one.

 

[highfructose]

If you know how to swing a maul, you can debead the tire with one whack pretty easily.

I’ve seen some videos online using a ratchet strap and a floor jack...plus the above mentioned hilift trick

 

[Sandroad]

Funny, I’d worry more about resetting the bead. That‘s where stupid often shows up.

 

[CharlieS]

I'm not worried about any of it, and I've seated many beads (never needed to resort to starting fluid, but have watched others do it).

Honestly, with the crap no name tires on these rims (thank you Lexus dealership that sold the vehicle to me) these may never get reseated again.

 

[TLC2013]

I had success using the Factory bottle jack to break the bead. I have dissent bumpers so the tow hitch is exposed and Is to apply downward pressure on the bottle jack and sidewall. I started by removing the valve core to deflate the tire. Info is in this post:

What have you done to your 200 Series this week?

I recently picked up a couple gallons of their oil too. Haven’t used it yet. Maybe next oil change. can’t beat the price. Any idea who makes their kirkland oil? I believe Kirkland synthetic is made/blended by Warren Distribution

forum.ih8mud.com

I used a softener to eliminate the metal on metal between the jack and tow hitch and also used a piece of 2x4 to distribute the pressure on the tires side wall. Make sure you don’t break the bead too close to the valve stem or you will snap off the sensor inside the wheel, royal PIA to fish out.

 

[afgman786]

HiLift works, could use your sliders as the point to use to push down. Or if you don't have a HiLift the factory bottle jack could do the trick also

 

[TLC2013]

Here are a couple pictures of my process

 

[KLF]

I've done the Hilift trick with a friend on the trail, stick the snout of the jack into your trailer hitch receiver so it can't fly away from you. It's surprising effective, just be careful. Much safer if you can get someone to help you steady the Hilift while you pump the handle.

Many years ago I watched a guy do the lighter fluid party trick. Scary but impressive.

Funny/kinda related: I'm doing a renovation of a sunporch on my house, and am stuffing 2" XPS rigid foam into a slot in the framing that unfortunately is only about 1-3/4" wide. Tried crushing it with a scrap of 2x4 and a BFH, that didn't work very well, that stuff is stiff. So, I'm using a bottle jack under the BudBuilt sliders to smoosh the stuff down 1/4". It's ghetto, but it's working!

 

[CharlieS]

I tested these ideas on the spare. I'm guessing this is an original spare (Dunlop Grantrek) since it doesn't match the other four tires. The tire was ON THERE good.

Sledge - failed. Jack under trailer hitch - failed. High lift - don't have one to try.

What I got to work was a 2x10 used as a ramp backing the cruiser up onto it. I had to get the 200 nearly on top of it before the bead let go.

So the upside is that I broke the bead. The downside is that I had the board too close to the sensor and I snapped off the TPMS.

 

[TLC2013]

I tested these ideas on the spare. I'm guessing this is an original spare (Dunlop Grantrek) since it doesn't match the other four tires. The tire was ON THERE good.

Sledge - failed. Jack under trailer hitch - failed. High lift - don't have one to try.

What I got to work was a 2x10 used as a ramp backing the cruiser up onto it. I had to get the 200 nearly on top of it before the bead let go.

So the upside is that I broke the bead. The downside is that I had the board too close to the sensor and I snapped off the TPMS.

View attachment 2531774

Nice job. Thanks for sharing the pic. Did you remove that valve core from the stem ?
I embarrassingly broke two sensors off before I learned my lesson to stay clear of the valve stem when doing this work. Good idea to test this out on the spare first.

 

[bloc]

Nice job. Thanks for sharing the pic. Did you remove that valve core from the stem ?
I embarrassingly broke two sensors off before I learned my lesson to stay clear of the valve stem when doing this work. Good idea to test this out on the spare first.

Is your picture a good representation of the Position we should look for?

Alternate idea: use the truck on a 2x10 to break the bead 180 degrees from the sensor, then use the factory jack to more precisely push the tire down in the spot needed to do the work? Any issues with this method?

 

[CharlieS]

Nice job. Thanks for sharing the pic. Did you remove that valve core from the stem ?
I embarrassingly broke two sensors off before I learned my lesson to stay clear of the valve stem when doing this work. Good idea to test this out on the spare first.

Yes, I removed the valve core and let all the air out before doing anything else. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I learned a thing or two.

 

[CharlieS]

Is your picture a good representation of the Position we should look for?

Alternate idea: use the truck on a 2x10 to break the bead 180 degrees from the sensor, then use the factory jack to more precisely push the tire down in the spot needed to do the work? Any issues with this method?

I would recommend against the position I used, so close to the TPMS sensor. Your idea sounds like a much better approach - breaking it 180 degrees from the sensor would have most likely preserved the sensor.

When the bead let go on this one, it let go all around fairly dramatically. Once it was broken loose, I could manually press down on any spot on the circumference, so I could have easily removed the sensor at that time.

In the past, using a manual lever based bead breaker, I've had them require popping the bead in multiple spots around the rim before it'd break the circumference loose. I guess the mass of land cruiser has a different result.

 

[bloc]

Yes, your idea sounds like a much better approach - breaking it 180 degrees from the sensor would have most likely preserved the sensor.

When the bead let go on this one, it let go all around fairly dramatically. Once it was broken loose, I could manually press down on any spot on the circumference, so I could have easily removed the sensor at that time.

In the past, using a manual lever based bead breaker, I've had them require popping the bead in multiple spots around the rim before it'd break the circumference loose. I guess the mass of land cruiser has a different result.

It also might be different on account of your spare tire being a P-metric road oriented tire with a very thin tread surface that can fold easily. Anything LT or AT/MT would have a much stiffer sidewall and tread area.. it would probably let go more gradually.

Plus, you had a ton of weight on that board, and the ground being the only restriction on how far it could go once the bead started to break. With a jack or bead breaker you are only moving small amounts.

All of this makes me want to go try it on my spare tire to see what would happen..

 

[KLF]

Bummer that it busted the sensor. Since the valve core is removed and the tire has zero pressure, could you unscrew the collar around the stem of the sensor and push it inside the tire to protect it? Just wondering.

 

[CharlieS]

Yes, you could, but then you have to figure out how to fish it out. There is a tool made for pulling valve stems through that (if I had one) might be handy for keeping the TPMS on a leash so it could both be out of direct danger and be more easily retrievable. It is a short cable with a handle on one end and a handle on the other. Now that I type that, you've got me thinking: I could probably make one with a length of old bike brake cable or wire and a spare valve cap...

What's that saying about hindsight being 20/20.

 

[grinchy]

I broke a sensor during the tire mounting process on the 125 load duratracs. They're surprisingly fragile things.

 

[grinchy]

you can compress those grandtreks with a clamp pretty easily. That's how I was making enough space to uninstall and install the TPMS.

i was using a large irwin quick clamp and two screw type pipe clamps

as tire load increases so does the force needed

7 year old Michelin p metric - very easy
10 year old grandtrek - easy
5 year old E rated 125 load duratracs - medium
brand new e rated 129 load - need a tire machine