Changing 4 wheeler tires

Any of you guys have tricks for breaking the bead and replacing the tires on a wheeler?
Tubeless tires, so I should be able to use a couple pry bars once they’re loose on the rim.
thx.

I use a tire changer and it seems to work fine.

Run the tire over with your truck to break the bead. Or what ever else you have to run it over with.

As a redneck bead breaker for field repairs, I use an off-road/farm HyJack and the receiver hitch on my truck.

Put the foot of the jack on top of the tire near the bead. Place the jack’s “saddle” under the hitch and start jacking until the downward pressure on the foot breaks the bead.

Invest in a good set of tire spoons/irons and then work them with a file anmd sandpaper to remove all sharp edges.

Tire lube is your best friend. I had always used dish soap and then on a whim I tried some pro-grade stuff and it changed my life.

Or per onestrout’s comment, a Harbor Freight tire changer pays for itself very quickly if you are willing to change a few sets of tires on your own. I figure I’ve paid for my tire changer 10X over with all the DIY tire changes I’ve done over the years where I would have had to take the tire to a shop. The one downside is you have to have a very solid mounting base which takes up space.

thanks for the tips–I’ll get some of the special soap, and try the hylift jack, I think.

I bought the Harbor Freight tire changer, the bead breaker arms were too soft and bent easily, so I bought some angles and bolted them on to stiffen the arms which worked well and was inexpensive. Once the bead is popped its very easy to take the tire off with the tire changer.

3/4 done
-used a wood 2×6 and piece of flat metal plate, and WD40 to break the beads with vehicle driving up the board.
-took multiple trys with the bead spray and rotating the tire…the board would push down, but adding the metal plate closer to the bead gap would eventually pop it down.
-tires removed from rims easily with two large screwdrivers.
-cleaned rim bead area with wire brush
-warmed up the new tires
-Applied lubricant to tire and rim
-tires pushed on by hand
-Inflating went well on 3 of the 4 tires, but last one arrived in shipping with two warped areas that would not lay flat (simultaneously) along the bead, even with two ratchet straps around the tire.
-tempted to try the starter fluid “POP” method on that last one today.

I will be giving it a try myself when I get home from hunting.My local dealer wanted $50 a wheel if I took them off and brought them there. I never asked how much more they were going to charge since they are beadlock wheels.

done…I tried the two straps around the tire–still wouldn’t seal.

I got the last tire to seat the bead when I used starting fluid squirted inside the gap, with one strap tightened in the middle of the tire tread.
it didn’t POP, but the bead moved out to the rim enough that I added air through the valve stem, and then I removed the strap…what a fiasco.
added more air, and the bead snapped tight around the rim….then I reduced the air to the suggested running PSI.
Good luck guys, hope this helped someone else.

The beadlock on my Mule 610 tires must be more than what 4 wheelers have, it took a 500 pound 3 point winch with 500 pounds of front end tractor weights on it to break the bead. My antique tire changing stand couldn’t break the bead. I took the rims into a tire shop to have the new tires seated as my air compressor didn’t stand a chance

I had time to do 2 tires on my sxs last night. I believe the Beadlocks actually made them easier with only one bead to break. Which did take a little work but wasn’t bad. Seating the bead was easy with a strap around the tire and a well lubed bead my little pancake compressor easily seated the bead.

dbright wrote:

I will be giving it a try myself when I get home from hunting.My local dealer wanted $50 a wheel if I took them off and brought them there. I never asked how much more they were going to charge since they are beadlock wheels.

And that, right there, is why I do it myself. I bought the tire changer when the tire shop nearest me quoted me $30 to change a trailer tire spare that I brought in to them. They’ve never seen a dime from me since.

A tire dealer by my hunting property will do changes for $20 cash, which I feel is fair and I have them change all my farm tires.