dont build your own, your just asking for an injury accident

 

we used to put this really thick green snot on tires, then it traps the air and the tires seat when being aired up. then you scoop the snot up and put it back in the bucket. i used it to do a tractor tire. used the whole bucket, recovered 85% of it and put it back in.

Matt

 

I bought one on line, it is a solid rubber ring that will fit on several sized rims. It has a cross section of about two inches or so. I just slip it over the rim after the tire is on the rim and lube it up with soap and air up the tire, as the bead seats the ring pops off of the rim (quite wildly sometime), but it works fine.

 

I have built several using air tanks off of trucks 1 1/2 in pipe abd ball valve flatten end of pipe and weld a piece of 1/2 in angle on the end to lay against the rim. always lay tire on a bucket or block holding it off the ground so the bottom bead is against the rim works better than anything else from lawnmowers to tractor tires.

 

Way back when we had an inflatable rubber tube closed on both ends with a latch that was put around the tire, snugged down, and then the rubber tube was inflated to pull the beads up on the rim. Once the bead seated, it was removed and inflation finished. Worked slicker 'n owl*****.

Find it here - scroll down to "Bead Expander":
www.flandersco.com/Images/PDF/170-Tire-Wheel-Tools-Supply.pdf

 

Those rachet band straps, fat greased "O" rings, sleeves are all totally useless. When mounting new 12.00 x 16.5 tires they can have 5 inches between beads vs 9.75" rims, no way unless you explode seat them which I want nothing to do with or to be around.
I made a blaster 10 years ago for app $7 vs the $385 they wanted back then, the cost of a mini gauge and a 1/4" NPT inflator valve.
I used a 20# propane tank, welded half of 2" coupling, close nipple, 2" ball valve, close nipple, the other half of the 2"
copling to a dust pan looking nozzle that has a rim radius at the end. Welded a piece of 3/8" x 3/4" bar stock to bolt a handle to the tank, bolted the bottom to the base ring at the bottom. The nozzle starts out at 3" x 3 1/2", ends 1/2" x 10" wide. Water tested to 350 psi good enough and safe for 145 psi operating pressure I use. With over 50 big rig tire seatings plus personal vehicle tire seatings this is one handy tool I can not work without.
The blast ring on commercial tire mounting machines could not seat these new 12.00's, the bead seater did in a instant. Works on wheel barrel tires.
It's loud and kind of cool as there is a fog created at the wide nozzle when emptied plus the price was right with a free valve and materials just some Tig welding time. I enjoy making tools.

Here are a few photos of the bead seater I made, hope it helps.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h2...TSkyline/1.jpg
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h2...TSkyline/2.jpg
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h2...TSkyline/3.jpg

 

A can of ether and a lighter are the best way to seat the beads on 40"+ tires. Stand the tires up, fill them up with ether, then run a trail about 3 feet away from the tire. Light the trail and stand back! Works like a charm.

 

Brake cleaner and a lighter...but thats a trail fix in my mind. At the local les schwab they seat em for me for free.

 

Beemer, that is cool, thanx for the pix!

 

Put cheetah air tank into ebay search and you will get a generic form of it for less than 150.00

 

http://www.tsissg.com/Product-catego...=Bead%20Seater
Some intresting reading and viewing the different models plus their videos on each.

Note; CH-5 Cheetah $415 tank only, another company had it for $374.
Other brands for $150 made in China?
Call me cheap the $7 it cost me to build my bead seater.

 

I hated it when I worked at a small engine shop and the cheap *******s that sold us tires started to crush them all down widthwise to save space. I never needed a bead seater until they started doing that, as rachet straps always did the trick. Of course, my boss ended up buying a cheetah bead seater from them. Funny how that works.

 

When you guys are using the air blast bead seaters, how do you get the BBs in?

 

Nothing wrong with making your own as long as you use good components and retain the pop-off valve for sure. Mine's a little heavy but the new tank was a freebie so I live with it since I don't use it daily. I wrestled with straps and everything imaginable for years before seeing a Cheetah tank and making my own ........ works every time now!! Notice mine has the 125 lb pop off valve and a pressure gauge. As stated above, 60-80 lbs usually does the trick.

 

^^cool, did you do the welding on the tank?