Breaking down a widowmaker
 

I have 4 17" wm rims from my old '51 F3. I would like to mount one or two of these tires on a one ton that has the 17" 5 lug lock ring wheels. I have mounted and dismounted quite a few tires on lock ring wheels but never dealt with this type of wm wheel. Yes, I could take them to a tire shop but I live on an island where nobody does them. I plan to let the air out by clipping on a lever type air chuck and standing far away while it loses it's air through the hose. (my 22 caliber method doesn't work when I want to reuse the tire and tube) I think I can break the bead down with my skidsteer's forks, but what unlocks the two halves of the wheel after that? Thanks in advance

Similar to your RH rims. There are indents on the side ring. Here's an old Firestone instruction page. Stu

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Some thoughts
 

I actually did this last Spring. A few things:

Letting all the air out by removing the Schrader valve.

Breaking the beads this was key. Until I did this it did not work. The beads on those old tires are rather stiff.

I used two ratcheting truck straps opposite the two rivets/bumps on the inner rim. This compressed the tire and rim and it exposed the notch. Once I got the tire tool in the rim, I used that tool and large screw driver to separate the halves. It was rather easy to do.

They make it sound so easy. But I fear it's a lot of hard, knuckle-busting work.

I'm amazed Gary wants to do this after having his ticker fixed! Stu

Last week when mounting another old 17" tire on my 5 lug lock ring wheel I set the 17" wheel, ring side up on top of a 16" dually rim with no tire. This allowed me to place my forks with just the right spread on the tire's sidewall and press it downward to expose the groove for the ring. I know that getting the bead loose will be the hardest part, but that same method should expose the groove in this wheel as well. So from what I read here I assume that the 'ring' half of the wheel is sort of oval on it's inside perimeter like the lock ring on my earlier tonner wheel? When the tire shop on the mainland wouldn't mount on my lock ring wheel I told him it's not a wm, but he said they work the same. So it's about getting the narrow parts of the 'oval' pried up over the symetrically round groove in the wheel rim. Is there anything really special about the bar?

It's for the love of tires, Stu. And I'm hoping the skidsteer will do all the hard work. Look at the rags on this thing.... Seller put the 2 'good' tires that hold air on the front and jury rigged the passenger side of the rear axle to limp it onto a truck for me.

Your tire guy was mostly right, it's just a lot easier to know the ring is on an RH because you can see if it's not. And they tend to stay on where the RH-5° doesn't always, and doesn't let you see that it's fully on. It's the same tire tool. It's called an RH tool. Stu

Are my 17" 5 lug wheels called an 'RH' ? And thanks for all the help guys. The only 5 lug tonner wheels I have left here are the narrow version, so I'll wait for the panel to arrive before I will be remounting. Just trying to have as much as possible done while I'm waiting.

Yes, pretty sure all the tonner wheels 38-47 had RH rims of either the 3.75" or 4.33" widths. Stu

I would add that soaking the area between the tire and rim with a soap solution really made it easy to separate the tire from the rim......I used a solution of 25% Dawn dish soap and water and sprayed it often for a few days


Ed

Good idea! We bought a new jug on Sunday. Ever heard of using coca cola for this? Maybe a 'dawn and coke' cocktail liberally applied. I'll just go with the dawn and water for now.....

Gary; you are thinking of a different sort of lubricant, RUM and Coke!:-X03

Don't tempt me Wally :-X03 I have pretty much laid off the stuff since my heart surgery. Cardiologist says lose 30 lbs and eat smarter. Kept drinking red wine, but really slowed the weight loss. Now I'm at -20 lbs. For now the tire and wheel are drinking up their Dawn and water cocktail. The skidsteer wouldn't break the bead loose, so I'll soak it for a few days and try again. I did find the two dimples and it's pretty clear to me how it will come apart. When it's good and ready. Thanks all.

The truck tire shops have a neat tool for breaking beads....it's like a long spud bar with a sliding weight on it. Like a slide hammer. Seems to work pretty good.
You should be able to whip one up in a few minutes time........

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