Mounting 16 inch wires

[Vanspeed]

I am ready to mount my 16 inch wires with my firestones and I usually would take them up to discount to do them, they charge me 50 to mount all 4 but I was wondering if you guys mount them yourself with spoons? I would love to mount them myself but last time I did it I used some model A spoons and I punctured 1 of the 4 tubes somehow. What do you guys think?

[Charlie Stephens]

I mount my own. Unless you have a tire dealer that really knows what they are doing with the old cars you could definitely do a better job yourself. If you take them to a modern tire shop just be sure they mount them with tire irons. If some new employee puts them on an automatic tire machine you will end up with bent rims.

Charlie Stephens

[59ab]

I mount my own. Use some liquid soap around the beads and large rubber hammer. Just be carefull. You can do it.
Eddie

[David J]

Remember the baby powder on the tube . David J

[slobroy]

Google it on you tube. there's one on there that a guy uses trash bags over the rims and pushes it on.

[32phil]

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I mount my own also. Probaly done 2 dozen tires over the years. I put the wheel on the rear of my roadster ( no fenders ) and then after I put the backside of the tire on.. I use my floor jack to carefully put the weight of the car on the tire and force the front of it into the drop center of the wheel then pop the top of the tire over. Oh yeah ....gotta watch out for the tube the whole time. Tire guys always cut the tube......always. I have a set of Coker Classics to mount I might try the trash bag trick.

[sturgis 39]

Be sure to line the red dot with the valve stem otherwise it will look like you do not know what you are doing.

[Vanspeed]

I have no red dots on my firestones. I will go ahead and give it a try I guess.

[Flathead Fever]

　
　
　
I just did the front tire on my Ford 8N tractor last week. I used a large “C” Clamp and some dish soap to break the beads. If the tires are really old and hard as a rock you can cut around the sidewall with a sawzall. Remember the beads and possibly the tread will have steel in then so just cut the side walls and then you can deal with getting each of the beads off one at a time.

Valve stems on tubes are either centered or offset to one side. On your ‘35 rims they are offset, inflate the tube before you install it to verify which side of the tube faces outward. Remove the valve stem core and deflate the tube. Some guys like to sprinkle baby powder on the tube, the theory is it will act as a lubricant between the tire and the rim. I worked as a fleet mechanic and we never used it and I never saw any of tire shops use it, but that does not mean it’s not a good idea and that I was not doing it wrong for 30-years? On all the tubes we had in our fleet, the sun and smog always rotted away the valve stems before the tubes went bad. Check the rims for any sharp edges or rusty spots that could wear a hole through the tube. I always cleaned these spots up with a roloc disc. I once found a cigarette butt left in the tire of a semi-truck, it eventually wore a hole through the tube, so if your drunk wait until your sober to mount your tires.

You might want to wrap the lip of your rim with some kind of tape to protect the paint. You can pull the tape before the final inflation. You could also slit a piece of hose so it locks onto the rim lip where the spoon will be used. I use a plastic rim protector that came with a set American Toque Thrust rims I bought years ago. Many of rim companies ship their rims with a plastic ring snapped onto the rim’s lip to protect it from the gorillas at the tire shops.

A drop center rim is designed to aid in mounting the tire. Once you have half of the rear bead mounted make sure that the bead is positioned in the center of the rim, this recessed portion of the rim allows the other half of the bead to come forward enough to slip over the front edge of the rim. If you remember to try and keep the back half of the tire down in the drop center it will make your job a lot easier. I leave the tube out of the tire until I have the back bead of the tire mounted. I begin by setting the tire on the rim and push the rear half of the tire down with my two knees. Then I use two tire spoons to gradually work the bead over the lip, each time I rollover a section of bead I move my knees closer to this spot to keep the bead from popping back up. Both beads will try to go on at the same time so keep pulling the upper bead away to make sure that just the rear bead is going on. Once I have the rear bead on I lift the tire up and insert the tube. Once the tube is in the rim I Inflate the tube slightly and run my hand around in there to make sure the tube did not get wadded up or twisted on there, then I deflate the tube. Next I install the outer bead, same deal as before except you really need top pay attention not to pinch the tube. I hold the back half of the tire down with my knees. I push the tube down to make sure it is not pinched between the tire spoon and the rim. Do not stick the spoon in any further than you need to. If you get the spoon too far in there you will have to wiggle it around to get it out and you could tear the tube.

Position the tire and tube so the valve stem is straight. When I first place the tire on the rim I like to line the “S” in the Firestone with the valve stem, Then later on I line the Ford script on the hub cap with the valve stem also, it just looks neat. Inflate the tire until the beads seat, then let all the air out and inflate it again. This is to make sure there are no wrinkles in the tube. When you inflate the tire you will here air rushing out around the valve stem, your first thought will be that you have torn the tube but hopefully it is just the air escaping from between the tube and rim.

Jerry

[sturgis 39]

Originally Posted by Vanspeed

I have no red dots on my firestones. I will go ahead and give it a try I guess.

My Firestones came from Coker and they are bias tires. They came with the red dot on the side wall. I had to be eight years old when my dad was changing tires on mom's model "A". He bought his tires from Montgomery Ward. He told me about the red dot and valve stem. Some of the dots were faded on my 16" Cokers. I touched them up with a paint pen.

[PeteVS]

I haven't done this more than a couple of times with irons back in the day, but one tool I bought back then was a "valve fishing tool." It's a hunk of speedometer cable with a fitting on one end that screws onto the valve stem and allows you to pull the stem through the rim if it gets lost during the tire installation. I remember that happening at least once.