Mounting R4's

JimR

Member
Today I learned a new way to seat tires that will not seat on the rims. I will not take resposibility should you try this and injure or kill yourself. I had two brand new Carlisle R4's mounted on my Cub Cadet wheels today. The company could not get the tires to seat on the rims. The sidewalls were so stiff that they would not come out. Yes, the tires were the proper size for the rims. They were 27x10.50x15 6 ply tires. I left the place with my tires and rims mounted. I told them that I would get them sealed. When I got home my buddy was there waiting for me. We tried the strap around the outside of the tire to force out the sidewalls. That didn't work. We got one side seated and couldn't get the other side on. We even tried the inflated bicycle tube in the losse side. That didn't work. All of a sudden he said," Do you have any lighter fluid"? No was my reply, but I do have carb cleaner and starter fluid. So here is how we seated the tires. I squirted a small amount of ether into the valve stem with the core removed and lit it with my propane torch. The tires went boom and seated on the rim. It only took about one or two seconds to put enough ether into the tire. I could not ignite it using the valve stem. I did ignite it by putting air into the valve stem and lighting the fumes coming out of the leaking bead. This worked on both tires. I never laughed so hard after we got these on. It was so damn simple that it is down right funny. He told me that he had done this on his dumpster truck tire once when it lost air pressure and broke the bead. He did it right on the truck without removing the dual rear wheels. YES, this could be very dangerous. I also found out that too much fuel will not ignite. The fuel to air ratio has to be right to ignite. Using the air in the valve stem solved that problem. As I stated earlier in this post. You do this at your own risk.
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
:eek: :D Good thinking. Glad it worked for you. :thumb: :beer:
When it's cold like this and the sidewall is that stiff that sounds like the perfect solution. :tiphat:
 
B

bczoom

Guest
That's actually a common technique.
I do it slightly different. I don't use the valve stem in the process. I just spray the ether in where the rim and tire are separated and then put a flame to it. Once it explodes, your tire is mounted. Heck, it's half inflated as well.
 

JimR

Member
That's actually a common technique.
I do it slightly different. I don't use the valve stem in the process. I just spray the ether in where the rim and tire are separated and then put a flame to it. Once it explodes, your tire is mounted. Heck, it's half inflated as well.

I just watched a ton of videos on You Tube of guys doing this. What a riot it is watching others. Off roaders were using that technique to re-seat and inflate tires without removing them from the vehicle..
 

Cowboy

Member
Gold Site Supporter
I,ve done it several times that way before & Quickly learned to not to do it in the shop :hide: . I had one tire that was frazzled on the inside edge & like to never got the fire out :pat: . Glad it worked out Ok for You . :tiphat: Bob
 

Brutus

Member
Old tire guys used to do that to seat truck tires when they wanted to get stubborn. However, they'd spray the starting fluid in and toss a match in there. Same result. Ya just can't be bending over the tire when ya do this trick. Eyebrows DO grow back, just not real fast! :pat:
 
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