Changing your own tires

Its been a long day and these are not the best pictures but here is how it works.

First deflate the airbags then place jack stand here.

After that flip your switch to inflate the airbags. Tires are off the ground ready to change.

You can not do this with a trailer hooked up.

 

I understand that. I watch our tire guy and he makes it look easy. Real easy. I know better.

 

i do my own tire work. only exception is a tire that gets totally trashed and cant wait till i get home. otherwise ill just shove some plugs in it on the road and when i get home ill pull it apart and patch it. when i put new tires on i do them myself. its really not that hard but there is some skill to it.

the big reason for me is i SAVE time by doing it myself. no sitting around a tire shop for 2 hours before they even pull you in, i can mount 8 tires in that 2 hours i spent waiting in front of the door.

i have a couple video's on tires. some of you guys have probably seen them before i have posted them on the forum before so if you have seen them already just ignore them...lol

the tire changing video is really just a demonstration. i intend to do another one at some point that is more of a instructional video.

this one covers tools


this one is a demonstration of changing tires. with the same tire tools talked about in the first video.

 

makes a lot of sense i never thought of jacking a truck up like that before i know i have gotten a bottle jack stuck under a drive axle unintentionally like that before. took me a min to figure out why the jack went in when i jacked it up and now would not lower far enough to get it out....lol

sometimes i do outside duels like that for a flat repair. don't even really need a jack just drive the inside tire up on a 4x4 block peel it off patch it and put it back on.

 

It works. I've done it, but I will not anymore unless I'm in a emergency. I used to do that as a standard practice until a few weeks after I had put a steer tire on to get me by I had my tire guy over and put two new steers on. When he popped the valve core out he told me to come over, and said that he knew I'd been using either. I said yes, but asked how he knew and the air coming out of the tire smelt like it had quite a bit that hadn't got burnt. I went out and bought a bead blaster that afternoon.

 

I do steers, drop axles, and outer duals bolted up. Unless there's a really stubborn inner bead.

 

All you fellas that pay someone else to do the work do you ever watch the the guy mount your tire...do they check to see if the bead is set properly?? Yeah I've broke them back down because sometimes things don't go as planned. Do they position the tire off the little sticker? Most don't. Do they mount it on the truck 180 out on the inner valve stem? Do they use centering studs? Do they hammer it on with a one inch impact and at what pressure? Do you even look at it when they are done or do you just get in and drive?

I'm sure you all check it with a torque wrench a couple three hours later. I don't trust the minimum wage tire guy anymore then the tech at the shop with the new shiny toolbox. I'll do my own wrenching....

 

We change all our own tires.

If I'm in a hurry, I can remove the old tire from the truck or trailer, dismount, mount a new tire, and put it back on the truck or trailer in about 10 minutes. $25-$35 is a lot of money to pay for 10 minutes worth of work, plus the time it takes you to go to the tire shop and wait on them to change it.

Having the proper tools makes all the difference in the world. Don't buy your tire tools at Walmart. We tend to like the Ken-Tool brand the best. Then you're going to need a air compressor and 1" impact wrench. We also like the air operated hyd jacks, they don't cost that much more over a standard hyd and are much more user friendly.

We've still got a couple of trucks and trailers with stud piloted wheels. To change a outside tire on them, you don't even need a jack, just run the inside tire upon a block of wood. On a hyd RGN, you can block under the trailer beams and work the neck to raise the tires off the ground.

 

I've seen this too.