[telemike]

Yesterday I heard an unmistakable "sproong" from the front wheel as I hit a rock in Rockville Hills regional park. Yep, a spoke was broken.

This morning, I went through the usual struggle to remove a Maxis 27.5 x 2.8 tire from WTB Scraper rims. The vice trick finally worked.

If this were on the trail, I'd still be there wrecking my hands and teaching the local kids lots of new words.

What if I were to rub paraffin wax on the seating portion of the rim before I put the tire back? Has anyone tried this? I'm tubeless of course.

I do carry a tube on the trail but an large industrial vice at about 60 lbs may be a bit extreme.

 

[Nat]

Did you try popping the bead and using a lever? Kidding.

I don't have an opinion about the paraffin idea but I feel your pain. I carry thick tire plugs and hope they'll seal a puncture when I get one because I don't want to rely upon being able to pop the bead to insert a tube out on the trail.

Once I finally got my last tire off (by cutting it apart with a blade) I saw that the rim had two layers of Gorilla Tape all the way to the bead and I think that may have contributed to the difficulty of removal. My new wheelset has tape in the center ending just before the beads and I can remove tires from those pretty easily.

 

[127.0.0.1]

wax will make that blow off the rim while landing or cornering hard

not recommended. a big part of bead security is rubber sticking to the rim...and if you use soap water to fork the bead during install, that soap dries up and is a little sticky...but wax will never dry up like that. wax is a lot of slippery and it will be trivial for your bead to roll off rim under extreme load

maybe put wax on just a 4 inch piece on one side but not full rim

 

[mikesee]

wax will make that blow off the rim while landing or cornering hard

Stop it. That's silly.

 

[Forest Rider]

Yesterday I heard an unmistakable "sproong" from the front wheel as I hit a rock in Rockville Hills regional park. Yep, a spoke was broken.

This morning, I went through the usual struggle to remove a Maxis 27.5 x 2.8 tire from WTB Scraper rims. The vice trick finally worked.

If this were on the trail, I'd still be there wrecking my hands and teaching the local kids lots of new words.

What if I were to rub paraffin wax on the seating portion of the rim before I put the tire back? Has anyone tried this? I'm tubeless of course.

I do carry a tube on the trail but an large industrial vice at about 60 lbs may be a bit extreme.

What exactly is the problem?
You mention a struggle but no mention of what the struggle is.

How much experience do you have with tire removal? (good to know in case this is your 2nd time, or 100th time).

I have Maxxis 2.8" tires (EXO) on 40mm WTB rims.
As a test a week ago, I removed the tire, installed the tire and had 25psi in the tire in 5 minutes. (no sealant).

Bead breaks no problem working my way around the diameter. Pops off no problem with a tire lever then my finger pulls the bead from the side.
Installation is also easy, just takes a moment to ensure tire is in the well. I air up with a hand pump with one hand while holding the tire in my other hand (so it's not sitting on the ground.

 

[rockcrusher]

There is this: https://www.amazon.com/Kool-Stop-Tire-Bead-Jack/dp/B07SSDPFD9

be worth throwing in your camelback just for safety. I just ordered this because this thread and my difficulties in getting a pair of gravelkings mounted on HED wheels.

 

[Forest Rider]

To clarify my previous comment. I'm not trying to say I'm an expert tire changes. Definitely not the case. Just meant that for me, the 2.8" tire is quite a bit easier than smaller tires.

I posted quickly earlier but because of the IP error, I have to log in for every post I make and didn't have time to log in and update my post before leaving for work.

 

[Nat]

There is this: https://www.amazon.com/Kool-Stop-Tire-Bead-Jack/dp/B07SSDPFD9

be worth throwing in your camelback just for safety. I just ordered this because this thread and my difficulties in getting a pair of gravelkings mounted on HED wheels.

How do you work that thing? Is one enough to install a tire at home or would multiple be better? Loading up my cart now...

 

[Nat]

Look at what this discussion caused to show up on my computer:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H6HMPR...&pd_rd_r=3b5fb2c8-01dd-421f-aca1-f2a813e08080

Try it and let us know how it does.

I like that the ad states, "Conveniently sized for occasional and travel use."

You know, just in case you're on vacation and might have to mount some tractor tires...

 

[rockcrusher]

How do you work that thing? Is one enough to install a tire at home or would multiple be better? Loading up my cart now...

No idea but I actually broke a park tool tire iron trying to get a new pair of gravelkings on my hed wheels. I have installed thousands of tires over my life and this was literally the tightest tires i have ever installed. They were so tight I had to use a compressor to seat them and pushed them to the limits of pressure to get them to seat. As I have 2 pairs of these wheels and like the gravelkings I am willing to try this device and see if it is worth it. If it can save me a projectile piece of blue plastic flying across my garage then it will be worth it.

 

[rockcrusher]

Look at what this discussion caused to show up on my computer:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H6HMPR...&pd_rd_r=3b5fb2c8-01dd-421f-aca1-f2a813e08080

Try it and let us know how it does.

I like that the ad states, "Conveniently sized for occasional and travel use."

You know, just in case you're on vacation and might have to mount some tractor tires...

This looks perfect. I will put one in my seat bag, just in case.

 

[Nat]

No idea but I actually broke a park tool tire iron trying to get a new pair of gravelkings on my hed wheels. I have installed thousands of tires over my life and this was literally the tightest tires i have ever installed. They were so tight I had to use a compressor to seat them and pushed them to the limits of pressure to get them to seat. As I have 2 pairs of these wheels and like the gravelkings I am willing to try this device and see if it is worth it. If it can save me a projectile piece of blue plastic flying across my garage then it will be worth it.

Tires have been my nemesis lately. I was recently trying to install a Maxxis tire with DH casing and I used a set of Pedro's DH levers, which are long and made out of steel. I ended up marring the heck out of the rim tape and still couldn't get the damn thing mounted. I took it down to my LBS where I watched 2 of the employees basically mugging the tire and wheel on the ground to get it mounted. They only charged me $10, and in hindsight I should have gone there right away rather than even bothering to do it on my own.

 

[749800]

How do you work that thing? Is one enough to install a tire at home or would multiple be better? Loading up my cart now...

It has instructions on the package. Briefly, you mount the tire on the rim until you get stuck. Then you straddle the tire with the jack, with one side on the rim that has the tire bead completely mounted, and then you use the tool to stretch the other side up and over the rim, instead of breaking your fingers. It is still a struggle, but at least you aren't crippled with pain for three weeks.

I don't think it would be possible for one person to use more than one of these at a time.

 

[richj8990]

Tires have been my nemesis lately. I was recently trying to install a Maxxis tire with DH casing and I used a set of Pedro's DH levers, which are long and made out of steel. I ended up marring the heck out of the rim tape and still couldn't get the damn thing mounted. I took it down to my LBS where I watched 2 of the employees basically mugging the tire and wheel on the ground to get it mounted. They only charged me $10, and in hindsight I should have gone there right away rather than even bothering to do it on my own.

I have the same problem, and am resorting to two relatively blunt screwdrivers to get them on, one jammed into the side of the rim to keep the bead/casing from coming off that side, the other to slowly lever the bead on the other side one inch at a time. If you are careful it will work w/o damaging the rim, a few minor scrapes but not any real damage. I actually keep two screwdrivers in my pack now because of the flat tire trail nightmare walk of shame avoidance. I may never use plastic levers again, have snapped more than one on these on TR tires and rims.

 

[rockcrusher]

There is this: https://www.amazon.com/Kool-Stop-Tire-Bead-Jack/dp/B07SSDPFD9

be worth throwing in your camelback just for safety. I just ordered this because this thread and my difficulties in getting a pair of gravelkings mounted on HED wheels.

I just want to update this to note that i used it to seat a Schwable one gravel tire on my HED wheels last night and I dented the rim. This thing allows too much force to be exerted on the rim bead, especially an aluminum. Now it worked to get it on there, it just fubar-ed my rim a lot. I didn't realize it was denting the rim until I had not only dented the rim flange but then accidentally pulled it over the rim and dented the top of the rim somehow, twice.

So it works but it can also destroy your rim pretty easily. Lesson learned, use bead wax on stubborn tires before using this tool, and be extra careful using it to set a tough tire. The schwables are the hardest tire I have ever mounted in my life and ultimately I pull them back off because i couldn't get them to seat either. I ended up using a gravelking instead and still had to use the bead jack, though carefully this time.

Now I get to buy a new wheel so I got that going for me.