Popping on a Tire Bead

DelMN

Member
Has anyone out there used the method of starter fluid and fire to pop the bead on tires? I see it all over on youtube and looks fairly easy. A lot easier than with compressed air for the stubborn tires. I'd like to try but value my health. Looking for comments.
Thanks and Merry Christmas!
 
I have a generic "Bead Cheetah" I paid about $75 for that makes the job EASY, with no EXPLOSIONS involved.

Might be worth considering if you are doing this even occasionally.

Similar to ebay # 232441384503.
 
My son used ether on the inside rear of a spreader truck this past summer. Sprayed too much and luckily he used a lit paper towel on a stick to ignite. Tire blew up and he could not hear for a while that day.
Richard
 
I made one myself from an old 10 gallon air tank, a couple of valves, fittings, and a piece of 1 1/2" hose.

Truth be told, I've never had to use it, all the tires I've mounted since have popped by themselves.
 
Sad to say we have tried it. Didn't work like YouTube! Who would have thought. Hayride wagon last fall had a tire go down over night. Didn't discover it until too late , couldn't get it to seat , nothing was working. Too far back to home or town to fix. Had a caulking gun with silicone in it. Caulk around rim ,air it up good to go! Uggggggggggghgh. Maybe shouldn't have told that one! Lol.
 
as a disclaimer.......i will phrase it like this. lotta guys use it to seat beads. the local brand starting fluid no longer has the woof to it, powers that be dumbed it down. however , john deere dealers still sell the good guy 80 percent starting fluid. has the good woof in it to seat beads. yup, thats what i heard , lotta guys do that.
 
I have seen the tire guy apply what looked like a five gallon bucket of Murphys oil soap around the bead to get it to seat . Soap product exploded all over tire shop.
 
Wow, they sure do get expensive if you scroll down far enough! How would a large ( 1 inch) ball valve, hose and nozzle right off a 10 gallon compressor tank work? Keep the hose short, maybe 5 foot?
 
Maybe everyone does this but the first step in setting a bead is to remove the valve core.

If you try "booming the bead" make sure you post a video on here.
 
A customer of mine tried to do that with a 30.5x32 combine tire. 1 can wouldn't do it so he tried 3 cans. He blew the tire completely off the rim, had 3rd degree burns on his exposed flesh, melted his plastic Pioneer seed corn hat. Cost him a Dr bill + a new tire. I had the new tire on and inflated in 20 minutes after I got on the job site. I had a 15 gallon aluminum bead cheeta on the truck to mount TL rear tires. Do you know the DOT will shut down every truck that they find that has a smell of either in the tl tires. Yes they do check them. I cannot count the times I have been to the dot scales in the interstate de mounting tires and remounting them, 24/7. The fine is tremendous and I got paid before the truck left the scale site.
 
Have your life insurance up to date if you do. Giving up body parts isn't my idea of a good day.

Starting ether is explosive, most of the carburetor cleaners now won't burn so if shooting some in an intake doesn't fire try to light it.
 
Now here is a question for all of you. How in the word do those field techs get something the size of an earthmover or 400 ton quarry truck tire to seat? Boggles the mind a little. Bet it takes a half an hour just to pump one up.
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I have never had the guts to try that . :shock: A ratchet strap tightened around the tread and used to spread the beads against the rim is much safer .
 
A 1/4 npt female air coupler just barely screws on to an air/liquid or large bore earth mover valve stem. Gives a whole lot more air into the tire than a normal tire chuck.
 
Use it once in awhile it?s hard to find starting fluid with enough ether in it anymore to even pop a tire the John Deere brand is 80% ether and will pop a tire it does not take much more than a wiff to pop a tire on the bead I make a little trail of ether from the tire across the ground and then light it like a fuse and you don?t have to be anywhere near the tire if it?s a real stubborn one hook the air to it first then pop it
 
I have done it in the past, but never again.
I was fortunate that it just burned the hair off my arms and my eyebrows. As someone else mentioned, most starting fluid is 50 percent or less. I haven't tried the Deere starting fluid, maybe it will seat the bead instead of just TRYING to burn. DOUG
 
Not a big fan of doing it, but done it many times. Watched a guy at an environmental cleanup jobsite where I was welding use 3 cans to seat the bead on a rear pan scraper tire. Worked, and worked well, but I'd never try that. That's a whole lotta ether
 
Not good, the trick is in controlling the recoil. Had a fitting blow off a one inch line. The thing like to beat a couple of folks before they got clear of it. It had an industrial 1000 gallon tank, and we couldn't shut the valve up line since other machinery was running.
Best to have a solid connection like the Cheetah has.
 

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