Tire questions

Two questions: First, is it reasonably possible to change front and rear tractor tires at home without a tire machine? I have a loader tractor with down pressure and a number of assorted pry, pinch and crow bars. Second, has anyone bought tires from tiretown and were you happy with the deal? I am looking to get usable tires on a Farmall H and can't seem to buy used ones locally. I'm in NY state so I don't know if the shipping would be more than I'd save by buying used. Thank you all very much for your patience with my questions.
Zach

Rear tires are easier to change while on the tractor. But that is relative - it is not 'easy'. I've done a few, and tend to pick up the phone now and call the service truck. Breaking the bead on those when the tire has been on 20+ years is not fun - and I have the manual tire tools.

Front ones typically aren't so bad. They often do not have a 'safety lip' on the bead like a car tire has, and come off reasonably well.

--->Paul

Miller tire will deliver free when they go to a tractor show. According to their web site, they were in N.Y. twice last year. Not sure how close they were to you.
I've changed tires dozens of times by myself. As you have guessed, having the proper tools makes all the difference. Most of mine were made from steel rod, a torch, a hammer and a grinder.

toughest part is breaking the beads on the old tires. with the loader and down pressure, it should not be a problem. i do all my own and just use a handyman jack to break the beads. when mounting the new tires, i use ru-glyde tire lube, but murphys oil soap also works. in a pinch, dishsoap and water works too. take your time and be careful so you dont pinch the tubes when mounting the new tires.

I'm with Paul. Rear ones are not that bad. leave them on the tractor. Large cold chisel and hammer, large screw drivers and several such pry bars. Tire tools if you have them. If small tires are on a safety rim--buy a machine. Some here will tell you to use a jack under a bumper on them, I have for 20 years offer 5 dollars to any one that can show me that they can do that. I have no takers yet. My buddy uses a hand impact hammer on them, but he is a big fellow.

heres how i do them with a handyman and a chain.
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car tires will work on a car with a bumper jack. done quite a few of em. the handyman works on rears best, front tires you can usually just drive up over the tire to break the bead.
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I need to shift some around, at least some of which are loaded. I've been assuming the smart move will be to call the service truck, as I really don't have anything to deal with 80-odd gallons of CaCl2 solution (16.9x28). I also assume that new tubes would probably be a smart investment.

For front tires, I just yank them and throw them in the truck, and have a regular tire store swap them, since they are about the same as truck tires. The rears are a bit unwieldy (especially when loaded) for that.

Front tires are not to bad - they don't usually have as much rust holding them on as rear tires do. I had to patch a calcium rotted rim and replaced the tires at the same time. Even after I sawzalled through the tire bead (tire was ruined and I was cutting off that section of the rim) I still had to sledge hammer the tire off the rim. Couldn't imagine tryig to get that one off in one peice.

The only problem with "Tire Town" is that they seem to advertise a lot of tires they don't have in stock.

http://www.tiretown.com/rearfarm1.htm

I called for a year on their 13.6 X 38s and they never had one in stock.

couple years ago a fellow yt guy sent me his trick for breaking rusty beads. take the tire and rim out away from anything, lay it down on its side. pour about a cup full of gasoline around the bead so it soaks in by the rim. dont light it, just let it sit over nite. the next day the bead breaks pretty easy. the gasoline softens the old rubber.

Make sure to collect your $5.00. Putting a jack under a bumper or other heavy object is used by a lot of people to break the beads on tires. I've done it but usually it's less hassle to just take them to a Tire shop. Dave

Thank you all very much. The tires shouldn't be rusted on the rims in my case as the previous owner had the rears off to paint the rims and changed the fronts to ones that hold air before he traded with me. I'll have to see what I can do to find tires for the rear. If I buy from Miller or a local dealer the price will be in the vicinity of $500 a piece and by the time I buy two I'll be broke and have spent as much on tires as on the whole rest of the tractor. I suppose it may come to that, though, in the end. I'm still hoping to find usable used tires around here somewhere, but I am starting to have my doubts.
Zach

Generally people don't swap them until they are scrap (or long past that point - self included.) But occasionally they come up on craigslist or the like. Even more occasionally those are in a size you want and somewhere nearby. If you are not in a hurry, keep your eyes open. This time of year you can buy time with a set of chains if there's anything left of the old tires.

These old tractors tend to run with the tires they have until the tires fall apart. So - tough to find anything used worth putting on.

Any more, $500 is cheap. Tires have really gone up in price, the hot ecconomy made the raw materials in short supply the past 5 years; now that the world ecconomy has cooled off the USA put an embargo tax on tires from the Pasific Rim. While not directly applying to farm tires, it seems all tires are rising 30% in price. Hum.

--->Paul

There are "Bead-Breakers" available to bust the bead loose...
I can borrow an air-powered bead-breaker from my local shop when I need one..
Ron..

Farmall 9.5 x 24. I thought would be hard. Took to truck stop and guy beat em off with sledge hammer. He said only hard part is don't hit the rim edge. Looked easy. Small ones I have run over or used bumper jack. Try not to rush if you want to keep all fingers and toes. Lotta good advice above posts.

You will likely find the rear tires easier to get on and off the rims than the front. We've handled everything from 4.50-14s to 18.4-38s ourselves with nothing but hammers, crowbars, and screwdrivers. What you don't want to get into is aircraft tires. Dad and I cut the bead twice on one and couldn't get it off the rim.

I used to teach Hydraulics at a local Tech
school. We wern't allowed to fail the "loosers"
as it would hurt their "self esteem". One of
the loosers got a job at the Monkey Ward tire
center. They sold tractor tires then. I saw him one day, beating off tractor rears with a sledge
hammer, and lots of tire irons. Thats the way
they did in in the 60's. Young people today don't
know what LABOR is!It pays to stay in High School.

I have put new rear tires on 3 of my tractors here as well as taken a couple apart to fix tire and /or rim , as well as many car,truck,implement and wagon tires, all by hand. I always take the rim off the tractor to break the bead - never had any luck getting them broke with rim on the tractor.I use a handyman jack under drawbar or truck bumper to break beads, tire irons to bar the tires off/on as well as a small sledgehammer.Dish soap/water or tire lube to lube bead helps - I sometimes use a little grease sparingly on tires going on real rusty rims - it slows down the tire from rusting back on as bad and have never had a problem although many people frown on this practice. Other ways to break beads are a large slide hammer with proper end on it or tire hammer - special sledge hammer. I have changed many large truck tires over the years with the tire hammer - you dont want to hit the rim with one. I have found the handyman jack works better on rusted on tire beads. The other replies covered most of it. Are your current tires loaded - then you have to drain them first - save fluid for the new ones. The only other advice I have which isnt already mentioned - tires are alot easier to work with when warm - so if you dont have a warm shop to work in, you may find it better to wait till spring unless you have aflat or damaged tire that wont make it till then. I agree with the others - you may find a deal on used tires if you keep looking- craigs list and swap sheet are good places to look in Central NY.You may also want to call a farm tire dealer - they may have decent used tires they took off - some times if a person has a rear tire go bad they replace both and the tire man has a good used tire.