My old Sears riding mower needs some new tires. They are 18" x 8.50-8. Are these things really hard to change on the rims? They look like they would be difficult. Would I probably be better off buying new tires already on new rims?
This guy makes it sound like it's not too difficult but he's worked for John Deere and has lots of experience:
Those are fairly easy. It's the smaller 410x350-4 that are the real pains. The center part of the rim is the smallest diameter. Just make sure you have the tire bead down in that center part before prying the other side over the edge of the rim. A couple of large screwdrivers or prybars will do the trick. I doubt you can buy them already on the rim and if you can they will cost a small fortune. Any L&G shop that sells the tires can also install them. We used to charge $7.50 for installation on top of the cost of the tire.
Just read your link and it sounds good to me. The only time we ever changed the tires while the rim was still on the machine was when they were seized on the axle and didn't want to come off.
Sears sells an inner tube for this purpose. Also, I tried Slime and it didn't fix the leak.
on 8/7/2009 7:32 PM (ET) Ulysses wrote the following:
For some it would be hard, for others, easy. See here for the technique on a scooter wheel.
Sears sells an inner tube for this purpose. Also, I tried Slime and it didn't fix the leak.
I'm afraid these tires are beyond Slime or inner tubes.
$7.50 I could live with. I called a local discount tire store and they wanted about $25 to change each tire. That would come to around $50 per tire (more or less) and for just a little more I've seen them selling with new rims. There's a lawnmower/small tractor shop in town--I'll see how much they want to change them. I generally call them last because their prices are usually the highest.
I never did before it and it was a bit difficult but doable. Same size Sears tire too. I put in an inner tube.
Key is breaking the bead on both sides so the advice of leaving it on the tractor is good, and would have been easier for me. Once you get both sides loose, it is fairly easy to pry off, even with screwdrivers, which is what I used.
GA
I did it! Twice, so far. Or three times. I guess it doesn't count untill you get the tire back on there ;-) I used some water and detergent to make things slippery and did what you said--first break the bead on both sides. The first two were easy once I realized how much lower the wheel is in the center of the rim which gives you the needed room to work. The last one I did was very difficult to break the bead because it had a tube inside and was very rusty. I'm guessing the previous owner used a bit too much soap and water and didn't dry it out first. So now I need to remove the rust, smooth it out with some steel wool, and paint it before putting a tire back on there. Plus I need to install a valve stem to make it tubeless again. I now have little fear of simply buying the tires and doing it myself.
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