replacing NDT tire myself???

[NAM VET]

FEDEX delivered the NDT two days ago, the flap and tube are in a separate order, to arrive in a day or so. There was a flap stuck down in the tire, and thinking the tube had fallen out, called Vintage tire, and he told me that they remove the flap before they ship the tires, as they can fall out, and said they must have forgotten to remove this flap. So have another one coming with a new tube in a few days. He just said to keep the spare flap. I am going to buy some chain at my local Northern Tool, and slowly fill via a remote air line. Going to go slow. I cleaned and painted my rim and will just spray any scratches. I may make my own You/Tube about this adventure. Made up a wooden cross device to elevate the rim a bit, since most video's show this makes it easier to get the ring on. The flap and tube were not expensive from Vintage tire up in Hershey PA. I have been reluctant to go on any trips without a spare. Wish me well.... Hal

[signsup]

Best of luck with your tire installation.

But....if something were to happen, can I have your truck?

Seriously, I have dealt with Vintage Tire in the past on Model T and A tires and tubes, they are good people. I purchased my four flaps on eBay and they are coming from PA, so may be them. $34 a flap plus shipping and tax is a little more than I paid for the correct bent brass valve stem tubes. I got Speedway tires at right around $200 each. Not looking forward to reskinning my three Chevy G506's at 9 tires each with front duals.

[Cal_Gary]

FEDEX delivered the NDT two days ago, the flap and tube are in a separate order, to arrive in a day or so. There was a flap stuck down in the tire, and thinking the tube had fallen out, called Vintage tire, and he told me that they remove the flap before they ship the tires, as they can fall out, and said they must have forgotten to remove this flap. So have another one coming with a new tube in a few days. He just said to keep the spare flap. I am going to buy some chain at my local Northern Tool, and slowly fill via a remote air line. Going to go slow. I cleaned and painted my rim and will just spray any scratches. I may make my own You/Tube about this adventure. Made up a wooden cross device to elevate the rim a bit, since most video's show this makes it easier to get the ring on. The flap and tube were not expensive from Vintage tire up in Hershey PA. I have been reluctant to go on any trips without a spare. Wish me well.... Hal

Having had two flat tires over one Summer in my M37 I fully support not risking a drive without a spare, as you just never know.... Would love to see your video of this, Hal!
Gary

[John Mc]

I set my rims on top of an old M37 brake drum when reinstalling the tire on the rim. THe drum was not quite tall enough, so I added a 2x4 on top of the drum. The extra 1.5" made the perfect height.

One the tire, tubes and flaps were fully on the rim, I lifted it off the drum before installing the lock ring. I was able to "stomp" the ring on easily, once the tire/wheel was laying on the floor. Then chain it up and and use a locking chuck to fill remotely. I stopped at about 10-15 PSI to check how it was seating, then inflated to about 20-25 PSI and re-checked, then filled it to me target pressure.

[NAM VET]

Done, well mostly. It wasn't hard to put in the tube, add a few pounds of air, then fitted the flap, then slipped the whole thing on a freshly cleaned and painted rim, pulled the fill stem thru, then stomped ring on, then tapped around, looked to be fully seated, then ran to ten pounds with a chain on. I am going to the Rolex 24 tomorrow, so will finish this safely. I will give more details on how this went when I get back. But it looks all tightly locked on the rim itself. Now I am a bit tired. Back in a few days with more specifics. Hal

[NAM VET]

having my morning coffee, so now to explain how I mounted my NDT. I had had a truck tire shop guy remove the not-too-old STA NDT and ring, which tire suddenly popped a bit great bulge. Just a defective carcass. So cleaned, primed, and painted the rim and ring. Got another STA from Vintage tire, with a new flap and center brass stem tube. It wasn't hard to finagle the tube into the tire, massaging it here and there, then I slightly aired it up and it seemed to fit fine. I wanted to be sure I didn't have any creases in the tube. It wasn't much harder to then wiggle the flap in, tucking it in, then again some air to make it expand a bit to fit just right. I used the little valve stem tool to let air out and then replaced the valve stem when I needed to massage both tube and flap into where they were smooth and even.

Utube video's showed how it was easier to mount the ring if the rim was up a few inches, allowing the other side of the tire to drop down, so made a little cross piece of 2 inch square wood I had, fitting it to the rim. It was troublesome to get the valve stem out thru the rim, perfectly in the slot in the rim. Finally, I let some air out, and used some wooden sticks to push the stem so it was tucked into the tire, then was able to line it up and and then pull the stem up thru the rim's hole. Made up some soapy lube, and I was able to spin the tire to line things up, and then push down to semi-seat the tire on the lower rim.

I put on some boots, and easily stomped on the ring to "seat" it on the rim. But there was one small area which was several mm from appearing to be fully seated. So I put in a few pounds of air, and whacked on the ring with a small sledge, using a block of wood to limit damaging the rim. I added a few more pounds, more "lube" and with wacking on the ring, at about 8 PSI the ring seemed to be pushed up to seat tightly in the groove all around. Put some chain on the whole thing, and ran it to about 9 psi, where it sits now. I will add more chain and carefully fill and wack when I get back from Daytona's Rolex 24 this weekend. Then take it to the tire shop to have them balance it.

Tools needed: something bigger than a house hold hammer, ie, a small sledge. A valve stem core remover/installer, to allow All the air out when it seems to help. Some sort of thingy to raise the rim up several inches, allowing room to manipulate the valve stem. Choice of safety chain, good pressure gage. Hopefully a remote air chuck, from Harbor Freight or Northern tool. An occasional prayer. I could do it again in about a half hour.

My wife mentioned that it seems it is an endless effort and expensive truck to own. Oh, yesterday I finally got the Ruger 44 mag carbine I have wanted since I was much younger. Wife won't know about that until I am safely away to Daytona.

Hal, aka NAM VET

[sturmtyger380]

an endless effort and expensive truck to own

- But anything good is an effort to own.

Wife won't know about that until I am safely away to Daytona.

- Uh Oh, you sure the truck will be there when you get back home? Maybe compensate with some jewelry?

[NAM VET]

all ready to put back on my truck. I was a way to the Rolex 24, and today I "chained Up" the tire/ring/rim. Went to a Harbor Freight, bought some chain and six of the big locking D rings. Cost about 40 bucks for that. Then wrapped the chain around the whole shebang, then added some left over swing chain, and decided to tuck some moving blanket under the chain, sort of what is a good idea when using a taut winch cable, to reduce cable whip. I found my clip on air chuck just wouldn't fit on the fill stem, so just aired it up slowly, pounding on the ring as I went,. But the ring seemed to be securely locked onto the rim itself. Plenty of soapy water. A bit of advice. I wound my chain very tightly, with almost no slack then used the D rings, and found when the tire was fully inflated, it was very difficult to un-hook the D rings. Had to let about half the air out to allow the tire to shrink back down enough to unhook the chain D rings. Just a suggestion, leave enough slack to undo your hooks and D rings. Ran it back to 40 psi, then took it to a truck tire shop, who balanced it for $35. He said they actually do split ring and split rim tires, for next time. Although, now that I know how to do it, and have the chain and such, I may just do my own if necessary. I am cleaning and painting my front drum now, will put it on in a day or so. Then put the old front tire back up as a spare.

Here, a pic. Hal,,,,
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[Elwood]

Good idea to use chain, but that stuff looks a bit on the light side. If you've watched any of the online videos of tire/rim inflation explosions, you can see how much energy is released in fractions of a second. Personally, I won't use anything lighter than Grade 70, with same-rated hooks. Around here, the box stores (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) don't carry chain of that rating, but I have found it at farm supply places such as Tractor Supply.

[John Mc]

I just used a single 20ft 5/16 grade 70 chain and wrap it in a spiral around the tire, passing it through each hole in the rim, around the outside of the tire, and back through the next hole, then attach the grab hook near the other end of the chain when I'm done. A 20 ft chain is just about perfect for 11.00 x 16 tires on stock rims.

[Cal_Gary]

When I was in the Army we'd drive a deuce, or M37, or M715 front wheel (of the vehicle) up on the entire assembly in order to keep the ring from launching into space.
You could always stop by a fleet tire shop and ask to use their tire cage too.
Gary

[NAM VET]

All good suggestions for the next time. Which I hope is along time from now. I did wrap my chain multiple times around where the ring ends were, it doesn't show in my pic. hal