Wheels Powder-Coated and Tires Mounted

[Rocntj]

My weekend project last weekend was to get 8 tires mounted on my newly powder-coated stock wheels. Project was a success for the most part. Mounting the tires was not very difficult and I still have all of my body parts so it was not as scary as it sounded in some posts that I have read. Here are some photos of the operation.



Here are the wheels that just came back from the powder coater. The color is good but the finish is a little shiny. He said that if I bring some more in he may be able to dull the finish a little to match the original OD color.



Here is the cheap HF tire machine that I used to break down the eight wheels. I have been unable to get the night one broke down. I think it may car to a commercial truck tire shop along with the remaining wheels that are still on my trucks. As noted in previous posts breaking these tires down can be a real bear. I only had one that came apart easily. Hopefully with the powder coating on the wheels all future tire changes will be much easier.


Here is a Michelin 11x16.00 XL tire prior to mounting. I bought a set of five of these tires from a local MV enthusiast who said they were too large for his M37. They are big tires and heavy - will not get much sidewall flex with these.


Here is the tire mounted on the rim with the lock ring ready to be installed. The biggest difficulty I found with the mounting was getting the lock ring installed without totally scrathing up the coating.


I tried installing the first one with a bar and quickly found that that did not work very well.


After trying several different methods I finally found that standing on the ring and using a porta power to separate it made for a clean and easy install with only minimal paint chipping. Also it helps to have an assistant to pump the porta-power - I did one by myself but quickly found that I did not have enough hands and feet to keep everything in place.


I wrapped a chain around the wheel and ring prior to inflating the tire in case it tried to come apart on me.


I found that a couple of taps on the tire when you first start inflating it helped the bead slide over the ring. Once the bead is over the ring it is locked in and really cannot go anywhere.

[Rocntj]

Here is the finished product five Michelins and three NDT's mounted on newly powder-coated OD lock ring wheels.



Next step will be getting these mounted on my two trucks and getting the other nine wheels broke down, cleaned up and coated. My plan is to get one set of good NDTs for each truck and a set of better daily driver tires for each one.

One question I have for those who have done this is that I noticed that the nuts on the valve stems of the last couple tubes that I installed were loose. I am not sure what the purpose of these nuts was but I snugged them up and installed the tubes. I did not check the first six that I did but they are all holding air. Hopefully it is not a big issue.

[militarypotts]

You! are a brave man. This is something a novice should never attempt. Glad it worked out for you. The wheels look great. Maybe some photos of the tires and wheels on your truck. Good job.

[jeep690]

Wow those wheels look great! I bet it cost a pretty penny too! But you get what you pay for right? I'm jealous!

[Duane]

mounting the tires with the lock rings is not really a dangerous job, its not like the dangerous split rims as used on larger trucks. I have done the M37 and m715 wheels for our fire dept brush trucks many times.

nice job on the wheels!

Duane

[kyken]

Looks great!

Is there a product that brings the "black" out on tires? I can find "tire shine" but I don't want the shiny look, just blacken the rubber on the tires.

[Rocntj]

I agree - this was my first time mounting them and it did not seem that difficult or dangerous. Once the tire bead slides over the lock ring everything is pretty much locked in place. You have to exercise care like you do when mounting any type of tire and wheel combination.

The biggest problem I had was getting the lock ring back on the wheel without scratching the coating up. Thats when I came up with the porta-power method that worked great. It about killed me getting the old tires off the rims so I am hoping that the powder coating will make it easy to change tires well into the future.

[Don Cavey]

... so I am hoping that the powder coating will make it easy to change tires well into the future.

Very optimistic that you will wear out tires! Sounds like your truck isn't a Garage Queen. Nice looking job.

[fishtail]

Good job there. I can send ten more out your way if you want....

Scott

[glenn]

Good job there. I can send ten more out your way if you want....

Scott

I can bring some down too for you to practice on. I wouldn't even charge you for training materials, aren't I a nice guy.

Man that stack of tires all mounted on those pretty rims sure looked like a lot of work. I started sweating just looking at them. I remember changing 1100x20 NDT's on M817's when I was in the service all by hand. I found out that I didn't want to be in the tire business when I got out. And people told me I was just wasting my time being in.