Michelin XL bead wont set

[TheWarTapes]

Well, I have been waiting anxiously for my Marsh wheels and they finally showed up. I have new Michelin 12.5-R20 tires and the steel Marsh 20" non-beadlock off-road wheels. I dropped everything off at the tire place and gave them 2 days to mount them. When I arrived to pick them up they had 2 of them all done. They claim they could not get the beads on the other 2 to seat using their air blast bead seating tank thingamajig. I was confused. How is it that 2 of them were a success and 2 were not? One of the tire techs told me those wheels are not compatible with my military tires and they were meant for a bead lock. Then WHY are 2 of them fine??? He said they put 150psi to them weithout success.
Any thoughts?

Mike

[fishtail]

If you have a choice of another tire service place, take the two unmounted rims and tires there. Don't tell them anything about the other two mounted ones. See what they can do.

Scott

[maximum destruction]

the thingy ma jig is called a cheetah. u can mount them u'reself with a little either. just don't overdo it. a little goes along way.

[TheWarTapes]

Actually ether was the first thing I tried when I got home. Ifyou could have been a fly on the wall you would have peed your pants watching the whole comical affair. I lit the match and the whole deal just caught on fire! I ran around in circles and within 1 second I think I said every curse word in 6 different languages. I blew on it, spit on it and finally gave it a burst with the extinguisher! I spent the next 15 minutes cleaning up the mess only to do it again! I am a slowwwww learner. I have done this before a few times and WHOOMP! it worked like a charm in the past. This starting fluid must be made out of diesel fuel or something. I'll head to another tire place tomorrow.

[maskale]

for the sake of it, i would measure the wheels and tire, just to make sure something is not off. Two framing squares makes it easy to measure something like the bead of a wheel. Did you or the tire shop try some lubricant? Although seems 150 would seat anything if it was going to.

[TheWarTapes]

They said they applied 150 psi but I'm not buying it. I think their cheater was too small. I didnt see any lubricant on the rim or the tire when I picked them up.

[kwai]

You need the starting fluid that contains ether. Some of todays starting fluids don't. A ratchet strap around the circumference of the tire can also aid in seating the bead.

[kwai]

And take it to a truck tire shop. The first guys you used obviously aren't very good or the job would be done.

[Pineyguy]

I never used this method on anything as stiff as an XL but maybe it'd work. Lube up the bead really good- soap and water, spray lube, whatever. Get a ratchet strap (you probably would need a very heavy duty one), wrap it around the tread and tighten it up until the bead hits the seating surfaces of the rim. Try putting some air in and see if the bead pushes out. If not, tighten some more. If air is leaking out in one spot, and you can tell where, whack the tread in that area with a little sledge while the air is going in. Its worked for me before. I think the problem with big tires and cheetah type seaters is that they hold such a big volume of air you lose the outward push you need. Putting a lot of air quickly into a tire that holds a lot of air normally doesn't have the same effect as it does on a normal size tire.

[maximum destruction]

u need to be careful with a strap also if it has a metal hook on it. i used a come-a-long once to mount a 44 swamper on an 18 in. wide wheel. when the tire got enough pressure to seat, the come-a-long exploded & i ended up with the hook sticking in my arm between the 2 bones. happened so fast , it didn't even hurt. removing it was another story.