I'm installing new tires and can't seem to get the bead to seat. I've tried using a strap on the tire and such. Any advice on other tricks? BTW, it's an 8" tire for my snowmobile/ATV trailer, but I'm pretty sure the method is the same as ATV tires.

 

Take it to your tire shop and let them use a Cheetah on it. Kinda like the starting fluid thing but safer.

 

take it to someplace incredibly cold (like below zero fahrenheit) and light a lighter, and shoot some kind of aresol spray through it, then aim at the tire. it will heat up the air inside the tire, causing it to inflate very rapidly, seating the bead and making the whole thing jump off the ground. i saw this on discovery channel, its what some team of scientists did when they were crossing antarctica or something, they had some bad a$$ 4x4's. easiest thing to do would be to take it to ur local tire/automotive shop.

 

Crobiker almost has it right, the starting fluid thing. This is not reccomended but I have done this and it works, and scares the cr@p out of everybody else in the shop. You spray starting fluid inside the tire(a little bit) and a stream out like a fuse. Take a match and watch the woomph expand the tire out on the wheel. DON"T DO THIS TAKE IT TO THE TIRE SHOP

 

Crobiker, I saw that show too[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] it was a Toyota, custom built for that trek. That was cool, the way they seated the bead and inflated the tire.

 

Be careful.................................

 

I seen that too. The thing that really boggles my mind is that they had these thousands and thousands of dollars worth of equiptment put on these vehicals to handle the trip and abuse. And they knew that they would be running low tire pressure on the ice. Why didn't they invest in beadlock???????? Or even the central tire inflation system (CTIS) that the Hummer H1 uses? I just didnt understand that.

 

I have dented the roof of a sleeper on a peterbilt doing this. 2 of us had an hour into seating this 11r24.5 truck tire when we got pist. A little to much ether and those things will do cool stuff.

There is alot of safer ways than starting fluid.

 

Have you gottin it yet?

 

When you put on your tire use plenty of soapy water and then air it up to the max psi(or a little more)......and if that doesn't work, bounce it a little or strap like you said. If it still doesn't work, take the pressure out and soap it up again and try it again......sooner or later you will get it.