This may be a dumb question, but , does anyone know how I can break the bead on my mojave's tires without any special tools. I tried like hell last night with no success. Any ideas would be great.

 

I take mine to the honda shop[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

The only way I know of is to buy yourself a bead breaker for around $70.

 

Look at NYROC's page, he has a cool homemade one. I bought one of the cheap ones and ruined it on the first bead I tried to break.

 

jlpier01 -- Which bead breaker did you purchase? Let everyone know which one to avoid! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Poor man's bead buster: Take a piece of 2X6/2X8 board. Lay it across the tire, near the wheel's bead. SLOWLY drive on to the board with your car, truck, etc. It's CRUDE, It works, I've done it.

 

Trx450 has the right idea. I do basically the same thing with atv, tractor, and truck wheels. The only thing I do differently is I like to use a leaf spring from an old 2.5 ton truck. These are thinner on the end and can slide in between the tire and wheel. I tried breaking down a 200E threewheeler tire one time and we had a 3/4 ton ford 4X4 diesel truck (weighs 6660lbs) pulled up on spring. It still wouldn't break. My 320lb friend got on the bumper of the truck and started jumping up and down. Finally it broke down. ATV's are the hardest tires to break down.

 

Here's how I break beads

 

My bead breaker was an aluminum bodied "ATV" mini tire changer from HarborFreight. I thought it would be real cool. I mounted it on the trailer, it had a quick release base. First tire, it bent like a soda can. At least they gave me my $ back.

 

I will take my tires in to have them done, but I have done what trx450 has done and it does work. The trick though is not have the tire completely flat. Leave about 1-2psi of air in the tire, then drive up on the board.