Bead Breaker For Garden Tractor Tires

Bead Breaker For Garden Tractor Tires TIRES/WHEELS Handling 30-2-30 "I always had trouble getting small tires off garden tractor wheel rims, so I designed a bead breaker out of an old car wheel rim and some scrap steel. The small size and one-handed operation make it easy to use," says Dane Paul, Meredosia, Ill. The bead breaker consists of a 7 1/2-in. wide, 3 1/4-in. deep section cut out of a car wheel rim, with a 3/4-in. wide, 1 3/4-in. deep metal handle welded to the top of it. A 4-in. sq., 1/2-in. thick steel plate is welded to the handle above the wheel rim. It has a big chunk of metal which the operator strikes with a small sledge hammer. The other end of the handle is flared to make the handle easier to hold onto. To break the bead, the operator holds onto the flared end of the handle with one hand and, with a sledge hammer in his other hand, strikes the plate. The wheel rim part of the bead breaker then penetrates between the wheel and the bead to break them apart. "Just one strike of the sledge hammer and the bead is released," says Paul. "I came up with the idea because I often had trouble breaking the bead on garden tractor tires. The tire is so small that you can't stand on one side of it without it squirting out from under you. I had been using a commercial bead breaker designed for car tires, but it was too big and didn't work very well. You can buy special small wheel adapters for bead breakers, but they're quite expensive." Paul notes that when he attached the handle to the rim, he cut a 1/4-in. wide notch out of the wheel rim in order to make a better weld. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dane Paul, 109 Maple St., Meredosia, Ill. 62665 (ph 217 584-1160).

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