Farmall Cub

Hi,

Before tubless tires & paved highways, vintage tractor homemade tire tools were used extensively somewhere between mule farming & engine electronic ignition. One (1) or two (2) leaves from the leaf springs of vintage vehicles were used to assist "bead breaking" tires, while hitting the tire with a large rubber mallet. "Bead breaking" the tire was the major chore of fixing a flat & consisted of pushing the inner circumference of the tire towards the center of the tire on both sides to remove & repair or replace the inner tube. Tire shops & larger farms had tire "bead breaking" tools with levers, some even power operated.

I had a front tire slow leak sometime ago on my Cub, had no idea of the condition of the tube, (tire looked old), so I bought a new tube prior to removing the wheel. I had the old vintage leaf springs & rubber mallet, tried the usual standing on the inner circumference of the horizontal tire while banging away, etc. etc.; but the tire just would not break.

Rather than drive 10 miles to a tire repair shop, I grabbed a chair & sat down to look at the tire laying on the floor & tried to think of how to make a tire "bead-breaker".

It worked -- thinking that is, in lieu of hammering & prying with leaf springs.

First, I measure the vertical distance from the top of the steel rim laying flat on the floor to the bottom of the Cub axle. Second, I cut a 2x4 about 2-3 inches longer than this vertical dimension, with a square cut on one end of the 2x4, & a chisel like bevel cut of about 20 degrees on the other end. Third, placed the cut 2x4 vertically with the 3-1/2" wide chisel point on the side of the tire, immediately adjacent to the steel rim, & set the top of the vertical 2x4 near, & in front of the Cub's front axle. Fourth, took another 2x4 about 6-8 feet long & placed the bottom of this 2x4, laying horizontaly, on top of the vertical 2x4, with the top & far edge of this horizontal 2x4 positioned under the Cub's front axle.

At this point, it appeared that only 3 things could happen with a lever & fulcrum set up; i.e., the top horizontal 2x4 could break, the entire front end of the tractor would be lifted off of the ground, or the tire would separate from rim.

In a matter of seconds, both sides of the tire were pushed inwards & separated from the rim. Tire & tube appeared definitely never removed since the Truman era.

Now to remove the steel rim from the tire or tire from rim. Plastic garbage bags work great -- just cover half of the circumference of the steel rim with a new, empty, minimum 13 gallon garbage bag, pull up on the tire by hand while standing on the rim, & both sides of the tire slide off as slick as an eel traveling through room temperature boiled okra.

Steel rim outer circumference was wire brushed, painted & allowed to dry, new garbage bag provided in place again, & both sides of tire slipped in the rim with little effort.

Inserted new tube, inflated tire, & no leaks.

Hopes this helps somebody one day with a difficult old tire with a rusty rim.

H. L. Chauvin

NOW, you tell me

H. L. Chauvin wrote:Hi,

both sides of the tire slide off as slick as an eel traveling through room temperature boiled okra.

H. L. Chauvin

Now, us ole Southern boys understand this phrase completely !!

Any pictures or drawings available?

Elegant!!!! Simple, cheap, and very effective. I will use this. Thank you.

Bill

Mr. Chauvin: I enjoyed the article which, like all of your posts that I have seen, contains good, practical information delivered in your easily understood writing style. We will get this moved to your section of CBoK. I hope that we will see additional ones in the future. Thanks for a good post. Dan

On the front rims,I used a nice sized vise.It worked real well.Did all 4 front tires on my 2 cubs.Kevin

Any pictures or drawings available?

Hi,

Don't have drawings or pictures, but try this -- get an 8-1/2" x 11" grammar school tablet with horizontal blue lines to make a drawing.

1. Floor: Near the page bottom, draw a horizontal line on top of a blue line -- this represents a concrete floor or driveway.

2. Cub Axle: Near the right of the sheet, about 6 lines up above the line representing floor, draw a cricle with same diameter as the space between the blue lines -- this circle represents the Cub front axle -- the engine & rear wheels are assumed to be farther to the right.

3. Horizontal 2x4 Lever: Below & tangent to the bottom of the Cub front axle circle, draw two (2) horizontal lines spaced apart the same distance as 1/2 of the diameter of the axle -- these parallel lines represent the 1-1/2" dimension of the side of the 6-8 foot long 2x4 which will be the lever; & connect the two horizontal lines by drawing a verical line on the right side of the axle, about the distance of the diameter of the axle, (representing the horizontal 2x4 extending about about 4 inches beyond the axle towards the rear); & on the left side, connect the two horizontal lines by drawing a verical line on the right of the axle, near the left side of the page.

4. Tire: On and above the line representing the floor, draw two parallel lines, spaced apart, about the same vertical distance as between the blue lines, representing a tractor tire laying flat on its side. The right hand side of the tire is drawn with a connecting vertical line centered approximately below the front axle & the right hand side of the tire is drawn with a vertical connecting line farther to the right.

5. Vertical 2x4: About 4" to the left of the axle circle, draw two parallel lines spaced apart the same distance as the horizontal lever above. Provide a horizontal connecting line just below the 2x4 lever. The lever will bear or press on the vertical 2x4 at this upper 90 degree cut point. Right above the tire, where the rubber tire meets the steel rim, draw a connecting line at about 20 degrees, sloping upwards towards the back of the tractor, with the chisel like point contacting the side of the circumference of the steel rim. This chisel point will press down on the inner bead of the rubber tire. Using the horizontal 2x4 as a lever or pry bar, pressing downwards to push the rubber tire down -- repeat all around the tire on both sides.

6. Art Work: After making your beautiful drawing, if you enter this sketch into a "modern" art show, & win a prize, not less than 50 percent of your compensation has to be divided among other Cub Forum Members.

H. L. Chauvin

KETCHAM wrote:On the front rims,I used a nice sized vise.It worked real well.Did all 4 front tires on my 2 cubs.Kevin

I'm with you buddy, a vise is great for the fronts (Just wish I had one big enough
for the rear tires )

Lay 'em flat on the ground -Drive over them w/a another vehicle, tractor tire, pickup, what have you, keeping as close to the rim as possible ! Takes it loose almost every time and you aren't fighting a tire and rim to a vise or having a chain slip around. Flip the tire and rim over and do the other side - Presto loose from rim. On your own from there! Dusty

Henry:

Simply elegant as usual. I liked the article. It has been added.

Hmmmm... maybe I should get out my portable drafting head and see how this shapes up Excellent instructions.

I use a two chunks of wood and a log splitter. One block infront of the wedge and one infront of the ram. Make sure you do not press against the rim only the tire

Billy