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$25 bead breaker rim holder

kreinke

New member
OK so I am a cheap bastard. After looking at the many tire machines on the net and bead breaker sets I just went "f*ck it" and decided I had enough mechanical ability to build my own.

As many of you know I am an electrician. One of the most useful things electricians and plumbers use is a thing called Unistrut. It can be used to hold conduits, water pipes, be framed whatever size you and to make control panel mounts, what ever.

It's basically a really an Erector Set for grownups.

And it's cheap.

Really cheap.

You can buy a 10 foot stick of 14 ga for about 15 bucks at Home Depot. About 1/4th what a similar length of square stock costs. Plus you don't have to drill it.

What's more is you can get really cool nuts and bolts and angles to build stuff.

Here's what it looks like.
19137_1336791216302_1126740734_1030930_5753062_n.jpg

Here's what one of the nuts looks like. It rotates to engage the lips on the inside of the channel as you tighten it.
19137_1336791256303_1126740734_1030931_2997097_n.jpg


OK. So what do you need for tools? Basically a hacksaw (or a Sawzall iffin' yer a lazy bastard), a tape measure, a Sharpie marker, and a socket wrench with 9/16th " deep well socket. That's all.

Below is a view of the bottom frame. It's basically three equally cut struts laid on top of and bolted to two longer pieces. Note one piece has a vertical post. This is where the lever of the bead breaker will hook and the multiple holes will accommodate several different widths of tires.

The two other cross pieces take the place of the 2x4s most people lay their rims on when levering tires. I have used foam pipe insulation and cable ties to wrap them. These are spaced so as to clear my break rotors but sit close enough together that if need be I can use ratchet straps on the spokes to hold the rim in place while levering.
19137_1336818536985_1126740734_1031038_8202456_n.jpg

19137_1336791376306_1126740734_1030934_8214332_n.jpg


OK now for the bead breaker itself. This is the shizzle.
My last piece of strut was just long enough. I had two angle pieces. One had two holes per side, one had on hole per side.
The two hole angle is the breaker "tooth". I ground it round and deburred it, then bolted it to the strut.

The one hole angle will have a simple 3/8" clothesline hook and act as a fulcrum on the vertical bar I mentioned earlier.
Here's the business end of the bead breaker.
19137_1336791296304_1126740734_1030932_3667098_n.jpg

Here's a good shot of the tire in place and how the breaker arm hooks to the vertical fulcrum post.
19137_1336791336305_1126740734_1030933_6990399_n.jpg


I ordered the Motion Pro tire iron set. This worked really well. For levering on and off my first set there was hardly anw swearing at all.
19137_1336791416307_1126740734_1030935_5765899_n.jpg

I also bought a set of rim savers.

This is the video I used to train myself to mount the tires. I too am going try Dyna Beads in lieu of balancing.

Total cost for the whole works is $25 for the unistrut, hardware and pipe insulation, $27.99 for the Motion Pro irons, $8 for the rim protectors. I guess I'll have about $70 all told when the Dyna Beads com in the mail.
I cannot tell you the satisfaction I felt when I heard those first twin pops of the bead seating on my first tire. I'm very happy.
 
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This looks like a nice "airhead" type of solution to a problem. {And I mean this as a high-order compliment}. It is inexpensive, functional, and fairly easy to implement. Plus, you've chosen to share your idea with others.
 
Well done you!

I like it.

I watched the video too because I can't get enough of tire changing advice. That tire went on too easy, looks like he put a 19" tire on an 18" wheel.
 
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