Jacking Up The Bus For Tire Change

[Redbear]

Would you buy stocks from this man???



Thanks for the info on embedding pictures.

[the_experience03]

The tire goop we use is actually a soy-based product specifically for the purpose of seating beads. It is amazing stuff.

The goop to seal the beads is...well...bead sealer. I'm particularly fond of Tech International's product. The part number on a quart can is 735. However, I should point out that a steel wheel and a tire should have no problems sealing provided you don't have a bunch of rust and schmutz in the sealing area. This really is true of any wheel, but alloy wheels tend to corrode much more quickly and are more susceptible to temperature fluctuations which is a problem up here in Minnesota. As such I typically use the bead sealer on them or on any bead that has required enough grinding to expose a large amount of bare metal. Of course TPMS sensors don't like bead sealer, but that's a whole different issue.

Our bead seating air cannon was manufactured by Cheetah. Be prepared if you go to buy one. These things are hundreds of dollars for no reason I can understand really. If you use one please PLEASE use ear protection. The sudden blast of the air from them will do incredible damage to your ears. Also, make sure you hold on to that blaster good!

[paul iossi]

try an innertube to fill the gap, appropriatly sized and liberally soaped up so that it can slip out as the tire inflates.

[Elliot Naess]

And now... for our next magic trick... courtesy of Adobe Photoshop:



I cannot help myself; I must play!

[Elliot Naess]

Please review what you are planning to do with such narrow lifts. My mind is reeling with visions of disaster. 30 years ago, I dumped a pickup off a lift in a Ford dealership. We should not all need to learn such lessons personally.

[Elliot Naess]

I wonder if you are blaming our kind and generous host for a technical matter outside of his control. It could be that your pictures are simply too large to fit on the screen. I can see almost all of them if I change my screen resolution to the most pixels.

The picture I doctored above.... That I resized to something like half the original size.

I shoot for around 500 pixels wide. That will show up fully even with minimum screen resolution, such as I use so my old eyes can read easier.

Does this make sense?

And I doubt there is a limit to number of pictures. In this system, they are only links. I seem to remember posting many at a time in the Millicent thread. I assemble long posts in Word and paste the entire manuscript into the posting form -- probably just because I am accustomed to working in Word.

I use Paint to resize pictures.

If you guys would hunt around here and see if there is a tutorial? If there isn't, I could write up how I do it.

EDIT: He does have some info about posting pix:
http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=60

I could gather a bunch of detail that may or may not be helpful. Where would you guys instinctively look for it?

[Elliot Naess]

You are right, my friend. I really need to realize how little I know -- and shut up accordingly. I apologize.

I suspect my problem is that I can write much better than I can think. (Note to self: Think - before - you - type.)

Your pictures are 1152 pixels wide. Mine is 536.

At work (18-wheelers) we pay no attention to direction of rotation, even with recaps. So by that standard you can flip the outside to the inside. That said, there is an old "rule" about tires to not change the rotation of a tire after it is "broken in" one way. This may -- may -- apply even more so to recaps. Perhaps, if your tires are quite old (in years, not miles), this old "rule" may have some merit -- just guessing. Personally, I would ignore direction of rotation and put it however I want.

I have never seen a pro use any kind of lubricant on truck lug nuts. I'm guessing it would make it too easy for them to come loose, which definitely happens.

Let me go back and see what other questions I missed.

[Elliot Naess]

Patching. I've never done it, but I have watched it a lot. For a small hole like a nail, they use an inside patch. Before applying the patch, they grind the surface with a grinding stone on a pneumatic drill like a big die grinder. After applying the patch, they use the same grinding stone WITHOUT RUNNING THE DRILL as a roller to squeeze the patch down good and snug.

I don't know about plugs, except I'm reasonably sure it would have to be the kind that is both a plug and a patch in one piece, installed from the inside. No push-in-from-the-outside-plug like people used to do on car tires.

[Elliot Naess]

Considering how much I trip over myself, I must ask youse guys to stop praising the few things I do get right!

I'm very impressed with that trick of using the bicycle innertube!

Say, is that still a 22.5 tire size you are working on? I'm puzzled that the wheel has only eight lug nuts, and no double nuts. Millicent has 18-wheeler wheels with ten lugs and double nuts. Maybe Wayne "had to be different"?

I'm turning in for the night.
Zzzzzzzzzzz

[Elliot Naess]

Originally Posted by mightybus

I am a grasshopper.

Whoa! Where does that "grasshopper" reference come from? Star Wars? Yoda? I keep hearing it, and I suppose I understand the meaning, but where....? Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in "Smokey"?

[zamfir]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

Whoa! Where does that "grasshopper" reference come from? Star Wars? Yoda? I keep hearing it, and I suppose I understand the meaning, but where....? Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in "Smokey"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_(TV_series)

[Redbear]

That said, there is an old "rule" about tires to not change the rotation of a tire after it is "broken in" one way.

The "old rule" was introduced (or became widespread) when radial-ply tires came out. Apparently steel belts take a 'set.'

Check the owner's manual for an old car made during the bias-ply era, and you will see a five-tire rotation pattern. The new manuals in the radial era have two individual front-rear patterns, with the spare sometimes included on one side if it's not a doughnut. I prefer NOT to rotate the spare, as I hate to have different tread wear on either the steer or power axle. (With front-wheel drive, I'm not as fussy about what keeps the back bumper off the pavement.)

I personally wouldn't be as fussy with drive duals on a bus as I am with singles on a RWD car. I would not reverse radials, but would have no qualms about reversing a bias-ply tire. YMMV

Whoa! Where does that "grasshopper" reference come from?

In the "Kung Fu" series, the main character, Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine, has flashbacks to the monastery in China where he was trained.
"Grasshopper" is the name old Master Po called him as a child.

[Elliot Naess]

Thank you, guys. At least I had the meaning of "Grasshopper" kind'a right. Never saw that show.

[Elliot Naess]

I asked this very question when I bought the tires (fresh recaps) for my bus. The shop told me not to reduce the pressure by more than ten percent, no matter how lightly loaded I run.

[Elliot Naess]

Well.... My personal opinion is that painting a brake drum is a total waste of time and money.

I do understand the urge to do it. You just discovered that rust-colored part and something inside you says that it is the narstiest looking think on Earth. But once the wheels are back on, you won't see the drum again. Spend your time and money on something you will actually enjoy when you use the bus.

[Elliot Naess]

Uh boy. I hoped that spelling it out would make it go away. LOL

Here's my answer: If you wirebrush anything, wear safety goggles.

[timbuk]

kinda reminds me off the old days when we ran 5 slot aluminum mags and you had to paint the drums orange or red cause you could see them through the slots.Problem was couldnt wait for the paint to dry so on went the wheel and when it was time to take it off again the wheel was stuck to the drum..... ahh the good old days

[timbuk]

????????? this is an optical illusion!

[CAMO-MONSTER]

yeah well i use a high lift jack for my trucks and a 12 ton bottle jack from home depot for my bus.

camo-monster

[Jarlaxle]

Yeah...anyone who seats a bead with ether should be arrested. It can easily maim or kill the person who dismountes the tire at a later date. My boss had some nice scars from that.