Jacking Up The Bus For Tire Change

[C00LR]

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.


Why?? Seriously... not being a smartass here. WHY??

[paul iossi]

either works, but they are to many variables, how muck is too much and will cause too much pressure in the tire? will any residue be left to damage the casing longterm or be a hazard for the next person trying to break the tire bead with a duckbill hammer?
I can't say that I have never eithered a tire, but the tire manufacturers DOT and OSHA all prohibit it's use to seat tires.

MB, you have been and are a valuable contributor to this site, just because someone disagrees and expresses their opinion in a less than tactful way, please don't quit on those of us that enjoy reading your posts even if we sometimes disagree or don't understand.

[C00LR]

So.... I hope it wasnt me that pissed off Mightybus? I don't know. I see his posts but they are just blank with a smileyface in it. Whats up with that?
The thing with ether. I was asking WHY meaning the thing about hurting someone at a later date. So I'm guessing the duck billed hammer can potentially cause a spark if everything works out just right and detonate the tire?? Is that it?
I really wasnt being a smartass, I seriously was asking the question.

[Jarlaxle]

My boss was changing a tire that someone had curbed...he put it on the tire machine to pop the bead, hit the pedal...and woke up as the paramedics arrived.

Near as anyone can reconstruct what happened:

The guy who owned the car tagged a curb, knocking a bead off. Since they had no spare, they seated it with (too much) ether, then pumped it full with their bicycle pump. They took the car to Chuck for a replacement tire, since theirs was damaged. He had a good used one in the shop, which they bought. He was dismounting the damaged tire with the bead-breaker, which sparked on the rim (steel on steel). BOOM!

They used enough ether that the tire seated and the oxygen inside was consumed before it was all burned off. Pumping air into the tire to inflate it meant oxygen was also pumped in...the tire essentially became a fuel-air explosive.

Chuck still has scars & (permanent) hearing loss from that explosion. It nearly killed him.