Howdy everyone! So this is a bit long to explain the entire situation.
I have 21" demountable split rims. I have discovered that 1 of them seems to have a bit of a kink to it. Even though I have balance beads and they work great on the 3 other tires, this one wheel like to try to hop like it's out of balance - I'm 99% confident it's just a wee bit out of round. My balloon tires render it unnoticeable until about 38 mph, then it's the worst at 40-41, and goes away again above about 45.
So! I also wanted a spare - I found someone with a tire just like my 4 others (Sears Allstate Safety Tread) and I got a heavy duty tube. I recently got some more split rims, but so far it's looking like I'm only going to be able to make one of them into a good, usable rim. I've swapped out the bad rim with the new good rim, but it was a chore. I researched a bunch and the actual removal and installation of the tire wasn't too bad, but I decided I wanted to get a split rim jack to aid in spreading the rim once the tire is on. Having the right tools makes all the difference, and yes, I've already seen all of the nifty home-made versions. I used my Ford screw jack to spread the new rim. I'll be systematically removing each tire from each rim and painting them, as they all look a bit rough. The split rim jack is already getting paid for today and should be in the mail to me in the next few days.
Where is the best place to put the different legs of the split rim jack? In all of my googling (15+ entries I've opened) everyone cautions you can kink the rim with it, but no one gives a good description of proper placement. I don't need it to collapse the rim, I just start working on removing the tire and the rim collapses on its own. Anyway! If anyone has any input it's appreciated.
For now, the spare tire will go on the bad rim until I can get a new one. It'll work fine as a spare since it really drives fine, just is obnoxious at those speeds.
Seth on mine I may be wrong but I was taught to put the "fixed" leg directly opposite the split and the adjustable legs equal distance of the split to evenly distribute the force and then keep an eye on the split as you are expanding it so the rim doesn't try to twist if it does then release the tool and re-position.
That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Thank you sir.
Seth,
Here is the instruction sheet for the 'Universal' style. They all pretty much work the same.
Here is the best and easiest split rim tool to have in my opinion, also light weight to take along. KGB
I use the same cheap & easily found tool as Keith, but sometimes I have trouble when remounting the tire, then I have to use a regular jack to expand the rim the last bit:
Haven't sprung a rim - yet
Roger I think my turn buckle is shorter, I use the two lugs closest to each other and never have a problem closing the gap. Course if you have a rim with out the lugs then you have to resort to something different than what we are showing. KGB