Our LRDG Chev

[Andrew H.]

A quick update: We are still having big trouble removing our 70-year-old tyres from the 16-inch split rims. Yesterday we spent a whole day trying unsuccessfully to remove another one. First we pumped the tyre up and separated the two split rims, then we tried to detach the bead with a crow-bar and sliding weight, but no luck. Then we anchored one rim to an RSJ shed pole and pulled the other rim with a tractor, but all that did was to dig two holes in the ground and break the chain. Then we repeated that process using the tractor and a ten-tonne hydraulic digger, but with exactly the same result –two fresh wheel holes and another broken chain! With the digger, the pull was so strong that it actually bent the rim where the shackle was attached through the stud hole (will have to be hammered out later). Then we cut out a section of the tyre with a 150mm angle grinder, but could not get close enough to the bead. Then in desperation we used a blow-torch and made a small fire concentrated at the bead, with bursts of oxygen from the torch to cut through the wire in the bead. But amazingly the bead still did not break, and the super-hot oxy-acetylene gas accidentally ricocheted off the rubber and cut two small holes right through the rim (will have to be welded up later). Strangely the rubber did not want to burn and went out as soon as the torch was removed! So after a whole days work we still had the tyre stubbornly attached to the rim. Any of you guys got any ideas?