Changing a tire at home

I was having trouble breaking the bead on my truck tire once. I ended up using the front end loader on my backhoe. Don't have a backhoe? I'll sell you my Case 580B Diesel for only $6,900 obo, you can save a lot on changing tires :-)

RogerN

and such. I

Have not had any luch with "slime" and bead leaks myself - YMMV.

ANd if you are planning on putting passenger tires on a trailer, take the rims in and DO NOT tell them they are going on a trailer. Don't know about where you are, but no tire shop up here will install P rated (or even LT) tires on a trailer _NO WAY.

And just a word of advice - don't waste your money putting P rated tires on a trailer anyway. Can make an otherwise well behaved trailer into a towing nightmare - while ST tires can do the exact opposite.

Not hard to find out. Look at the "dot" stamp on the tire. ALL highway tires MUST have a DOT number. It's the last 4 digits. Before 2000, it was a 3 digit code, with, say,121 being either the 12th week of 1971,

1981, or 1991. Since 2000 they have gone to a 4 digit code, so 5101 would be the second last week of 2001and 0108 would be the first week of 2008.

Another Big Snip

Well, if you are out in the Sticks and need a tire *now* to get home, it's safe enough to use LT Tires in a pinch - but you HAVE to go a lot heavier than the ST tire that the load of the trailer calls for. You're right, those P-Metric floppy 'soft ride' sidewalls and sticky 'corner like gumballs' tread will have that trailer dancing the Watusi as you go down the road if it isn't loaded perfectly - especially the cheap ones. Which is why you go the other direction and use the

12-Ply (Load Range E) or higher truck tires. Something nice and stiff.

If they flat out won't sell you tires, they're stupid. A true businessman will always find a way to make the sale, not find excuses to NOT make one.

Reminds me, I have to call Costco Corporate and see if they are really in the tire business or not.... They refuse to sell anything other than passenger car LT tires, as well as refusing to service older cars or any other vehicles *or* loose rims that could be put on them.

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I bought a tube last summer for a yard trailer that had a "Slime" goo already added, so I guess you could add it in advance. Half of one, six dozen of the other...

Back in the 80s, I used some liquid balancing goo in my Panhead, and it worked very well indeed. It also (allegedly) worked to stop leaks, like Slime. However, each spring, after sitting all winter long, the wheels would be out of balance, and it required a few minutes driving at highway speeds to restore the balance (similar to the procedure after I first added the stuff). I haven't seen any for sale recently, though. I've not heard that Slime will do that, but it's possible.

Joe

Costco is NOT in the service business - regardless what they say.

A lot of the old "liquid ballancer" solutions were full of asbestos fibre - so THOSE will be off the market.

Well, not speaking of slime but that fix-a-flat stuff in a can will definitely piss them off if you don't tell them about it.

Wes