Your talking above my head Evan, what's a tire cage? What are the dangers your cautioning me about? From the pictures in the Chevy Shop Manual it looks like it's all done by hand and pretty straightforward. The part that looks like it's would be the biggest problem is getting the tire bead off and on. The irons they show in the pictures look like 15" or 16" comparing them to the rim size. Now on the other hand, I wouldn’t even attempt to change a 6ply tubeless by hand, dealers can do that in two minuets and never even scratch the rim.
Most of the tire irons I found on the net are for motorcycle tires, 15” & 16” length, Harbor Freight's, tire irons are all 23", that should give me a little more help.
You mean to tell me, there aren’t any of you DIYers out there that change your own split rim tires? I'm gonna try one and if I run into to much of a hassle I'll probably end up taking the others in to the tire guy and spring for the $35 per. I can already invasion myself slicing up a $20 tube.
I hate to think of what my newly painted rims are gonna look like by the time I get it back together. I'll bet the tire dealer makes just as much of a mess when he mounts tires on a split rim. I don't believe they use any kind of tire machine for the slit rims, other than maybe a bead breaker to get the tire on and off.
In the Sinclair service station, we use to use a liquid soap to lub the tire bead, would that still accepted as OK? I’m sure that there are special lubs for this but it seems like plane old Palmolive should work just fine, and it washes right off also.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny G
Sandwich, IL