Just got my space saver remounted after paint, etc. I had to inflate it to get it to seat properly. Thought I'd post a picture of what it looks like inflated. It popped right back into shape once deflated. It's pretty wild watching it take shape. I would have felt better with a tire cage though.
Ya, I did that once too.
Would not want to drive very far with that :stop:
surprised you got it back into shape :)
Quote from: anlauto on March 27, 2020, 04:30:59 AM
surprised you got it back into shape :)
Do you know any other way to seat the bead without briefly inflating the tire? :notsure:
Brad - I don't know of anyway to do it without professional equipment. I am lucky in that I have a neighbor who owns a service station and he's willing to play around with these. I think he enjoys the challenge a little. He has dismounted and remounted several space savers for me. This most recent one was a bear and he told me he finally had to use the "tank". Based on his description, I think this is what he used: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qrs-0dl6gw
I've had a couple come back with a small area of the bead still not seated. One of them would only take air while I put was putting pressure on the unseated area (making a partial seal). With the mounted tire upright, I rolled it so the unseated area made contact with the floor. I put my weight on the tire, rocking it back and forth while adding air, until I got it to seal. Once I could add air it got to a point where I could pull back and inflate as normal and the bead popped into place. It helps a lot if the tire is warm. The last one he did for me was last summer and he left out in the hot sun for awhile before wrestling with it.
We've done several of these and all popped right back into shape once deflated. All of them had nice tires that had probably never been used.
I think briefly inflating the tire is the only way to mount them.
I built one after I got my '71. I found a wheel, and then managed to get a tire that wasn't in the best shape but the only one I could find and not very expensive.
A friend had a shop with a tire machine. We screwed around with it for a while and couldn't get it to seat. Finally he dug around online and found an old Moparts thread by Jules on mounting space savers. It said to inflate it. I was nervous but we tried it, it worked! Tire deflated to proper shape and looks very good.
Wow the tread area has a very round profile! Weird. Its like a motorcycle tire.
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Yeah, a friend of mine recalled that they were great for doing burn outs😂
I'll bet. The contact patch is zilch. Haha
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I had to use mine once on my original '70 'Cuda back in 1970. To the best of my recollection that's how it looked. Very round profile. Only drove on it less than 50 miles before I had the regular tire fixed. Deflated it, bought a new inflator can, reinstalled in the trunk and never used it again before I sold the car three years later. :rubeyes: :headbang: :pullinghair:
After inflating it with my compressor, it's hard to imagine that little bottle doing the trick.
Air compressors operate at low pressures and high volume. The inflator bottles were very high pressure to pack in more gas( I think they used NOX) . Try to fill a tractor tire. Very High volume but very little air pressure.
Back in the late 70's I had to use my space saver to get me home one night. It went back in shape with no problem. Luckily I have not used it since. In my youth I worked at a truck stop and fixed a lot of tires over the years. In fact I have a nice steel rod in my left femur from a bad situation that I had with a 11.00r24.5 tire. When Floyd mentioned he would of felt better with a cage I had to laugh as I had just found this pic on the internet. I think I was doing it all wrong for all that time. :haha:
(https://cdn.makeagif.com/media/4-12-2015/7scYiZ.gif)