Tire Changing - Flat Fixing - for small tires

for your sailboat trolley,  road-trailer, bicycle, yard-maintenance-tools, etc. 

pictures and text (ver:6k) by: Bill Schell (e-mail: bill@vikingasia.org) - photos by: May Wong
(updated (with less text, more and bigger pictures)
after almost 25 years helping people change tires (this effort started in 1999, and now it is 2023 - that's a LONG TIME to be helping people!)

In general tire changing (of small-tires)  should be a 10 minute or less episode - don't laugh - if you are 'good' and 'mechanically inclined' you CAN do it in 10 minutes (or less)!), - not the 30 to 45 minute, cussing & yelling & screaming, busted-knuckles & bloody shins job I've often witnessed.

IF you can't do this in 10 minutes then something's wrong with your technique, and that's something I HOPE VERY MUCH we can help with.

In General though, here's the outline - six small steps:

1. deflate the tire & remove the valve-stem-core (with a small 'valve-stem-core-wrench' tool)
2. remove tire's "bead" (edge) from the rim ("breaking the bead"(don't worry you don't actually 'break' anything))
3. take out the (inner)tube (from the tire-casing / rim)  and repair or replace the (inner) tube
4. put the (inner)tube back into the tire and "pre-inflate" to set it's orientation
5. put the tire's "bead" back on the rim and replace the valve-stem-core (use the tool!)
6. inflate one last time, you're done!

PS: _ you WILL get "dirty hands" - but - hey - it's a dirty job - someone's got to do it!!!!

ONLY TWO REQUIRED Tools (probably less than $10 US, total): 

• 1.)  one group of (three) "tire levers" (not one or two, but THREE;  not screwdrivers, but REAL tire-levers
• I got mine at a motorcycle shop about 20-30 years ago; they are metal and about 9 1/4" (about 0.24 meters) long, made in Japan by "Hozan Tool Company" and they are drop-forged steel; their part-number is "TS-222".    I doubt you can find exactly this tool, but there are a number of different tire-levers on the market - try these vendors - listed below)
• 
  
• The ones you can get at most bicycle shops are typically NOT big enough (they need to be at least 6" long or so - (to get the mechanical advantage you need)  and NOT metal (strong enough), however some bicycle shops may have bigger / metal ones.
• 
  
• The ones you see in the picture below are black and yellow (bicycle levers), and are plastic, but pretty tough...)
• 
  
• I have found 3 places to buy these "on-line" if you're interested:
• Park Tools - the company famous for bicycle tools - they have the "TL-5" which are a bit shorter than mine but very nice, they have various lengths - try their 9inch
• Pit Posse   -  another web-based tools supplier) - these look quite similar to the ones I have - the 8 1/2" ones are good
• Cruz Tools - another web-vendor with tire levers... - you probably want the "Tire Pro Tire Lever" set 
• 2.) a "valve-stem-core wrench" - there are MANY variations on the market - this is just one; buy it at your local auto-parts-(NAPA) store.
• 

• at the (very) top - black & yellow 'tire-levers - these are small / plastic but they work well - you can get bigger (stronger / metal) ones (at your local motorcycle shop)
• next is a 'tire-valve core wrench' (black-handle);  there's another one pictured above with a silver handle - your local auto-parts-(NAPA) store is the key vendor
• these last three things are 'optional' - the hammer (orange in the above picture) is 'handy' the others definitely 'optional':
• last (orange) is a 'dead-blow-hammer' - any big hammer will do but the dead-blow-type are best
• next is a crow-bar
• next (silver) is a spare axle

picture 1a.) - ready, set,  (yes - this is me - yes I need more hair, etc. etc. etc. but don't get lost in the photography - read-on! --- a good way to do tire changing without killing your back.   You'll note that this bucket is upside down, and what you don't see is the lip or ridge on the bottom of the bucket that catches the edge of the rim and makes a very serviceable "work-bench" tailored for tire-changing - you can do it without this up-side-down bucket but it is much easier with an up-side-down bucket

picture 1b.) - this is the 'view' from where I sit PLEASE NOTE THE ORIENTATION of the tire to be changed: - make sure to 'orient' the tire/tube/rim so that the valve-stem is at the top (like at the 12 o'clock position (as shown in this picture))

picture 2.) valve stem removal: - first use the valve-stem-core-wrench to remove the valve-stem-core. (but don't let it fly out (because the air in the tube will want to make the valve-stem-core disappear under the nearest hard-to-get-at-place!))

• in the above picture - the tire's tube's valve-stem is at the extreme top-left
• in the above picture the valve's stem (core) is at the top right (you might want to get some extras! (you WILL LOSE some!)
• in the above picture the valve stem wrench (a tool you must buy) is at the lower-right

picture 3.) removing the valve-stem-core:

Step 2: Breaking the bead:

(the 'bead' is the part of the tire that 'seats' against the rim; "breaking" means 'un-sticking' the bead where it has typically been 'stuck' to the rim).

Secret number 1: these rims (like almost all others) are called "Drop Center Rims" - and this is a picture - of this rim.  Note that the center diameter is much smaller than the diameter at the 'flanges' where the tire 'seats / sits'.

THE SECRET to changing these tires is to USE this 'drop center' (smaller diameter) to fit the opposite side of the tire to the one you are working on.  In the second picture above, you'll notice I'm holding the tire at an exaggerated angle - but this is the 'key' to the install / removal, is to work one edge (bead) of the tire into that 'drop center' thereby freeing-up the space / clearance for the manipulation of the other side of the tire...

pictures 4a and 4b.) Then "break the bead"; Removing the top "bead" from the rim (see above picture) - note use of tool and use of fingers of my left hand to push bead into "drop" part of the rim (noted in the picture above) to allow bead (on the right of the picture) to come out.  Also note that the end of the tool - when I stick-it-into the tire (to catch the tire's 'bead') that I do not stick the tool in too far, ONLY FAR ENOUGH to catch the tire's 'bead'... IF I stick the tool in too far I will catch the tube and pinch the tube and create a hole / leak in the tube....

 

pictures 4c and 4d.) I'm continuing to remove the top (upper (closest to my face)) bead from the rim - this procedure is just successive applications of the tire-levers - again making sure not to 'catch' the tube inside and pinch it...

Picture 4e.) the top bead of the tire is now completely free of the rim - 

Step 3: removing the tube from the rim / tire

picture(s) 5a, 5b, 5c.) - taking the tube out of the tire (for repair / replace)

picture 6.) the "Glueless Patch" From Park Tools Co. (a popular bicycle tools company) you can buy these at (almost all) bicycle shops - if you don't know how to fix a flat - you can "click here (not implemented-yet) " for a separate page on this little task.

 
picture 7.) taking the tire completely off of the rim

- it's NOT a 'big-deal' - it's just removing the 'other' bead (the one that was sitting on the up-side-down bucket) from the rim - judicious use of the tire levers is all it takes (and a tiny bit of muscle) but remember what I said at the begining of this web-site - this is mostly about "TECHNIQUE" - and using the 'secret' noted above; the 'Drop Center Rim'...

Step 4: put the tube back into the tire (onto the rim)
 
pictures 8a, 8b.)

picture 9.) Inserting the valve-stem in the rim - same here - just the reverse of taking it out - make certain that the valve stem comes out of the rim at the 'noon' position - don't let it 'skew' left or right - sometimes you may have to reach inside the tire with both hands and 'squiggle' (that's a technical term) the tube in one direction or the other to make this line-up correctly.  SOMETIMES you can 'squiggle' the tire-itself (from outside) and that will also move the tube... Whatever methodology you use, make sure this 'alignment' is correct before you fully inflate the tire-tube

Re or Pre-inflation - note we do not need to put the valve-stem-core back into the valve stem - we don't need that now - we're just going to inflate the tube to make sure it is seated well within the tire, has no wrinkles, and that the valve-stem is accuratley placed in the hole in the rim (again - at the '12-o'clock), so that it points directly at the axle, - if the valve-stem is crooked, now, it will eventually tear-out of the tube and you'll have another flat - so make sure you "do it right first time" here and you'll have a lasting repair.

picture 10.) this is a very close-up picture of how the tire-lever needs to be inserted into the rim (very slightly) to make certain that the end of the tire-lever doesn't catch / pinch the tube (and thereby make a couple of holes in it (so it leaks air)) _ this is the number-one mistake of people who are new at tire-changing - this is why having some spare tubes will help you...  this is also why this picture is so BIG and it's by itself - please make sure to NOT insert your tire-lever TOO FAR into the rim --- if you do - you will certainly pinch the tube and make holes (and more work for yourself)

picture 11.) Replacing the bead on the rim (notice bead pushed down into the centre (lower) part of the rim on the left side of the picture).  Also note that on the left-hand-side of the picture - the 'edge' / 'bead' of the tire is way-DOWN from the edge of the rim - that means it is in the 'Drop Center' part of the rim - giving the flexibility and distance for me to use the tire-levers to lever the bead back onto the rim.... I started this process with a single lever at the extreme left side of the picture - which from my view-point would have been the 'six-o'clock' position.   Now - I'm working my way back towards the 12 o'clock position (where the valve-stem is)

Step 6.) Inflation and "seating the bead" (reverse of "breaking the bead"):

This sounds exotic, but it's just a question of putting some air in the tube.  (you must re-install the 'valve-stem-core' (valve) with the 'valve-stem-core-wrench) before you try to inflate the tire/tube.    At some point the air inflating the tube will (at least theoretically) pop the bead up onto the shoulder of the rim and it will "look right".  You should hear this "pop" - it is (most of the time) an audible thing.  - IF you're using a foot or hand-pump this "pop" may NOT be heard, though...

The easisest way to guarantee tha the bead is correctly seated, though, is to look for a small raised rib on the tire-casing right near where it sits on the rim.   When the distance between the rim edge and this small raised rib on the tire-casing is constant all the way around the rim / tire, then the bead is properly "seated".

I tried to take a picture of this - but because everything is 'black' there is little way to make what I want to show-up properly... - maybe later.

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So - now you're done - time to go sailing: 

However - a WARNING:

• If you have a pretty white, beautiful, new & expensive spinnaker (to say nothing of your other sails) you'll PROBABLY want to Wash Your Hands FIRST before you get dirty fingerprints all over everything!!!