Tyre/tire iron advice?

Hello everyone,

My 110 has tubed 7.50's on LR steelies... I want to get some tire irons so I can repair a flat/tire myself when I'm far from civilization (as I'm in southern Africa, that's a pretty common occurrence). But it seems like this is somewhat of a lost art, as I can't find much info about doing it.

Anyone have some advice for removing 7.50s by hand -- length of the tire iron, shape (I've seen "spoons" and regular ones), straight and angled irons, number of tire irons (is one enough, or one longer one and and two smaller?), etc. I've read up on breaking the bead (hi-lift, driving it over it, sledge hammer, etc.), but haven't found much on good tire lever etiquette ; ).

Thanks! Hopefully other people will find your replies of use as well.

I replace my own tubes. I had enough of paying out to have them fitted.

You need a tool to remove the valve core. Use your high lift to break the bead.

I bought two fairly long levers to make my life a bit easier but to be honest they don't need to be that long.

If your just changing a tube you can do it pretty quickly.

Here's my post when I started doing it http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f16/removing-tyres-manual-way-250249.html

I have no experience in doing this but found this on you tube the other day, I've no idea if it's the correct way or not but just so you can see it being done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beuFzNx1_qI

I did a thread on this about 5 years ago.

Here ya go

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f7/tyres-removal-made-easy-73442.html

Thanks guys, had found both but didn't see Locky1978's pictures. And that video is good as it shows it coming off and the tire irons in action... So a patch kit, some talc, a tarp to change it on and a little washing up liquid/water (to help get the bead back on?) and you're good to go. Love the steelies for this reason.

I'm no expert by any means but on a recent trip across Morocco in a convoy of five Landy's, 2x 110 Defender, 1x 90, 1x Discovery and 1x P38. The 90 was the only one that had inner tubes and was the only one to get punctures. Three of them.
All vehicles had good tyres and covered the same terrain. I gave up on inner tubes when I had two punctures within a month when I first got my Defender. Since I changed to tubeless some five years ago I haven't had a puncture.
Tell a lie, I just remembered a tyre exploded on the motorway on the way back. The tyre was at the end of its life anyway.

Man, that trip sounds wonderful. A caravan of Land Rovers, must have been fun. Are there photos of that online anywhere?

It seems like a tubed tire setup works well (or acceptably?) if the wheels and tires are both expressly designed for tubes, but I'm no expert either. Of course, this is getting into some heated, long-thread territory about which is better. I think the merits of a tubeless tire are, for most people, a better option. I just like the idea though of being able to change a tire in the bush with me bare hands and, if my compressor dies, a foot pump. And if that breaks, a pump made out of twine and a goat bladder. ; )

Most modern tires are designed to be tubeless and if you run them with tubes the ribs inside wear the tube's due to movement. Running my landys steels tubeless but rims need to be in good nick and the correct valve fitted.

jhealey said:

Thanks guys, had found both but didn't see Locky1978's pictures. And that video is good as it shows it coming off and the tire irons in action... So a patch kit, some talc, a tarp to change it on and a little washing up liquid/water (to help get the bead back on?) and you're good to go. Love the steelies for this reason.

Click to expand...

Definitely use talc as I personally find it helps a lot. Also try to get tubes with the correct TR15 valves rather than using collars as I've had the collars cause issues. Bit of washing up liquid does help get them back on. My tyres are 10 plys with a pretty stiff side wall and its still pretty quick to do. I'd rather have tubes in the field.

jhealey said:

Man, that trip sounds wonderful. A caravan of Land Rovers, must have been fun. Are there photos of that online anywhere?

It seems like a tubed tire setup works well (or acceptably?) if the wheels and tires are both expressly designed for tubes, but I'm no expert either. Of course, this is getting into some heated, long-thread territory about which is better. I think the merits of a tubeless tire are, for most people, a better option. I just like the idea though of being able to change a tire in the bush with me bare hands and, if my compressor dies, a foot pump. And if that breaks, a pump made out of twine and a goat bladder. ; )

Click to expand...

"Living with Larry" my Land Rover Discovery 1 300TDI and overland travel: Morocco 4x4 overland tour, day 2
There is about 9 pages I think, you have to look at new post at the bottom of the blog page.

Chris made a blog page of the event. We enjoyed it so much we are going again in 2016.