VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 Replacing tires any reccomendations?

new to tube based tires for my 25 Coupe and I'm changing mine since the ones i have are cracked a ton on the side wall and needed to be changed

i bought some new 440/450-21 Lucas tires
bought some tubes.
do i need flaps or the strips?

the rim i have has duct tape instead of a strip. is that a reasonable to use or is that a jerry rigged solution that isn't recommended?

also any advice on installing them on the split rims?
i don't have a split rim tool so any advice on handling that

I recommend purchasing the flaps, not only will they protect the tube while driving, it will reduce the chance of puncturing the tube while mounting the tires on the rim. Also the rim tool is the best way to change the tires, the tool also reduces your chances of bending the rim. I changed all 5 of my tires in about 2 hours using the tool. I felt it was well worth the money. To quote my high school engine shop teacher, Mr. Kressin, "The right tool for the right job!" Contact Gary Wallace, that is where I purchased the rim tool.

You really need some form of flaps. When driving - those split rims flex. After awhile they will wear through the tube at that joint and cause a flat. Buy a rim spreader, or borrow one from a local model T club member. I bought my rim spreaders from local model T traders for around $35 each. Get either some tire lube from a local tire shop, or a small jug of talcum powder. This is used so that as you spread the rim back to its latched position the tire will slide around to its final location. Lay it out on some cardboard, or an old rug so you do not unduly scratch up your rims. It will be a learning curve with the first one taking the longest. For instance the tube stem needs to be angled so that as the rim is spread back to the latched position the tire and tube assembly will rotate slightly. The final position of that stem should be straight. Some rims may still have the old size of tube stem hole. Check this before assembly and ream it out about 1/16" larger than your new inner tube stem.

Sometimes I will take an old tire, a used rim, and the rim spreader in my '29. I set up a "living history" display to get people interested and talking. People take things for granted.They do not realize that there were no service companies to come get you taken care of if you had a flat. No cell phones to call for help. If you did not fix it yourself you might be there awhile. I do not pull it down all the way because there is a lot of tension on it, and if it popped loose it could cause an injury.

Keep the forum posted as to your progress.

There is a great article that describes how to take off and put back on these types of tires. It covers changing the tire of a '28 one ton truck, but the process is the same for the narrower rims on cars.

This article is posting in the Vehicle Technical Info area in the Members area of the main website: https://vcca.org/

The document is named 1928Tirechangeinfo.pdf.

I highly recommend that all folks who have vehicles from this era read it.

Cheers, Dean

I believe the article that Dean has pointed out was published in the G & D a couple years back. I photo copied it and using clear sheet protectors, posted it on a cupboard door in the garage for easy access. Nice to have a ready reminder when you're not doing something like that everyday. I still see the rim spreaders regularly at the auto flea markets, and $30.00 - $40.00 seems to be the going asking price up this way.................Joe............

got the tires replaced. i didn't have the rim tool so improvised with a jack and some wood cut to the contour of the rim. worked out well. plan to get one eventually for future.

my driver side front tire rim was extremely hard to get off and warped/bent some. i could not for the life of me get it to snap back in place at all.

i instead installed my Spare on the front and am having a shop install the tire on the rim. and will become my spare.

was fairly easy (easier that i was expecting at least) took maybe an hour on the first one and 30 min per tire afterwards so about 2 and a half hours total for 4 of them. then of course fighting with the 5th one for like 2 hours or so.

One of my '29 rims is a little bent, or out of round. I use a large block of wood and a hammer to get that particular rim onto the disc. After mounting the rim onto the disc spin the wheel assembly to ensure it spins "true". You can loosen and tighten the mounting bolts to get it squared up. If you do not do this - not only will you probably feel it in the front end, it will wear your tires rather rapidly.

Art