Trouble Mounting Tires on 66 10-spokes

[s2ms]

I recently bought a set of Blockley 205-70VR14 tires, really looking forward to using them, should be a significant performance upgrade over the current T/A's. However, we are having a very difficult time getting the bead to fully seat on my OE 66 10-spokes. We can get them to hold air, just won't fully seat on the rim front side, one edge stays tucked under the rim and just won't pop. We've tried with 3 different tires and 2 different wheels, same results. We've tried lots of lubricant and pushed the pressure to 60 psi, I was nervous to go higher. We even tried a Cheetah with no success. Haven't tried using a ratchet strap yet, don't want to try the starting fluid trick. Weather is not warm enough yet to let them sit in the sun.

I know 66 10-spokes have a reputation for being difficult but I've personally never had any problems getting beads to seat with other tires. The Blockley's do look on the tight side, their average ID is 13.75-13.9 inches while the T/A's are 13.9-14.0 inches, so that must be part of the difficulty. I'm using a friend's tire mounting machine. He also bought a set of same size Blockleys and was able to mount them on his 66 Hertz magnums, it wasn't easy but did work.

Any tips, tricks, comments, suggestions greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Dave

[gt350hr]

   Dave ,
       You nay have to machine the safety bead area smaller in diameter to ease seating the bead. I did on another brand of wheel with the same issue.

[shelbydoug]

There was a thread on this previously with Jim Cowles talking about it. I think that was the solution on the originals was to re-machine them. The repros didn't seem to have the issue.

Perhaps if you could BORROW a repro, you could compare them?

[jk66gt350]

I have had a couple of sets of BFG T/A's on my OE 66 10 spokes and have never had this issue.  Has anything changed design wise with new tires in recent years ?

[CSX 4133]

Try working the front bead of the tire up to the seat of the wheel. You will have to use wheel soap on the top and bottom beads and essentially turn the tire while pulling upward. This should seat the tire enough to then apply air. If it still doesn't fully seat (especially the bottom side) I would use a ratchet strap and remove the valve core when adding air. Best of luck, a tight fitting tire is never easy to mount especially with stiff sidewalls.

[s2ms]

Thanks for the replies.

Hope to not have to machine the wheels but will if needed. I think we are really close, the angle is just so steep up over the front hump that the bead is getting hung up on one edge because these tires are on the small side. The suggestion to try and seat the front bead first is a good idea since that is the problem child.

Once we figure this out I'll report back with what worked.....and/or what didn't.

Thanks again,
Dave