Way to remove tire rims?

[Scrap man]

I recently started scrapping, and I have about a dozen old tires with rims in them that I want to remove. I heard auto shops will do it for $3 a tire, so that's out of the question. I read about some method that had something to do with a truck that I didn't understand, but I can't do that because I'm only 14 and can't drive. I tried using a grinder, but that didn't work. Any suggestions? I don't care about what shape the tires or rims are in afterward. I just want them out

[708bigbuck]

The way I do it is cut accross it with a sawzall. You have to cut through part of the rim to get all the way throught the outter edge. Then lay the tire down flat and have someone with a car or truck roll over the edge of the tire to break the bead. If you cant get access to someone with a car. You have to cut all the way around the edge with a sawzall as clost to the rim as you can get on both sides. The tire will fall off. The bead will still be stuck to the rim. You can use a hammer and chisel or pry bar to break the bead.

[Mick]

Something else to consider in scrapping rims with tires - disposal of the tire. Does your landfill charge for accepting them? You will need to figure this into the value received for the rim (Return on Investment or ROI). If you get $0.11/lb a rim (currently for #1 iron at the yard where I go) and the disposal fee is $3, plus the electricity the Sawzall uses plus the time, gas and wear and tear... How much did it cost you to "get rid" of these rims? This is why I charge $10 a rim w/tire.

[Scrap man]

708bigbuck-
Does that wear down the sawzaw blade very much? I know it wears down a grinder pretty fast.

Mick-
Yes, my dump charges money to dispose of tires, but I'm hoping that someone will come and take them for free if I put an ad on Craigslist for free tires. As for the return on investment, that's a good thing to consider

[TheMetalizer]

Cutting them is such a challenge because tires have tempered steel bands running through them for reinforcement. Let all of the air out of the tire by pushing on the valve with a screwdriver. Take a crow bar and press between the tire and the rim prying the tire off the rim. Do this all the way around one side of the wheel, then all the way around the other side. It takes a lot of effort!

[Scrap man]

Sounds like I have my work cut out for me. Ugh. At least I'll have something to keep me busy during the winter

[708bigbuck]

If you use good blades, I've never had a problem with it wearing them out.

[jjk]

I use my trust quick cut, which is a cement cutter, I just put a steel blade on it and cut right across the tire into the rim.

[hobo finds]

Drill a hole in the tire close to the rim then use a sawsall to cut around the tire. Cuts perty quick. I only do this for alum rims as it's not worth it to break down the steel rims

[IdahoScrapper]

Here's one way of removing them.




BTW, can't tires be shredded and used as a base for roads or something? Why are they so hard and expensive to get rid of?

[Mick]

...BTW, can't tires be shredded and used as a base for roads or something? Why are they so hard and expensive to get rid of?

Yes, they can and I looked into scrapping tires. There are large piles of tires around here and I was going to cash in. The problems are that the closest shredding plant is in (I think it was) Tennessee. The tires take up a lot of room for transport and they're worth so little per ton that a 72 foot trailer could not hold enough tires to even cover fuel.

[TheMetalizer]

BTW, can't tires be shredded and used as a base for roads or something? Why are they so hard and expensive to get rid of?

What it really comes down to is that there are heavy strips of tempered steel inside of the tires that are **** hard to sift out of the rubber, and they make chopping them a nightmare. If they weren't there, then it would simply be a matter of recycling them like any other rubber.

You're right that they can be used to make roads once they are chopped up, but the cost of using tires is more than the cost of regular asphalt so nobody wants to do it

I'm sure there are teams of chemical and mechanical engineers trying to make it more economical right this minute! Maybe one day people are going to be scrapping old tired for big $$$$.

[lady scrapper]

I agree with the irrationalist. That is what we do. once you do the first few, it gets easier. It takes some time to get used to it, but its free. sometimes you can sell a tire that has a little bit of a good tread left to a shop that sells used tires for like 15 to 20 bucks to people. i have a few around here, and sell my good tires to them. other times farmers who use plastic sheeting to cover bales and sileage might take a few tires to use for weight to hold down plastic. but yeah you will get left with the fee on tire disposal. get creative too. some that are usable donate to rawhide boys programs where they work on cars, give it some thought to try and keep your disposal costs low.

[BigIgg]

I use a demo saw with a metal cutting blade. I would not take the wheel unless it was aluminum. To me its not worth the time and tire disposal to cut a tire off a steel wheel.

[Scrap man]

I was thinking about maybe using a log splitter, but I'm not sure if the splitter would be able to crush the rims or even cut through the beads. Any thoughts?

[Mick]

A log splitter might break the bead, but I doubt it'll cut the tire nor crush rims. If you get the bead broken, you could get the tire off using a couple of pry bars.

[IdahoScrapper]

This is similar to a log splitter design, but I have no idea what size ram, pump and engine you would need.

[HaulinHeiny]

I bought a manual tire changer and mounted it on a wooden pallet. It worked 'as advertised' in this video. The very first tire I did took me less than 4 minutes.



The changer tool cost me $70 with tax and claims to handle 8" up to light truck.

[ilovejunk]

a friend of mine has a little 5hp log splitter he got at a garage sale and it will crush a normal steel wheel and break the bead so the tire can be removed. he has used it for Al wheels too but alot of time hey just break once they are crushed so far. which actually works out well for him cause he just piles all the broken pieces in the bed of his ranger and hauls it to the yard w/ his other Al you can get alota wheels in a ranger bed when you dont have to stack em just pile all the pieces in and go the yard don't seem to care they still list it as "Al wheels".

[ozzy214]

Yes log splitter does the trick. I crush the rim in 3-4 spots and the tire slides right off. Sometimes the old rims will literally snap due to rust right at the welds. Alu wheels literally snap in pieces. They are the esiast to do. My tire disposal fee is $2.50 per tire. So it works out to like $2.00-$3.00 profit per 2 rims.