Quote:
Originally Posted by Clyde
Every truck tire retailer should have a safety cage. The mounting area on the rim should be cleaned properly and inspected for cracks along with the ring, then mount the ring on the rim with out the tire and make sure it seats correctly, then there should not be any problems. Just make sure and use a cage and an air inflator that clips on to the valve stem so it will inflate the tire unattended, this way if the ring comes off in the cage it will be knocked off and no one gets hurt. During the early 60's I worked in a Foreign car shop that was next door to a truck tire store, one of their employees got killed by a ring coming off, the tire was not in a cage.
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You know how many sites claim that someone was killed when dismounting the tire? The lack of knowledge is astounding. *Any* tire still under pressure being dismounted could cause problems. It was -inflating- that the problems actually happened. Although most places have a cage, and split/locking ring wheels are still in popular use for big trucks, forklifts, and other equipment so I am not sure why they are only bad or dangerous for pickups... seems it is more like they are bad or dangerous for shop employees who don't pay attention.
If the lock ring is clean, and the groove it seats in is clean (or the bead is clean), and the lock ring is properly seated, these wheels are no better or worse than others. It takes a few minutes more, and you need to pay attention, but that seems to be all it takes. The plus side is you can do these yourself, if you have the tools (which are 2 types of pry bars basically) you could dismount, fix, remount/inflate and be on your way if broken down by the side of the road... and if you have a compressor and some arm strength that is.