The Tire Horn: Put Tubes in Tubeless Tires

Do you have rotten, leaky, tubeless ATV or lawn tractor tires -- with otherwise decent tread? Instead of throwing them away and buying expensive new ones, why not put tubes in them? The answer to this question is usually "because putting tubes in tubeless tires, at home, is a HUGE pain in the rear." That was my experience until yesterday, when I made my first Tire Horn. Whereas a shoe horn gets feet into shoes, the tire horn helps get tubes into tires. [I felt like it needed a name.]

1. Stout wood to make the tire horn -- I used a piece of 2"x8" lumber that was approximately 20" long
2. Saw (for cutting a curve from the board)
3. Pencil
4. A rotten, leaky, tubeless tire (but with great tread!)
5. One inner tube, sized appropriately (ideally with valve stem nuts to secure the tube to the rim)
6. Valve stem core removing tool (or some other DIY method)
7. Large, adjustable clamp.
8. Multitool -- or Knife and Pliers
9. Two pry bars
10. One stick of wood for gentle prying (a wooden ruler would work well)
11. Spray bottle with soapy water (water and dish detergent)
12. Car, Truck, or SUV -- the heavier the better
13. Safety glasses?

1. Get a wide stout piece of wood, at least 18" long. I used a piece of 2"x"8", and it worked well. Before that, I tried a 2"x4", and it didn't work.
2. Hold one end of the board next to the tire rim. Use a pencil to draw the curve of the outer rim on the end of the board.
3. Cut out the section of semicircle that you just marked. Now your board is a tire horn!

The inner edges of tubeless tires form a seal against the metal of the tire rims. This seal prevents air from leaking out. It also makes it hard to remove the tires. In this step, you break that seal.

1. Remove the valve stem core, and let the air out of the tire. I have a tool for this, but I've done it before without one. If you don't want to buy the tool, I'm sure you can find good instructions for removing the core without one.
2. Place the tire and the tire horn behind your car tire, with the crescent end of the board on the tire, and the flat end of the board on the ground.
3. The flat end should be wedged under your tire.
4. The crescent end should be about 1" from the rim (you'll need to experiment with this distance, based on the particular geometry of your tire and tire horn), with the crescent contour aligned with the contour of the rim.
5. I used the driver's side rear tire, because that gave me the best opportunity to hang out the door and see what was going on.
6. Back up onto the board until tire bead is broken free from the rim.
7. Repeat three more times -- top, bottom, front, and back of tire.

1. Use a clamp to squish the tire together near the valve stem.
2. Use a knife to cut off the base of the valve stem, on the inside of the rim.
3. Use pliers to pull out the valve stem, and discard both parts of the old valve stem.

1. Place the tire on the ground, valve stem facing up. You only need to remove this side of the tire from the rim.
2. Spray the tire and rim liberally with soapy water (to facilitate the sliding/stretching that needs to happen).
3. Use a pry bar to pry the tire bead out and over the edge of the rim.
4. Insert the pry bar so it s its on top of the rim and under the lip of the tire.
5. Insert a second pry bar in the same manner, but at an angle to the first prybar, and on top of the first pry bar. The bottom pry bar serves as a fulcrum for the top one.
6. Use the top pry bar to lever more tire over the lip of the rim.
7. Shift the two prybars around the rim until all of the tire is over the edge of the rim.

1. Spray the tube and tire liberally with soapy water.
2. Orient the tube so that the valve stem points up.
3. Insert the tube into the tire.
4. Get the valve stem in place (through the hole in the rim). If it has nuts, use the nuts to secure the valve stem in place. If it doesn't, find a clamp (red circle in photo) that won't damage the valve stem, and use it to keep the valve stem sticking out of its hole.
5. Start stretching the tube around the rim. Mine wasn't super-easy, but it wasn't too bad.
6. Use a stick of wood, sprayed with soapy water, to lever the tube around the rim. The stick that I used had dimensions similar to a thick ruler.

Begin stretching the tire back over the rim. I used the pry bars to get started, and then I did some pushing with my hands. Do as much as you can without over-exerting yourself. I think that if you can get more than half-way there, you can use the tire horn to do the rest.

This is the best part. If you've struggled with this process before, I hope you find as much satisfaction as I did.

1. Position the tire horn, tire, and car similarly to how they were positioned when you broke the bead.
2. Fine-tune the positioning. Part of the tire is tucked nicely into the rim, and part of it's still out. Find one of the two places where the tucked-in and not-tucked-in parts meet (red mark in the picture). I rotated the tire until one of those spots was close to the center of the tire horn's crescent (blue mark in diagram).
3. Drive slowly up the ramp. The first time I did this, I put the brake on, got out, and watched the tire stretch over the rim in seemingly slow motion. When I did the second tire, it was much more abrupt.
4. The second picture shows the tire under my car's full weight. You can see that not all of the tire is inside the rim at that point, but when I backed off, the tire's tension pulled that last part in.
5. I didn't have a helper, but a spotter would make this easier.

1. At this point, I would put on some safety glasses, just in case. As I inflated the tire and things shifted into place, there were some disconcerting pops. They made me want to put my safety glasses on.
2. If your valve stem is held in place with nuts, just go ahead and inflate.
3. If your valve stem is not secured, use pliers or some other type of clamp to firmly hold on to it while you hook up your pump. If you don't secure it, it may slip back inside the rim, and you will be very "sad." Once you get some pressure in the tire, the valve stem will stay out, and you can stop worrying.