Just my luck, I managed to spin the tube and shear the valve stem. I'm fairly confident it happened when backing up to the pile to dump; we noticed when coming up to the mine a few days later and saw the tire was low and the stem nowhere to be found. Presumably it's wedged somewhere between the rim and tube. Initially the plan was to pull the wheel and let a local tire shop sort it out, but the &$%@! thing is stuck to the final and a liberal application of penetrating oil and a 6' bar didn't get us more than maybe 1/8" of movement...is there a trick to these things? I'm awful wary with it being a widowmaker rim, especially since there's no way to determine how much or how little pressure is in the thing. Any suggestions for airing it down without launching the lock ring across the canyon?
A well-equipped tire service truck will remove that tire without having to pull the rim. Is that not an option? If you don't have experience in doing those, you're just asking for death..........IMHO
Sticky situation. Looks like (2) independent problems, the rim (of any kind not just a split one) is stuck to the flange/spindle, and the split rim n As far as loosening the stuck fit, I would drive it slowly with the clamps still attached (to catch it) but loose to allow the bond to be broken. Having only worked on 16" truck split rims, I don't understand why the lock ring would launch if there is air left in the tire. It appears to be well seated and not damaged in any way.
No, not an option as the road in is borderline and over an hour from the nearest tire shop. I can talk to our independent heavy-duty guy; he may be able to tackle it. My "shake hands with danger" spidey sense was going off so I withdrew to get some experienced opinions. I've worked with lock-ring tires before but not this style and not tube-type.
Just because its a split rim doesn't make it a widowmaker.
The tube is sacrificial. Take a pointy screwdriver or similar and poke a hole in the tube through the valve stem hole to let out any remaining pressure. There shouldn’t be much pressure in the tire/tube anyway if the tire spun on the rim.
I'm not quite understanding what is going on there but I think I see a wheel that isn't centered on the drum in the first place. That top right side stud in the photo shows a lot less thread that the rest of the studs. I wouldn't be surprised is a tire company would refuse to work on the machine or reuse that wheel again. Old Terex and Euclid trucks had something like that type of retaining set up. They also had pieces of steel welded to the wheel on either side of the valve stem to help prevent the damage to the stem. What we used to do was smack the tire on the outside side wall with a twenty pound hammer to shake the wedges loose. If the tire was flat, we would have to hit the wheel and try not to do too much damage to the flange.
Widowmaker rims were the split rims they used in the 40's-60's maybe where the actual rim split down the middle. That's a lock ring just like thousands still running everyday, but harder to get somebody to work on them. That's extremely clean, no rust, I agree the stem is probably wedged and holding the rim on. I'd slide a log or plank under the vehicle parallel to the length of the vehicle, then two more small logs or planks parallel to the axle over the top of the first one to use as a battering ram from the other side of the vehicle. Pop that off and then you'll see the stem, even if crushed you'll be able to push the stem through the rubber liner and tell if there's any pressure. If there's any left of the stem, sand it clean and solder a new one onto it if that will fly, otherwise take it apart and get a new tube, nothing to it, don't inflate until it's back mounted and use a clip on chuck so you're not in the danger zone.
Quick update, I poked a hole in the tube. Turns out it was completely flat and only supported by the sidewall. The bars I have on hand weren't profiled correctly to pull the lock ring so I'll return with correct bars, a new tube, and a coworker with more experience working on these thing.
Final update: I grabbed the right tools, broke the tire down, got the rim unstuck, and had the tire built and partially aired up at a tire shop. Mounting and final air-up (with chains to contain the hardware) was done in the field without any drama or excitement.