Cowboy tire safety cage

[Frank S]

Being safe is always #one rule. The backhoe bucket is a good idea. I have not witnessed a ring flying through the air but have seen the damage. A shop not to far from us a young man was killed when a ring hit him in the neck. A very sad day. That happened 30 years ago and it still bothers me. I have also seen tire shops with damaged walls and ceilings. I never understood how a shop that does truck and equipment tires does not have a tire cage. Thanks. Great info. Mr Mikey.

Most sizes or equipment tires won't even fit in a tire cage unless it is specially made for that size tire. Which it is all important for the locking ring be well seated in its grove prior to adding any air. 2 piece rims are by far the most dangerous that I have found, especially the old General motors rims that split right in the middle Thankfully those are the rims which were outlawed a long time ago you had to deform the rim itself to separate it or put it back together, Not many have ever seen them much later than 1980 and even then they would have been nearly 20 years old, 2 piece tube type truck and trailer rim where 1 side is the bead seat and the locking ring all in one are still sparingly in use, If a tire man uses caution and experience to mount them there in not a high likelihood of having a mishap, when most of the accidents involving them have occurred was because the ring was miss handled in demounting and became bent or twisted and the guy wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. When mounting them if the guy will only add enough air to cause the tube to begin to swell to the beads about 5 to 10 PSI then allow the air to escape put in the valve core and add a few PSI of air while using the rubber end of his tire hammer to tap all the way around the ring making sure it is well seated Then bolt it on as an outside duel on the truck or trailer and finish airing it up doing this is good practice even if the tire was supposed to be installed on the steer axle, or as I have shown with the equipment tire I mounted use several chains to contain the ring. I by far prefer to work on 4 or 5 piece rims instead of 3 piece, and 2 piece rims are my least favorite, 4 and 5 piece rims will have a tapered secondary ring that is installed between the bead seat ring and the locking ring the tapered ring is there because it is tapered on the inside and the outside it slides over the locking ring fully capturing it before the bead seat ring slides over it, but you don't normally see those until the tires and rim diameters are huge.
The main thing to remember is when dealing with multipiece rim assemblies is and bent or damaged parts must be repaired or replaced before attempting to re mount them even if every other safety precaution is taken the #1 cause of most mounting accidents is un-serviceable components.