Trouble with Matco Wheels

I have three new Matco split rims and two leak air, have tried to tighten them and still no luck.Help Please

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Permalink Reply by Jim and Amelia Isaacs on September 12, 2017 at 5:00am

Joe,

Yes, I need to unseat the tire bead from the matco rim before I can address the leaks.I don't want to use anything that will damage those soft rims and was considering either the HF bad breaker or using this as an excuse to buy that 20 ton drill press I've always wanted!

Permalink Reply by John Austin on September 12, 2017 at 7:00am

... was considering either the HF bad breaker or using this as an excuse to buy that 20 ton drill press I've always wanted!

I feel your pain! I've needed a bead breaker occasionally and before I get a chance to buy one, my buddy who owns a tire shop always does it for free!  Darn it, another chance to buy a new tool is missed again!  ;>)

John

Permalink Reply by Joe Spencer on September 12, 2017 at 7:11am

Jim

A BIG c clamp is what I use. small piece of ply top and bottom(bout a foot long) and screw the clamp down against those and it should pull the tire loose from the bead with no problem

Permalink Reply by Peter Skedsvold on September 13, 2017 at 6:24pm

Forgot to mention, to break beads cover top and bottom with scraps of carpet and jack up your car or pickup and place tires under jacked up vehicle  tire and slowly lower onto tire to break bead on,  works every time, have yet to hurt a rim or tire.   GO SLOW..........

( hydraulic bottle jacks work the best)

Permalink Reply by Don Morrisey on September 12, 2017 at 10:12am

I have found that if you coat all the mating surfaces of the rims including the O ring, with Stan's Notubes Sealant (I used an artist paint brush) and then add a few ounces of the solution though the valve...fill with air and ...zero leaks.

Permalink Reply by Jim and Amelia Isaacs on September 12, 2017 at 6:46pm
Joe,
Where did you find the c clamp?
Jim
Permalink Reply by Peter Skedsvold on September 13, 2017 at 6:15pm

  First take some soapy water and find which  bead is leaking, break the bead on that  side, then remove the bolts so you can split the rim and then pull the o-ring out and make sure the surface where the o-ring seats on both rim halves is smooth and clean ,if not polish with with fine grit emery cloth and clean all of the grit out .  Bolt the rims back together and then apply silicone grease onto the area where the o-ring will seat , now take the o-ring and make sure there are no nicks or cuts and apply some more silicone grease onto the o-ring and roll it onto the rim on the open side, down into centre of the rims . Make sure the o-ring is all the way down and is seated evenly between halves.  Clean the area on the rim where the tire seats , and apply a little 100% silicone caulk onto the bead and air the tire up.  If the tire will not come back up onto the rim take a rope or nylon tie down strap ,place it around circumference or the centre of the tire tread and get it as tight as possible, then take a bar and twist the rope or strap, until the bead, moves up onto the rim and air up, and wipe excess silicone of tire and rim and  FLY............

  Did it on both mains after replacing with tundra tires and both are still holding air after 6 months.

Permalink Reply by Jim and Amelia Isaacs on September 16, 2017 at 7:43pm

OK so here is what has (so far so good) worked for me.  Vaseline. Lots of it.  As many have said, ensure a smooth joining of the wheel halves, and smooth edges at the center join seam.  Then lube the o ring generously with petroleum jelly (an option per the Matco instructions), roll the o ring into the install position up high on the inner rim, AND lube up the entire inside surfaces of the wheels, both halves. Bolt the halves together, release the o ring into position, allowing it to  pick up additional petroleum jelly on its way there, confirm proper position at the seam, then inflate the tire to seat the tire beads. So far so good!  No leaks, confirmed with the soapy water spray bottle and 12 hours holding pressure now.

Permalink Reply by Walt Snyder on September 17, 2017 at 12:37pm

Congratulations, those of us that have been down the exact same road knew we would see this post :) 

They're a good product, nice and light without the tube.

Permalink Reply by Kenneth Clayton on August 10, 2024 at 10:59am

   Its not matco but aviation wheels wheels are split by design.   This design is intended to be used with an inner-tube.  Really!  You can use a split wheel without an inner-tube, probably but leaks are likely.  This applies to Cessna, Piper, etc.   I use an inner-tube on front wheel as it was intended...thus no leaks.    The mains are prone to leaking.  They are sealed using abundant amounts of clear silicone over the rubber ring.  That black wheel ring is there for looks, because it doesn't really seal well (yea some people are lucky).  Apply silicone on the surface of each wheel half.  Messy? yes it is.  Use your clean finger and smear the silicone over the black rubber ring and around the hub.  Reassemble.   

   Oh the red mark on the tyre should be oriented near the filler valve.  The mark denotes the light (weight) spot on the tyre.  It is intended to be oriented next to the filler tube.   

Permalink Reply by Ralph Sanson on August 11, 2024 at 5:49pm

All my leaks were slow failures of the supplied turf tires with the "tube type" printing on sidewall.

The kit came tires already mounted it wasnt until a few years the first one went down and I put in a tube.

The Zenair gear and wheels kit manifest lists one MH6N and 2 MH6B.75 Matco rims, 3 T8x6 tires and 3 800x6-7 tubes

The Matco instructions attached describe how to fit the tubes, using cardboard or something to help keep the tubes out of the rim gap when bolting halves together and make no reference to an O ring.The Matco drawings show an O ring also show 6203 ball bearings which mine have. The instructions are for tapered bearings So lots of confusion how to deal with this..

20 years on I now have tubes in all tires. I'm sure buying actual tubeless tires would have been more expensive. The turf tires have plenty of tread but very thin in the grooves.

I wasnt expecting it to be so hard doing the bead breaking, the first time didnt seem so hard but I was 20 Yrs younger.

Ralph

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