Changing bandsaw tires

[Dave Anthony]

I just replaced the tires on my Jet 18" bandsaw. What I learned:

Clean off the residue of the old tires w/acetone.

If you can get the wheels off life is easier (the nut will be reverse threaded, and the wheels should pull directly off the shaft).

Soak the tires in really hot, almost boiling water.

Take the installation tool provided with the new tires (a chunk of dowel w/a nail surrounded by a piece of tubing) and throw it away. Also, throw away the instructions that tell you to use warm tap water and a single clamp. Get two large screwdrivers and at least 6 clamps.

When you're ready to put the tire on, fish the tire out of the water. If you can comfortably stick your hand in the water it's not hot enough. Take a towel and dry off the tire (cast iron hates water). Pretend the tire is an exercise device: Step on it, grab it with both hands and pull up to stretch it. Clamp the tire to the wheel, expanding the circumference using the screwdrivers as levers and adding/moving the clamps as needed to consolidate your gains.

When you get the tire on (it will seem impossibly small) go around the circumference and press the tire into the channel to spread it out evenly.

[Lee Schierer]

When I replaced the tires on my 14" band saw, the instructions that came with the tires warned of heating the tires with hot water. They suggested warm water with a bit of dish detergent, with a warning not to get it too hot. The slight amount of soap made the tires just a bit slippery. I got the tire about half on with a clamp holding one side while I worked my way around the other side of the wheel. I used a plastic windshield gasket tool to stretch and slide the gasket up over the wheel rim.
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The tool is about 3/16" thick with tapered ends and rounded over. You could make one out of a piece of waxed hardwood.

[Robert Hayward]

Changed the tires on a 14" and a 15" bandsaw using the dowel/nail tool that came with the tires. That cheesy little dowel/nail tool worked good for me. Been a while but if I am remembering correctly I just barely warmed the new tires then rolled them on with the dowel/nail.

Lee your windshield tool looks like a good alternative to the dowel/nail.

[Bill Dufour]

rubber is weird. Heating it makes it more flexible and stretchy. But heating it also makes it shrink. So warming it is good but too hot is bad, I guess. Of course nothing is made of rubber these days it is all some synthetic stuff whose reaction to temperature may not be the same.
Bill D

[Dave Anthony]

These were urethane ultra duty 0.125 inch.