Best type of reamer for opening a snowblower tire wheel from 7/8 to 1"?

[Jerrythepilot]

Buy a set of tire spoons, watch a YouTube video, change your tire. Maybe a new tube in case you pinch the tube. It happens. Patch it or replace it and move on.

Jerry

[nickel-city-fab]

I think I've chased this squirrel up the wrong tree.

Nah, she just wasn't interested!

Seriously, there has got to be a way to do it. Curious as to why you can't unmount it? At my work, they unmount semi tires with a real big hammer. Yep, a guy with a BFH. And a crowbar. Of course if the old tire is junk, I prefer to use a sawzall. Just cut it crosswise off the rim. .. laziness it the mother of invention!

[Jim Stewart]

This is a snowblower, right? Am I correct in assuming that it won't be used at highway speeds?

I'd just drill it out with a 1" drill and, if necessary, clean it up a bit with a rat tail file. These wheels will probably never travel more than five miles in their lives - you don't need a perfect fit.

-js

[Sparky_NY]

This is a snowblower, right? Am I correct in assuming that it won't be used at highway speeds?

I'd just drill it out with a 1" drill and, if necessary, clean it up a bit with a rat tail file. These wheels will probably never travel more than five miles in their lives - you don't need a perfect fit.

-js

Many snowblowers have a cross drilled hole in the rim which is used with a pin to engage that wheel to drive, goes through the rim and the axle. That way it can be setup for either one wheel or two wheel drive, one wheel maneuvers easier, two wheel drive pushes harder. Something has to fix the wheel to the axle to transfer power.

Ones I have seen do not have enough "meat" to allow them to be opened up and the new rim might not have the cross hole either. Much better idea to use the OEM rim and mount a new tire.

[gellfex]

This is a snowblower, right? Am I correct in assuming that it won't be used at highway speeds?

I'd just drill it out with a 1" drill and, if necessary, clean it up a bit with a rat tail file. These wheels will probably never travel more than five miles in their lives - you don't need a perfect fit.

-js

Gonna try it because I literally have nothing to lose, the wheels are worthless to me as is and not worth trying to ebay.

Sparky_NY I think there's enough meat to drill it, it has cross pins on both wheels.

[Sparky_NY]

Gonna try it because I literally have nothing to lose, the wheels are worthless to me as is and not worth trying to ebay.

Sparky_NY I think there's enough meat to drill it, it has cross pins on both wheels.

I once had a snowblower that had that cross hole worn oval and kept breaking the drive pins, in was IMPOSSIBLE to drill a new hole, the bore is recessed below the outer edge of the rim, couldn't get a drill in there. Better check ! Everyone hates bad surprises !

[Bented]

Many people will suggest a method of doing what you require from experience using the equipment at hand. My first choice would be to buy new wheels from the OEM if available. Barring that option I would simply interpolate the larger holes in a mill. Accuracy is not very important.

Before ranting that home shop machine hobbyists do not have CNC mills remember that many do have machines that will walk off a .865-.885" hole in minutes.

[tom_d]

Gonna try it because I literally have nothing to lose, the wheels are worthless to me as is and not worth trying to ebay.

Sparky_NY I think there's enough meat to drill it, it has cross pins on both wheels.

Going from 7/8" to 1" by holding a twist drill is a bit of a risk. It's gonna chatter and grab and most likely spin in the drill chuck. Modify the 1" drill into a step dill by freehand grinding a 7/8" pilot dia. Won't be pretty but it will give you a round(er) hole than a normal twist drill and be easier to control.

[Willy]

The secret to mounting and de-mounting these little rascals is to, 1. have them securely affixed to something so that the wheel is stationary, lest you be chasing the little pig
around the shop.
2. proper set of tire irons, makes things sooo much easier for you and the tire!
3. once the beads are broken make sure that both beads are in the center, or depressed portion of the wheel this makes a huge difference as it gives you the room needed to lever the bead over the rim
not doing so will be hard on both your spirit and likely worse for the tire's bead.

If I was to open up the axle mount bore on one of those my first choice would be the mill. I know you say that it's a hassle but probably a lot quicker than any of the other options, and you won't have to deal with that A-hole at the lawnmower shop.
Heck you'll probably have it all done in under an hour, all the while singing...let it snow...let it snow ...let it snow!

[epicfail48]

Pretty sure the right tool for that job would be a core drill:

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/01585645

Course, you can find them cheaper elsewhere, but im lazy. Core drills (least this type) are meant for enlarging existing holes, exactly what you want to do

[Black Forest]

What size are the rims? I recently had to mount a new tire on my two wheel hand truck. 4" rim. This rim really was a pain in the ass to mount. Demounting the old tire was not hard at all. Trying to get the new tire on the rim had me cussing at it in every language that I speak! The final solution was two C clamps on on side about 3" inches apart. Then pry the tire over the lip of the rim with two small polished tire irons. The reason for half the stress was the rim was still mounted on the truck with me sitting on the truck while it was layed over on it's side. To take the rim off the truck would have been a destructive removal. The way they are mounted they are not meant to ever be taken off. The C clamps hold the tire bead down in the deep grove while you pry. An octopus would have a much easier time to do the job. I had the tire squeezed between my knee's to keep it from spinning. It was more of a wrestling match than a tire change. I know why the guy at the lawn mower shop was not real interested in the job! Because you can unmount the tire from the machine you have an advantage. Put a bolt through the axle hole tighten a nut real tight and then mount the part of the bolt sticking out in a vice to keep the tire from spinning.

I found a video showing exactly what I did to mount my tire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVi2qV0cKLg

[strokersix]

I hate using carbide burrs in an air die grinder because of all the little swarf needles generated. It would do this job if that's what you have.

I'm a big fan of step drills too but it's easy to burn off or damage the cutting edge so watch out for that.

But really, what's wrong with a cutting torch? Clean up a bit with a grinder and done. Seems about the easiest. I doubt you would put enough heat in to explode the tire unless you are really slow with the torch but fair warning...

[Richard P Wilson]

I hate using carbide burrs in an air die grinder because of all the little swarf needles generated. It would do this job if that's what you have.

I'm a big fan of step drills too but it's easy to burn off or damage the cutting edge so watch out for that.

But really, what's wrong with a cutting torch? Clean up a bit with a grinder and done. Seems about the easiest. I doubt you would put enough heat in to explode the tire unless you are really slow with the torch but fair warning...

Never, never heat a wheel with the tyre on it, at least not with the tyre inflated. The least is that the tyre will burn, the worst, which happened on a site I was on , the tyre exploded and killed the fitter working on the wheel.

[nickel-city-fab]

Many people will suggest a method of doing what you require from experience using the equipment at hand. My first choice would be to buy new wheels from the OEM if available. Barring that option I would simply interpolate the larger holes in a mill. Accuracy is not very important.

Before ranting that home shop machine hobbyists do not have CNC mills remember that many do have machines that will walk off a .865-.885" hole in minutes.

Bingo and amen. My first choice would be to just get a different rim. I've noticed that 7/8 and 1" seem to be the two standardized sizes on medium-sized equipment.

[old mart]

As already mentioned, a 1" core drill would do it easily. You turn up a pilot for the core drill to fit nicely in the hub which will hold the drill concentric.