AME INTL 'Little Buddy' Manual Heavy Duty Tire Bead Breaker

The Little Buddy bead breaker is a great little tool that is easy to use. It took only a few minutes to understand how to use the tool with very little effort. I used a one half inch air ratchet to help with the turning of the two bolts on the Little Buddy. Make sure all the air is out of the tractor tire and remove any liquid used for weight. I started to break the bead by placing the Little Buddy along the rim. With a hammer I was able to get a good bite with the tool. I tightened the tool only enough that the tool became parallel to the tire and then I hammered the tool deeper on the bead. Now I tightened the second bolt to push the bead away from the rim. The bead broke on the first try on a tire that had been in place for decades. I am very pleased with it and recommend the Little Buddy.

After 4 days fudging with wedges, pry bars, and hammers to remove a tractor tire from it's rim I ordered this. It worked fine with just hand tools and popped the bead loose on the first try. I was very impressed! Honestly, I set it with a few taps of a mallet, adjusted it according to the instructions and a minute later the bead was free. We had previously placed a 5 ton loader bucket on the sidewall against the rim and lifted the loader into the air many times and got nowhere. The Little Buddy worked the first time. You can even break beads from tires with the tire/rim still on the tractor. I wish I knew about this tool many years ago. I am going to gold plate mine, it deserves it.

It works great. You just have to make sure you get it drove all the way in or it will pinch some of the rubber on the bead of the tire. It is not the tools fault. Just have to kind of be careful on the first on and watch what your doing.

Piece of junk. Destroyed the first tire I used it on. Had to use it in six different spots on that tire to get the bead unseated. Went to take it off and it would not retract. It had broken internally. I will do things the old fashion way of jacking my truck up and lowering the rotor down onto the tire to unseat the bead. A little more work, but worth it to not destroy every tire I use it on

Does not fit all rims well but once you get the unit between the rim and tire, the little dingle arm thing sticking out of the side does not really come into play. Never had any fear of breaking it. The two things that you want to remember is...(a) make sure all the air is out of the tire by removing the schrader valve, and (b) lubricate the area with soap and water where the tool engages the rim and tire. Trying to break a bead on an inflated tire is really frustrating. Most of it is common sense which for me is my biggest challange and even I got it to work.

Heavy tool. First impressions are good. A couple notes to those looking at a few negative reviews and mulling it over... the directions fail to mention that you should take the valve core out of the valve stem before using this. It will not work if the core is still in the stem as when the tire compresses what air is in the tire even at 0 PSI will still prevent it from coming off the bead!! It has to be able to vent out as the bead is breaking loose. Granted this is tire changing 101, but for some perhaps 101 is what they need. No you shouldn’t use an impact with this!!!!!! It says it in the directions. An air ratchet is fine, but otherwise just use a 1/2 Drive ratchet or breaker bar with the right socket on it. After the valve core is out, and the air has bled out of the tire, stand on the tire to get a gap between the rim edge and the tire. It’ll help get the foot under the lip of the rim. For those with aluminum rims, put a wadded up rag between the hook and the rim to prevent damage. The only aluminum wheels I don’t see this working on is those that have the “spokes” even with the outer surface of the rim and don’t have at least a 1” gap in the spokes to get the hook down through. Sorry for the length, but I hope this info helps a few sitting on the fence with this.

I've always used a hi-lift jack to break the beads on tires. I've been able to break beads on 14ply offroad tires for years with this method.This weekend I encountered a 4 ply riding mower tire that had been sealed with fix-a-flat years ago, so the bead was basically glued to the rim. I could not break the bead using my hi-lift, or any other methods I found online.I did some research, found the Little Buddy , and bought it right away.In about a minute, I had the first side's bead broken using my air ratchet. I decided to do the other side with a hand ratchet, and it was just as fast.I'm very happy with my purchase. The Little Buddy will make a great addition to my tool collection !!!

It worked fine on 15" utility trailer wheels. Did not work on any dually wheels I tried, which were F350 16" wheels, F550 19.5" wheels , Chevy W4500 10.5" wheels . The feet won't dig past the tire bead enough to grab the bead area of the wheel. I tried hammering so much the feet were bending. The only time the feet would dig in enough was after the bead was already broken, which defeats the purpose. I'm going to stick to the slide hammer bead breaker

Venía muy bien empaquetado es una herramienta muy útil para los llanteros en general muy bien

It fits the rim's make's it so easy to break the beads

Es mejor de lo que esperaba muy buen material

This is one of the best tools on the Farm!! If you have changed any tractor tires you will know what a pain it can be! This tool is a must have and a game changer for anything to do with tire repair. Great product !

Good quality product and excellent shipping. I normally don't tend to review seller's performance; however, this seller has earned it.