Quote Originally Posted by chnco
So I tried putting on a 225/45/17 onto a 9" rim today with no success. Got the tire on the rim, and then tried filling it with air and it never was able to lock. How the hell do you put it on??

hrm... i've put 225/45's on my 9.5" rears before with no special effort, as well as lots of 235/45's. the only real way of seating it if you're having trouble is to use a "cheetah", which is an air tank with a special giant nozzle on it that blasts air in so fast it forces the tire to stretch onto the rim. other than that, sometimes if you use a ratcheting tiedown around the center of the tire to push the center down it'll push the beads out to the edges a little tighter and let the air seat it. the only issue here is the pressure left on the tiedown as a result, they're usually harder than hell to get off the tire without drawing blood.

oh yeah, were you trying to put in the air with the valve stem core still in the stem? i always seat mine with the core out so the air goes in faster.