The theory vs. practice argument is very valid here...in fact, I installed all 4 of my Hutchs in person with a friend...well, until we had to take all 4 of them to a professional tire shop to use the press and other tools to best install, align, etc...everything.
A normal rim would be easier to mount in the field in my opinion with the addition of the tire irons or that handy tire install tool...
We've mounted quite a few at our shop. Installation is very quick with hand tools. We do use an impact to just get the nuts down on the first round before switching to the torque wrench. I've done both kinds of tire dismount and mount on trail and I would pick the Hutchinson over doing it with irons. The key is using proper tools to pull the face of the rim up off the bead. This can be done in one minute and same goes with the back side. If you've done a few you get a bit of a system down to get it off and on. Practice practice!
i'll race a hutch guy with a standard rim and two nice tire irons with soap.
we'll do it for pinks, man. i may even use my backup foot pump.
the hutch value is the dot beadlock that gives you piece of mind at 12psi. if youre not airing that low, its an ego thing, right jeremy?
Not sure if you've un mounted and mounted a Hutchinson before, but there's not effort in doing so aside from lifting the tire off the barrel. It's very quick to pull the face off with soap water and levers. Just walk the two levers up and down opposite from each other and do so around the rim between the tire then after one full revolution the face pops up and the same for the bottom. Tire comes off and fold and pull out the inner bead. Fold and push in the inner bead and roll the tire to have the inner bead sit perfectly in the middle of the tire, plop the tire on the barrel, push the face on and zing on the nuts to the long studs then go after the shorter studs in criss cross, then after 90ft, torque down. One wheel can have a tire swapped in less than 5 minutes off vehicle.
Once on Dusy I had to do this on trail, it was hot, dusty, 9,500FT elevation. I carry the spare tire without a rim which cuts down weight and allows for items to be placed in the spare tire for storage with the Front Runner BBQ over top as a lid. Tire was swapped out in 15 minutes on vehicle. Surprisingly the tire was quite balanced on the highway afterwards.
Tools include:
- Snap On Impact 18V
- Two long flat head leavers
- Bio-degradable soap
- Snap On torque wrench
- 19MM Socket and extension
- Teflon chain lube for the inner o-ring seal
- Small stubby stiff broom
Obviously a spare with rim is faster to swap. Saving weight and increasing storage is a nice plus with minimal time wasted.