Since I'm thinking of driving to some remote places once I retire, I decided I needed to know if I could dismount and mount tires by hand. I used to watch a guy in a wheelchair who ran a tire shop out of his garage change car tires by hand from his wheelchair so I thought I should be able to do it.
I bought an LT 235/75 16 tire on a chevy truck rim so I could use the tire as a spare for my Fuso. I purchased two 24" tire irons from Harbor Freight and went to work. I thought I'd have to be creative in breaking the bead and first tried a scissors jack with the tire under the back of my 300TD. It didn't do anything so I decided to start using the tire irons. I was able to break the bead with the tightly curved end of the tire irons. I placed them about 8" apart under the rim and pried downward, moving around the rim. I then removed the top side of the tire from the rim with the flatter end of the tire irons.(I lubricated the tire with soapy water) The top side was pretty easy. I found the bottom side harder and had to add a third prybar to get the bottom side off. My final tactic was prying up from the bottom side with the pry bars under the tire rather than prying from the top as I did with the top side.
Anybody have much experience with this that can add hints to make the process easier? Once my Fuso rim arrives, I'll try mounting it and experiment with the controlled explosion method of seating the bead on the rim. I think I'll purchase a third iron to make the job easier.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13