how mechanically savvy should u be ?

I've never in my life changed a big truck tire. However, I have way back in the dark ages, worked on tires in a shop. Like you said, those rings are dangerous. We used to put the wheel under the lift, then drop the lift down so it was just touching the tires, over the ring. I was just a kid, but the shop owner showed me how to break and reset it. Then wouldn't let me do it, unless he was standing right there watching me.
If it was a road call, and he was fixing or replacing the tire beside the road, he would use the vehicle the tire came off of, as a safety. Jack it up high enough to slide the tire and rim under the wheel, then drop the jack until the wheel was just resting either on, or very near the rim.