Tire changer???

Greg1959

Well-known Member
Has anyone had any experience with the tire changer from HF. It looks like it might work if I 'milk' it along. I have a few 15" and 16" trailer tires that need changing.

It sure would beat traveling 30 miles and paying $10 per wheel to have them changed.

Here is a pic and link.



mvphoto5876.jpg



]http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-tire-changer-69686.html
 
Greg,

I have no idea if that unit is stout enough for what you want, but
I will say that I used a manual tire changer like that one 50 plus
years ago when I was working in a garage.

It was somewhat hard to change some tires, but I (we) always
succeeded. Wire brush the bead area on the rim after you
remove the old tire and lubricate the one that you're going to put
on. It'll work.

Tom in TN
 
Tom- Ya, it does look kinda weak. I planned putting "outriggers" on the four spokes that mount to the floor. It seems to look too 'top heavy' without some support bracing on the floor.

Thanks

Greg
 
Greg1959; I have owned one for 25 years. I have used it alot.

Mine is bolted to a piece of 4"x4"- 3/4 plywood. this makes it portable.

When i get a very tight or rusty rim grown tire I use lots of lube and I make sure I take my time removing it

If your mounting tubless tires force the bead on the backside of the rim first with very little or no lube, that way when you pull up on the tire to seat the top bead it will be easier.

P.S> removing the valve core helps seat the bead of a tubless tire on a manual changer
 
I have that same tire changer. Plenty strong enough to do the job. The drawbacks I have found are that the bead guide on the bar is either backwards or made wrong, as it always jumps off the bead when I try to use it. Never got the hang of it, so I finally went to using a couple of tire irons to put the top bead on.
 
I've had that exact unit for about ten years. I've probably
changed 150 car, light truck, and trailer tires with it. I
bolted mine down to a 40"x40"x3/8" plate of steel. 100%
satisfied.

I also have a Miro (spell?) bubble balancer.

I figure I'zve saved myself at least $1500. Plus the
convenience/expense of not driving into town.


Glenn F.
 
I've got one and it's paid for itself a few times over. Last year I was in a real pickle and I had to have a new time put on my Jeep. The tire store said the wait would be about 3-4 hours. I told them that I would buy the tire and carry it out. I mounted the tire at home with it. You might make a little sweat doing it, but it works okay.
 
I have had one for a few years now, no problems. I lag bolt it to a pallet so when Im done I can take everything apart for better storage. Its one of those things I should have bought when I was 18, I could have saved tons of money over the years.

With a 30 mile drive and $10 a tire charge, its a no brainer. Just last week I did 2 tires in 40 minutes and that included being extra careful so I could save the balancing beads.
 
I've had one of those for about fifteen years, mounted to half a sheet of one inch plywood. I've used it for everything from car tires to 10x16 tractor tires and 31x12.5x15 round baler tires. the only thing i had to do was make the bead breaker heavier, because the struts would bend.
 
I mounted mine on a pallet. It is strongest, cheapest, that way, if you think about it, you are standing on the pallet, during use, so it won't put much stress on the mounting bolts. I strengthened the pallet, at the bolting points. It works pretty good for a $50 tool, only time I came close to bending it, was when I was beating on a 14" rusty rim.
 
I have one like it. Mounted mine by drilling 1/2" holes for bolt anchor (3/8 bolts) on shop cement floor. When changer is not in use (95% of the time) bolts are removed and holes are duck taped over and changer is stored. Had mine for 10 + years.
 
I have one. The channel feet did not work that well when bolted to a 3/4 " thick plywood sheet...they don't stay tight. Dump the channels and bolt to a 1 inch steel plate that then bolts to the plywood.
 
Before I bought the Coats air powered changer I had a hand operated one similar to that, but it was mounted on a pipe ring about 4 feet in diameter. Standing on the ring usually provided enough weight to hold it in place.
 
I wish I had something like that when I had the stock cars. I used a bead breaker to get started then finished dismounting tires with pry bars. To mount them I used a 2# hammer.
Mounted and dismounted car and truck tires like that too.

There's plenty of info online about those HF tire machines. Seems most guys that are happy with them have them anchored to something and maybe reinforced them.
 
I have had one for a few years. The bead breaker part is no good but good breakers are avaible at HF. Mine is mounted on a half sheet of half inch plywood, just stand on the plywood and it is plenty sollid. Problem is fitting some wheel sizes on but you can make adapters. Not heavy enough for 40+ year old dried out 6 ply tires. On new standard weight car tires worked good. Not going to be using mine any more as I was trying to dismount that old heavy stiff tire and jerking the bar to get it to move due to tire stiffness and tore up my shoulder and had to have surgery and not enought tires any more to do to risk tearing up my shoulder again at 70 years old. 4 ply good, 6 ply questionable, 8 ply forget it. A heavy tire takes a lot of pull to dismount.
 
Dad bought a similar one 30+ years ago, and it
worked ok. Only problem was that for some reason he
set it in concrete about two feet away from the
outside wall of our shop. Makes it very awkward to
use when you can't get clear around it. Haven't
used it for years.
 
This was one of the best purchases I have made from HF. Bolt it to the concrete floor. I have mine mounted permantely to the floor, and have changed many tires with it. A little awkward breaking the beads, but beats the alternative of pounding on them and wrestling them around on the floor. My biggest issue was that the local tire shop is never open when I have a tire needing changed, coupled with the fact that I have (had) a lot of thorns on my place, and this paid for itself in the first year I had it. Saved many a trip, and expense of paying someone to fix. On tubeless I keep a plug kit around, and I rarely break down a tubless tire. Most tire shops will tell you a plug will not hold, but I ran one tire 90,000 miles and most of those miles was with a plug in it, and was still holding when I replaced it. Your mileage may vary :)
 
I have had one for 10 years or so...works good. I recently bought a used Coats machine for $600 and it works even better! But the HF machine is well worth it.
 
You probably already know this, but it is critical to keep the mounted portion dropped into the center of the rim. If not, the mounting tool will jump off every time when the last bead is about half to two thirds on. I am able to mount the first side without the mounting tool.


Glenn F.
 
Yes, I usually spray the first bead with some silicone spray, and push it right on. The popular 17" rims slide right on that way. Second bead is a problem keeping the bead into the center of the rim. Some tires are just too stiff to do alone. I sometimes have a helper push the bead down into the center of the rim while I run the rest in. But, usually, I just resort to a couple of old fashioned tire irons. Works about as easily, and I can do one alone.
 
My neighbor has one and it works good. Bolting it down to something substantial will make all the difference in the world. Sometimes you have to put some muscle into it and you can't if the whole device is moving. Normal car tires seem to work great but we did have had some problems with some 30-40 year old lawn tractor tires that we had to use his log splitter just to break the bead. Then again some came right off.
 

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