Tire changer?

I have been thinking of a tire changer for in the shop. As I get older it is harder for me to do them with tire irons. What would be better a low priced new one or a used coats? Most of the used coats are in the $1500 price range and for that price I can get a new Atlas machine. Does anyone have experience with the Atlas machines? I will more than likely do 40 tires the first month then 5-10 a month after that.Mostly 11Lx15 implement and tractor front tires maybe a few 12.5Lx15's and we do have a skid loader.Two of my neighbors said they would have one or two a month as well. What would your ideas or thoughts be? Thanks Tom

My nephew has one that was in the shop of a service station that went bankrupt. He uses that a lot!

I would go with the used Coats over a NEW imported changer. Your going to be pushing the limit with farm tires. So you need a good changer not a CHEAP changer.

I bought a well-used Corghi (spelling may be incorrect, but similar to a Rim Clamp brand changer) for $100 a couple years ago. I think I put $10 in a few miscellaneous parts in it. It needs a few things repaired, and has a couple air leaks, but works GREAT for the couple tires I repair in a month. I don't know how it'd do with skid steer tires though.. Most of mine are just pickup and small front tractor tires.

Don't know if this helps you, just sharing an option.

Brad

Our local tire shop got to be a real joke, If the tire had a tube in it you were for sure going to need a new one every time. The finial straw was buying a new 11lx15 flotation tire and tube mounted that was flat before I got home with it, I took it back and they wanted to charge me for a new tube and a dis-mount and a mount! We had a heated shouting match and I left it fixed for free. 3 days later I bought an Atlas tire changer off Ebay and made sure that I stopped by there shop to show them that they had lost my business and that I would do my own repairs from now on. 2 years later they closed there doors for good.

If you can find a good used machine by all means buy it as it will pay for itself real quick. Now as bad as I hate to say this, Do your own work only and not for other people. Your heart will be in the right place trying to help someone out but it could come back to bight you in the --- real bad if something goes wrong with the repair you made or a rim because you worked on it, Don't ask how I know this. Bandit

My 1010 Coats cost a bit over $300- pretty normal for the ones I"ve watched here over several years.

I would buy a rim clamp machine. The old Coats 1010 will not change a modern front wheel drive rim,the post is too short. Implement wheels are soft at the centers and are easy to bend with the center post machines. And before someone wants to argue, I ran the shop in a tire store for 13 years.

Tom We had several different brands of tire machines in the tire shop. If you want the old style with the post in the middle--The best longest lasting ones were FMC. They out last coats 2 or 3 to 1. Even then we wore out several of them. I do not like rim clamps for farm tires. It is easier for me to do the large tires on the older American style machines. The boss bought a new rim clamp-one of the "economical ones" from a off the wall tire equiptment place. It is about 1/4 smaller in size than the ones we had in the tire shop. Cannot do a 12X16.5 skid loader tire on it. Be sure you have enough air pressure and volume to run it. A typical 5hp farm compressor will not do it. I just reread your post--Check out the machine before you buy it, I am not sure but the rim clamp machine he bought might be an Atlas. If you do buy a coats you want a 40-40 or 40-50 or newer. The old 10-10 or 20-10 are not worth it for the number of tires you are talking about doing. Just for comparison You are talking doing 40 tires per month, that was around our daily average for years and we would get about 2 years from the new Coats machine where we got 4-5 years out of a new FMC.

Keep your eye open for a used rim clamp. I paid $300 for this old FMC 6 years ago. Great investment! If you are going to be doing any aluminum wheels, you don,t want a center post machine.