I'm getting too old and fat to break down tires by hand. I've on and off looked at tire machines for a decade. I think it's time.
The cheapest place around here to do a tire mount/balance is $25/tire. So just in the last couple years I've spent $300 paying other people to do this work. I've probably done another 20 tires by hand. I do it by hand for a nipple patch or if it's a steel wheel.
Speed is of no concern. Anything is faster than the pain in the ass spending 25 minutes round trip in the truck plus wait time to get them done. If I pay myself $60/hr then I can justify in my mind that those mounts are costing me about $150/4.
I have a Chinesium balancer already. I balance every tire rotation.
The problem is that I want it to do anything from a 13" boat trailer wheel to a 22" car wheel and I'd like it to be able to do bigly tires as well as rubberband tires.
I'm fine if they can't do 44" Intercos, but it'd be nice if it did. I still have no problem doing big tires with spoons. It's just the widdle sidewall tires that hurt my ankles and knees.
Space is a concern. If it's too big I'll need to buy an enclosed trailer to mount it in, and those aren't free.
I found that I think a Hunter TC3250 will do what I want. It seems a ridden hard, abused, sad looking one is $800 and a gently used one is about $2000. They seem kind of large.
I can't help but notice the Chinesium fleabay ones for $1200-2000 look pretty enticing.
What say you?
The cheapest place around here to do a tire mount/balance is $25/tire. So just in the last couple years I've spent $300 paying other people to do this work. I've probably done another 20 tires by hand. I do it by hand for a nipple patch or if it's a steel wheel.
Speed is of no concern. Anything is faster than the pain in the ass spending 25 minutes round trip in the truck plus wait time to get them done. If I pay myself $60/hr then I can justify in my mind that those mounts are costing me about $150/4.
I have a Chinesium balancer already. I balance every tire rotation.
The problem is that I want it to do anything from a 13" boat trailer wheel to a 22" car wheel and I'd like it to be able to do bigly tires as well as rubberband tires.
I'm fine if they can't do 44" Intercos, but it'd be nice if it did. I still have no problem doing big tires with spoons. It's just the widdle sidewall tires that hurt my ankles and knees.
Space is a concern. If it's too big I'll need to buy an enclosed trailer to mount it in, and those aren't free.
I found that I think a Hunter TC3250 will do what I want. It seems a ridden hard, abused, sad looking one is $800 and a gently used one is about $2000. They seem kind of large.
I can't help but notice the Chinesium fleabay ones for $1200-2000 look pretty enticing.
What say you?
