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Thinking about buying a manual tire changer

AJMBLAZER

AJMBLAZER

Better to be lucky than good.
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Backstory is that my buddy's '89 Toyota Camry needs a new set of tires. He found a deal on a used set of Dunlop all seasons on Craigslist and we picked them up last Saturday.
EVERY FRICKING TIRE PLACE IN LEXINGTON, KY WANTS AT LEAST $15 PER TIRE TO MOUNT AND BALANCE THEM.:eek1: MOST WANT AT LEAST $20!
If he paid that he'd be within $50 of getting new el cheapos from the get go.:doah:

So while bitching about this and considering breaking the bead with a 2x4 and The Blazer and then the explosion trick to mount the tires he started looking into manual tire changers. We found the following on Craigslist semi-locally:
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Manual tire machine - WORKS AWESOME! Change your own wheels and tires - $100


I built two of these. This one is still new. I've worked 14" to 17" tires on it pretty easily. Very simple to operate. Mounts in a truck hitch. HD mount-dismount bar, bead-breaker, reinforced flange and wheel locator. FIRST $100
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Called the guy and talked. Seems like a good guy and not a total doofus, knows what he's doing. He got it for the same reason we are thinking about it. Bought the Harbor Freight kit they used to offer a while back and quickly discovered it was a POS. However he started upgrading it's components and ended up building this. Then his buddy said he wanted one so he built him one and the guy promptly moved away and didn't want to take it with him. Now he's selling the unused extra just to get rid of it.

Look decent? Are we crazy?
I figure we can balance them with the balancing beads I've used before. Lord knows I've been thinking about getting a set of 33" muds and I'd probably get them used. Don't want to go through all the BS my buddy's going through right now with his used tires.
 
I grew up using a semi manual tire machine... It's saved me thousands of dollars over the years...

My dad picked it up around '77 and poured a cement pad to mount it to behind the shop... For a while we had a lean-to over it, but the wind took it out in the mid '80s... I still go over there to use it...

It broke the bead using the same type of spoon as this machine, but it was done by air over hydraulic... Not leverage...

To get the tire on and off the rim, it uses the same technique this one does... Put the bar in and walk around the tire...

It'll make you work up a sweat, but it's not that bad... I've literally mounted/dismounted hundreds of sets of tires on it over the last 30 years...

Been thinking about building one myself...
 
Cool, thanks man. Just made arrangements to go pick it up tomorrow.

What do you use for mounting grease and balancing?
 
What do you use for mounting grease and balancing?
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Don't know about the balancing, but down here in Fl, the few times I used a machine like that one, the mounting grease was no problem.

By the time it was ready to go back, there was enough sweat on it to make it go back easy!
 
Hah. True. I've heard Dawn dish soap recommended. Dunno if they meant that specific brand or just dish soap in general.
 
nice!! 100 bucks is cheap! i would love to get that in my garage. my buddy down the street has a changer and that has single handedly saved me over 400 bucks so far.
i used to work in a tire shop and that has saved me over a grand easy. i change tires frequently enough to warrant that. right now i just stick to 16.5 and a pair of spoons. that would save me hours!!


dish soap in a windex bottle 5% mixture works good. just be liberal.
 
Yeah, just any dish soap mixed with water...

Always had a milk jug with a hole cut in it so the handle was still there but was like a bucket on the bottom...

We have a cotton baby bottle washer that has been around for ever... Don't know if you can still get them... Sort of the same thing they use a the tire shops... Maybe a small BBQ sauce mop... It would last longer than a foam one...

Dip it in and lather it up...:D

The wetter the better...:woot:

Or, you could always spit on it...:haha:
 
AJMBLAZER said:
Bought the Harbor Freight kit they used to offer a while back and quickly discovered it was a POS.
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I've got a harbor freight one like this guy's (no mods to it though). Ive mounted the tires and scratched the hell out of the wheels. :doah: I like how this guy modified it. I might do that to mine one day. :thinking:
 
Knock on wood we're going after it tonight. If you have any questions I'll describe it and his modifications for ya.

How big of a tire can you do with it?
 
I have an aincient Coats manual tire changer that was probably made in the 40's..I broke off the top of the threaded stem the big nut goes on to hold the rim in place,so now the manual bead breaker cant be used on wider tires..been trying to decide whether to weld it bac on,or see ifparts can be had for it--or just scrap it..but I still use it often on lawn tractor tires and car tires,if I have too I use a bumper jack as a bead breaker to break the beads..I suppose I could find a cheap old tire machine but I dont use one often enough to justify it..I can borrow my friends if I bring the tires to his shop..having your own rocks though!..

I like the idea the guy had,as far as mounting the machine to the reese hitch!..my coats isn't anchored and I have to chase it all over the shop every time I use it!..
Mostly I miss the bead breaker,it sucks using the bumper jack,and those you can buy cost almost as much as a manual changer from Harbour Frieight does..

We used Murphy's Oil Soap at the shop when changing tires..dish soap or that
"Go-Jo" jelly hand cleaner works good too..
 
I got a used coats machine off Craigs List for $50, best D**m $50 buck I ever spent.. Now all my buddy's come over and use it. Has saved us all $$$
 
Used it Thursday night to take the tires off of my buddy's car's wheels. Pretty easy after I got the hang of it, but they were 14" wheels and tiny car tires.

Knock on wood we'll be mounting the newer tires up today. Hopefully that goes easily enough.
 
My experience is the larger the rimthe easier it is to mount a tire..I had to replace the 13.6/12/28" tire on my 641 Ford tractor I had about 10 years ago,and was pretty sure I'd have to have it done for me somewhere--when the tire shop quoted me a price of 75 bucks just to put the new tire on a new rim (calcuim cloride rotted the old rim to hell and ate the wires in the tire beads!)--I decided to see if I could find a better price..(they wanted 200 bucks,if it required draining the calcium out and reinstalling it in the new tire,glad I had pumped it out myself at home!)..:eek:

The farm store I bought the rim at had a good guy working there who said "ahhh,its NO big deal,if you have changed a car tire by hand,you'll have no trouble with it--then he saw the tire in the back of my truck and said "bring it on in,I'll help ya put it on"...

A little hand soap on the beads and 5 minutes with a tire spoon and it flopped right on,I couldn't beleive how easy it went on!..and he charged me nothing,only thing he wanted was a hot cup of coffee from the dunkin donuts down the street aways!.

Some of the WORST tires to mount are those dinky ones with 4" rims like they put on hand trucks and other things like carts,compressors and pressure washers..I'd rather do ones with 28" rims any day..small tires on riding mowers and ATV's that are on small diameter rims and are wide suck to mount too..especially ones with 6 plys or super stiff sidewalls..worst one I mounted was a tire off a Cesna airplane that had a 6" rim and a weight rating of 1500+ lbs,it was 10 plies,made to go on a rim that unbolts into two sections,but I "made" it go on a regular drop center rim so I could use it on my riding mower!..took me a good hour and much sweat,grease and swearing to get it on the rim,and I bent the rim and my best large screwdriver getting it on there..once it was on,I dont think it will even NEED air in it,its so stiff even FLAT it dont compress!..
 
Sounds about right.


Fun factoid, I was in a Cessna when one of those wheels came apart.
 
Welp, we got all 4 tires mounted and balanced with beads. Bit of a learning curve. Took us as long to figure out we were doing it wrong and then checked online to find the correct method as it took to mount all 4 afterward. Took them back to his place, slapped them on, and viola, car drives great.

Although we do seem to be running into the classic situation of BFG's running small (his old tires) and some other tires (his "new to him" Dunlops) running large for their size.

Yesterday's life lesson...when the instructions are worthless and you're stuck...consult YouTube.
 
Hey - new guy, resurrecting an old thread.

I'm searching locally for a tire changer. Either an old Coats type machine, or maybe a new chinese machine from Northern or Amazon.

The new machines say "up to 16inch wheels". Can you use these machines to change 245/65 tires on 17" wheels? Why do they say "up to 16"inch? What's the limiting factor?

I saw where a guy said if you strip the paint from the red bar ends and polish the working surfaces, you can change alloy wheels without scratching them up. Does that make sense to you guys who have done this?

Assuming reasonable care, can an old coats machine be used to change tires on 17" alloy rims without scratching them all up?

I understand that getting the tire and bar positioned properly and using lots of lube are key. I'm interested in feedback from people who have experience.

Thanks!
 
I bought the chinese made Harbor freight tire changer, it goes for $35 when on sale, $65 everyday price.
Bought my first one 10 years ago and changed hundreds of tires on all sizes of wheels even up to 19.5" wheels, there is no limit.
I changed up to 39" tires.
I did remove the paint and polished my bar and changed on aluminum rims no problem, at first I was putting masking tape on the wheels but it proved to be worse, catching on the bar and twisting it so it dug in, the best way was to have the wheels clean and soaped, and the bar polished right before use.
The only reason I bought a new one last year was that I misplaced the bar on the old one and for $35 I have a new one now, still have the old machine with no bar.:D
DCS said:
Hey - new guy, resurrecting an old thread.

I'm searching locally for a tire changer. Either an old Coats type machine, or maybe a new chinese machine from Northern or Amazon.

The new machines say "up to 16inch wheels". Can you use these machines to change 245/65 tires on 17" wheels? Why do they say "up to 16"inch? What's the limiting factor?

I saw where a guy said if you strip the paint from the red bar ends and polish the working surfaces, you can change alloy wheels without scratching them up. Does that make sense to you guys who have done this?

Assuming reasonable care, can an old coats machine be used to change tires on 17" alloy rims without scratching them all up?

I understand that getting the tire and bar positioned properly and using lots of lube are key. I'm interested in feedback from people who have experience.

Thanks!
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