Im tired of paying for tire work, on my cars, and motorcycles. Who does their own tires..... and what machine do you own.? After getting hosed for 60 bucks each on mount and balance for bike tires, that did not get balanced. Im getting a machine.
i used to have a old "iron horse" manual hand machine , then found a coats 40-40 at a school auction , you never relize the savings till you have to have a tire fixed or bent over on the road , i know or knew your feeling
I paid $111 for mine back when they wanted $5 each to mount tires That was more than 30 years ago. Can you imagine how much I have saved on my many ol cars and trailers and tractor tires?
I'd love to find an old manual tire machine. We had one in the school shop that I taught in (the same one we had when I was a student) and I used one in a dealership to mount Vogue bias tires in the 70's. I passed on one that was cheap at a swapmeet last year because it didn't have the accessories with it.
Bought a new Coats off a MATCO tool truck when it was on sale. Use it all the time. Now my neighbors paying me to change some of theirs.
I have been mounting my own tires for over 30 years......manually. I took a Ford pickup bumper and cut it in half. I wrapped it with tape and use it to break the bead by driving my truck in the bumper. I hand made two "tire irons' one with a rounded end the other with a square end to pull the bead over the rim lip. I timed it the other day...it took 6 minutes to dismount and mount a tire on a 8" aluminum wheel without a scratch. I balance them by putting them on the front and rotating them. This system has worked at the race track and to mount BF Goodrich tires on Weld wheels. Plus I don't have to use up floor space with the tire machine that you only would use a couple times a year.
As often as some of the tire shops upgrade their equipment these days it may be somewhat easier to get a good machine that is only a few years old for a reasonable price.
i use a coates iron man manual machine an also use a hoffman rim clamp machine at home. i does help that i work at a tire shop
i have a spindle with a hub that the bearings are oiled with wd40. put it in vise and mount wheel to it, find heavy spot, put wieight on. keep doing it till when you spin the tire, it stops randomly.
Works for me too.You can also unmount and mount tires with the optional attachment. I've only done bike tires on it though. Don't know how good it is with car tires.
I have a wheel balancing machine. no idea what the name of it is. It has like a fake hub that you put your wheel on and you add weights to it to balance it.
I use this manual tire changer ... bought at Princess Auto here in Canada. Works great. I then take the wheels in to a shop to get balanced (if needed .... sometimes I am just swapping off tires from a car headed to the wreckers or am doing trailer tires that I don't bother balancing).
Just a quick glance shows me they're all over craigslist. Anywhere from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand. From raunchy that needs restoration to gleaming and brand new in the box! Just type in 'tire machine'.
I have my Dad's old manual bead breaker and tire irons. He taught me how to use it when I was a kid. But, an air powered machine would sure be nice.
A few years ago I got a set of four 235/75 15 tires for my OT pickup at a big tire store. $24 for "balancing. Couldn't go over 40 without bounce. I started taking off weights 'till they were ALL gone. 80 mph, no bounce, no shake. I haven't balanced one since. Balancing is a hoax with most half decent tires. If I get them on there and I feel something, I'll look into balancing.
I bought a $100 tire changer from Northern Tool. It looks exectly like the one Harbor Freight sells. I would recommend against buying either of those, and instead save your money and try to find a good used "real" machine. The first time I used the bead breaker, it bent. After about 3 tries with a welder and some spare steel, I was finally able to re-do it so it works fairly well. The bar they give you to mount and dismount tires is very inadequate and will bend quite easily. It will also tear up the tire beads both coming off and going on. (Yes I did go to the auto parts store and bought a container of the regular tire lube.) For some reason, 14" tires are particularly hard to deal with; I have heard this other places as well. I am trying to buy or make a dismounting tool bar like I remember using at the local station back in the old days. (Hint hint : If any of you guys with an old manual machine that works well would like to post some pictures of the mount/dismount tool, I'd be very appreciative.) One last thing I forgot. When I got it, I also bought a bubble balancer which I think was around $40. It's a little tricky to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it works quite well. If you get one, save all the weights off of all your old wheels; good lead weights are getting harder to get all the time.
I worked at a Buick dealership years ago during a summer vacation -- used a magnetic on the car balancer, worked great. I haven't seen one of those for 50 years.....
I use an Eagle rim clamp tire machine and a coats electronic spin balancer. Its amazing how cheap you can buy this stuff when there is a garage closing up or upgrading the equipment. There is no need to use a manual changer, you can find an old air operated coats 20-20 for $300 or so at just about any swap meet or craigslist. I used got one for $150 and used it for years before upgrading to the rim clamp machine.
I bought a very little used coats 40-40 for $75, with all the acsesories. Works great,and use a bubble balancer. It's what we used to use 30 years ago and still works now. Not high tech but gets the job done, and easyer than a manual machine. There is still a lot of them out there for super reasonable prices. Mater of fact they still make them.Had it in my shop at first and was constantly bugged to do tires whitch I didn't want to do so I took it home and put it in my shop.Really doesn't take up much room,I don't use it a lot but I defintly wouldn't be with out it.
i have an Eagle Rim Clamp #550 and i bought the Motorcycle adapters this is a good home machine theas adapters will hold down a 6" lawnmore tire but will have to use hand bars had a hand Coats then a 10/10 a 20/20 a 40/40 i can do a 19.50 x 33
You might try old stations or tire stores for a bubble balancer .Often they save the old stuff. Ive an old balancer from a tire shop a year ago for 10.00. Im looking for the bar for unmounting the tire for one like you got off of C/L for the old manual machine.
i have one exactly like this one (made by coats). the one shown is complete with upper and lower bead breaker, wide wheel adapter, removal tool and install tool. don't let it get away...jack btw if you bought it, how much?
The Jalopy Journal
