I have a cheap imported manual tire changer I got from Northern Hydraulics. As far as I can see, it is identical to the unit offered by Harbor Freight. Mine works OK, and has definitely earned it's keep, but it does have some shortcomings. Lately, I have been seeing a lot of ads for an accessory called a "Duckbill", which is an accessory plastic head that seems to make mounting and dismounting much easier as well as eliminating damage to fancy wheels. They're not that expensive, and I am considering getting one. They must be of some value because it seems like literally dozens of companies are offering almost identical versions. Has anyone out there had any experience with these? And if so, are there any brands that are better than others? I think the company that first came out with them is an outfit called "Lucid", whose version seems identical for others offered at 1/3 the price. Any insight would be appreciated.
There's a whole bunch of info on HF duckbill mods out there. I read a bunch and it sounds like it's the way to go for a manual tire machine. I bought an old Coats manual machine with the duckbill mod, I haven't used it yet as it needs to be bolted down. https://www.google.com/search?q=har...EyoAesB7IHATG4B03CBwMyLTLIBwg&sclient=gws-wiz
They pretty well work the same as the plastic sleeve that fit over the bar you use on the old manual tire changers. I didn't need to go to the gym when I worked in a Pontiac dealership in the mid 70's and mounted a ton of Vogue bias tires on Pontiac rims with a manual tire changer. The same model I used in high school and trade school and later the one I used in high school was in the high school shop I taught in. I bought the aluminum cone for my HF tire changer that I have had for years. About all the tire changer has been used for is taking junk tires off rims I wanted to save. I still have to pay to get rid of the tires but don't have to pay to take them off the wheels. I took a couple to town to have the tires taken off and after I paid for that and the disposal fee I barely made coffee money off the wheels at a swap meet.
I got one for my home made HF style changer. It's a huge improvement in terms of effort to remove and mount the tire. Using tire lube is still key though. From what I read, on some duckbill brands the center collar diameter is too small to fit over the post on the HF changer. So be careful of that.
What happened was, there was a small company making the kits 2-3 years ago and they were actually quite expensive. $150-200 . I don’t think patents were filed and now there everywhere I’ve been a tire guy for a long time. It’ll work for fancy rims. I’m of a mind set that a bead breaker and 2 tire bars will make quicker work of a steel wheel than the HF style changer. I had an HF changer and s****ped it when the bead breaker ( only thing I really used it for ) broke
I bought mine this summer from whom I think is the original maker, in New Brunswick Canada. Matt is correct on the price. I decided to buy the original rather than one of the Chinese ripoffs. Now when I search for that company, the site doesn't come up. Maybe he was driven out of business by the cheap counterfeits. The site was: https://roundabouttools.com/lander
It looks like the Lucid Autowerks one is still around, a bit different design from the Roundabout Tools unit. But the duckbill looks the same, hopefully better made than the ripoffs.
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