Technical Changing and installing tires

Bought a Coates 20/20 for $100
Was given a 220V 7HP 80 gal air compressor that the electric motor died on.
Found a new replacement motor online for $175.
Dismounted a couple hundred tires in the last 2 years.
My mag wheels I take to a buddy with a $30,000 tire machine and pay him.

 

It can be a real ball buster to salvage a so-called vintage rim when the tire has turned to rock hard carbon & then find the seating edge is too far gone to save, but even then, expend more knot-head labor drilling the rivets to save the center only to have them gather dust on the shelf.................so much fun !

 

All the old machine will scratch the 20/20, 40/40 and the harbor freight one. Plenty of posts and videos of mods to fix this (look up plastic duck head). Big thing is to have it mounted to the floor and have an extended bar.

https://kbjunlimited.com/collections/upgrade-your-tire-changer-to-a-duckhead-attachment

I have one that has been modified to not scratch the wheel (have to make a plastic cover for the cone).

 

I change all my tires by hand.

I hand them them to the guys at the tire shop.

Sometimes you have to choose your battles.
Spending $$$$$ on spoons, hammers, pry-bars...jacks.....
Then beating and prying on new tires....
This is why I hand them off.

 

Over 2 score years ago I broke the beads with a bumper jack on some used Michelin X tires to install on my poor beat up MGA.
No matter how I positioned the jack base, it folded and bent the tread when forcing the bead off the rim.
The treads chunked off a year or so later.
Could have been tire old age, but I stopped using a jack to break the beads on belted tires.

 

I could have spent my morning swapping tires over. Rather I pm’d the front end while these guy’s did it for me.
Now the fronts will match the rears.

 

Yeah I’m going to be mounting cragars ss wheels.

 

Very similar to mine. Some moron torched the hold-down post off for some reason and the tire removal lever and cone was missing, but I did get the upper bead breaker and tire spreader for patching. I cannibalized a HF unit for parts and the lever, cast my own hold-down cone out of aluminum pop cans. Works fine on steel wheels, not so much for alloys though. One of these days I'm going to try some industrial big-bore heat shrink (MCM size) on the working ends of the tire tool to see if that fixes it for alloys. That heat shrink is much more durable than the flimsy stuff used on small wire and has a hard, smooth finish once shrunk.

The only real lack is no lower bead breaker. I have to flip the wheel over to break the lower, then flip it back to continue.

 

For me the biggest challenge without a duck head accessory is the inflation process of seating the beads, particularly the wider rims which can be frustrating.

 

Take a rope and wrap around the middle of the tire and get a stick or something to twist it tightly and it will spread the sidewalls out so it will seat. It helps if you have a spare set of hands but can be done by yourself just takes a bit longer.

 

Ether starting fluid and a match here in my neck of the woods.

 

There was an Ammco bubble balancer adapter for VW wheels that I saw used on some mag wheels years ago, with success. I have never tried it.

My stock car partner had a manual tire changer mounted to a concrete slab next to his garage that we changed many tires on. And a garbage picked Ammco balancer.

 

a light coat of axle grease helps the tire pop over the safety bead. take the core out of the tire valve, then use a piece of rubber hose to seal the air hose to valve and blast away.

 

Don’t use axle grease as it will degrade the rubber. It’s an old trick that works but isn’t good in the long run.

the trick I have learned is that Murphy’s tire soap and bead packs are vegetable oil based and technically safe to eat ( don’t ).. so I gave good old crisco a try and wouldn’t you know it works amazing. That’s all I use now.

 

You can make or buy a cheap bead blaster, I use them at work.
https://www.amazon.com/bead-blaster/s?k=bead+blaster

A bead blaster and tire soap are your friends.

 

Loretta Lynn’s school of tire changing