Mounting tires at home?

Does anyone know of any homemade devices/designs for mounting tires at home? I'm not worried about balancing them (yet), but I got some for rolling the truck around the shop, and am having a heck of a time getting them mounted.

Thanks,

Ben

 

Harbor freight has a manual tire machine for probably less than you could build it.
I have one, it works ok for one or two tires every once in a while.

 

Ya need a couple of the old fashioned tire irons they used to use, plus some dishwashing detergent for lubricant. Probably impossible without the irons.

 

when you come over ill show you how to do it in 5 min. useing a handyman jack, Tire iron and a BFH.

Tuck

 

I have a buddy with an old tire machine he can't give away, I want it, but I don't have the space for it.

 

I have an old tire machine that I use to break down the tires. To mount them I use two tire irons and a 12 lb dead blow hammer. Takes about 3 minutes to a tire to mount them after you get the hang of it.
I used to have to do this as a kid on my Dad's vehicles. Put a little dishwashing detergent in a spray bottle and mix with water and use it for lubrication, makes the job a whole lot easier.

 

I'll give you a jingle, I'd definitely appreciate that Tuck.

Ben

 

We old po folk been hand mounting tires you 30 years or more. Two long screwdrivers and a BFH.

If ya want to be fancy, buy tire s****s. Mototcycle shops selllem.

OH yeah, used to hand stud snow tires too.

You know you have big hangy downys is you do a few of these.

 

Really? Where is this. I may be able to come get it. PM me please.

 

E

Yah - what Eric sez.

I went out and bought a couplea prybars and ground the sharp edges off the tangs. That - and some Bleche Wite - it's REALLY slippery - will pop the tires on in no time.

If you want to get tricky -- the lug wrenches for Opels have the *perfect* s**** and bend on them for gettin' tires on. Once you've s****ed the bead on, you rotate the wrench 180 degrees, and the bend allows you to leverage the bead into place.

 

Using a GOOD set of tire irons, BFH, rubber hammer and some soap ( and air compressor) - any tire can be mounted/ dismounted with the proper technique. You DO NOT have to beat hard on the rim or tire if you keep the bead in the center groove of the wheel no matter what size it is. Properly done they "fall on and off the rim".

The indispensible tool I could not manage tires without is a BEAD BREAKER. The one I got a long time ago is a cam action manual one that definitely is a lot older than me. I had to adapt it to "modern" fatter tires and I made up an adaptor for ATV tires. If you could come up with a good design for one you will be mostly there.

I change the tires I have from little mower 4" rims to my agricultural tractor 28" rims (1950 Ferguson). The most difficult tires I mess with are dirtbike tires. The hard rubber formula, narrow rim, inner tube and confounded bead lock shoe are the biggest PITA of any tires. Another occasional headache is sealing the bead on new tires although I don't mount too many new tires anyway. I really dislike any inner tube tires as you can't fix them without dismounting the tire. Most tubeless can be fixed "on the vehicle" as easily as off.

If you fix your own flats don't mess with the box store tools or patches. Invest in a decent tire Awl and T handled plug tool. The NAPA kevlar brown plugs are superior to anything else I've tried.

Powerband

 

i break my tires down by driving my car over the tire close to the edge of the rim, then use s****s. i would like to find an bubble balancer. use lots of dishwashing liquid soap to mount

 

Somewhat on topic part: Several years ago while driving my '34 Plymouth back from the nostalgia drags I was about 1/2 hour from home when BOOM!!!!! I blew the vintage front Michelin going about 60 mph on the freeway. All's I could do was PRAY that it didn't hurt my spindle mount halibrand - I eased over ever so slowly and finally stopped. The tire was blown apart nothing left except a strip of bead around the edge of the rim protecting it!!! (sidewall and tread GONE). SO there we were 10 or 11 oclock at night - me broke from the swap meet which ironically I blew my last 200 bucks on a SPARE set of spindle mount halibrands. I had NO SPARE, BUT!!! my buddy's dad was travelign with us trying to sell an old model A truck bed converted into a trailer - well THAT trailer had a spare 15" wheel and tire!! Of course the rim wouldn't work so we broke the bead using a tire jack and removed the tire with a big screwdriver and a tire s****. Getting my rim OFF was a pain since I converted it for dics brakes and you'd have to pull the caliper to remove it SO we just left it on the car. So they we were - SEMI'S whizzing past rocking my car as it sat on my little scissor jack and us trying to pry that OLD HARD SPARE onto my vintage rim - well we did it. I forget how we aired it up, but I drove home no worse for the wear!!!!! We don't need no stinkin' tire machine!!!!!

Fast forward a few years - NOW I have a SMALL BISHMAN TIRE machine - it's NOT the greatest machine out there - FAR FROM IT, But!!! It takes up very little room and has worked for all my needs. It's 110v and air operated but I always put the beads in place manually - call me a wussy - I don't want to risk damaging a tire - easy to do if you don't do it everyday. BTW I bought the Bishman for $25 at a car club auction - it's paid for itself MANY times over!!!!

Long winded point - spring for an old manual machine - they are FAR BETTER than nothing and generally don't cost alot.

My 22 cents

 

I do all mine with two Snap-On pry bars. I never use a hammer.

Oh, and use Goop hand soap for the lubricant. It doesn't run off like liquids do.

 

you use the handy man jack to break the beads on a tire...

you put the bottom of the jack against the tire bead and jack up against your truck bumper and the bead breaks- presto.

a good tire iron and a hammer to pound the iron around the rim and the tire slides off...

same deal going on one tire iron and a hammer...

its really easier than you think

I have a friend thats really really fast at this... faster than the tire machine, this is something you would be glad to know when in a bind. Its saved my *** before.

Tuck

 

For breaking the bead take the wheel off of a disc brake equipped car and lower the disk onto the tire near the wheel. A drum brake does work, just not as well. A couple of tire s****s, prybars, or big screwdrivers to get them on and off.

To seat the bead the best (and funnest) method is to lay the tire flat on the ground, spray carb cleaner or starting fluid around the bead and then light it! The tire will jump 3-4 feet in the air and will have about 30 pounds of air in it.
Lots of fun after wrestling tires off on on.

 

my brothers dis mounted and mounted there tires with tire irons and w/e... if they are brand new tires just get them done and balanced

 

Dayum, You guys are wearing me out just readin' this thread! I got buddies in the tire and wheel bid-ness, here in OKC that won't charge me more than $5 to do any of that. If I'm out on the road, it's one thing, but if I don't have to bust my *** to fix a tire, I ain't gonna do it.
DW

 

I go out the the barn and use the Coats 1010.

 

yep..tire "s****s". Little more than a flat bar with a s****ed end. You'll want 3 of them to mount a tire, one to hold the bead and the other 2 to "walk" the other side of the bead onto the rim.

Use lots of lubricant ( I used dishsoap) and you can mount a tire on a rim in about 5 minutes.

A prybar works in a pinch but you need to be careful of not pinching the bead and wrecking the tire or gauging the rim.

As far as removing a tire, remove the valve core and use a Hi-Lift jack (handy-man jack, Jack-all, farm jack....etc) and use the base to pop the bead off as you jack up under a truck bumper. Flip the tire over to pop the other side using the same technique.