Manual tire changer

[bigdee]

My friends suggested I should join the gym for some exercise ( I am old). Well I was in Harbor Freight and saw this tire changer and bubble balancer and a bell went off in my head.....productive exercise! Anyway I fell for it. Going to try to replace tires on my Grand Cherokee this week. Anyone done this. I vaguely remember using one in a service station when I was a teenager.

 

[wrench 3]

I must be about as old as you. I was using one of them when I started apprenticing. A few years back I picked one up from a car club that was closing up. It's got an air bead braker but the rest is manual. It still works great and is really good for smaller wheels like ATV and stuff.

 

[MTboatguy]

My friends suggested I should join the gym for some exercise ( I am old). Well I was in Harbor Freight and saw this tire changer and bubble balancer and a bell went off in my head.....productive exercise! Anyway I fell for it. Going to try to replace tires on my Grand Cherokee this week. Anyone done this. I vaguely remember using one in a service station when I was a teenager.

I have had one for a couple of years now, works fine, little more work than an air operated one, but nice alternative to having to drive 20 miles one way to get some young kid to fix a tire for me. I am old as well and have no problems with it. I have even done a few ATV tires with it and those are a real bi&*h because of that inner lip!

 

[fhhuber]

I've changed tires with a pair of the old style GM lug wrench/jack handles...

Its a bit of a workout, but its not an exercise regime unless you plan to change tires on all 4 wheels at least twice a week.

 

[bruceb58]

Only problem is you really want to spin balance your tires so you will have to bring them to a tire shop anyway. I would not bubble balance tires. Penny wise...pound foolish.

 

[MTboatguy]

Only problem is you really want to spin balance your tires so you will have to bring them to a tire shop anyway. I would not bubble balance tires. Penny wise...pound foolish.

The trucks that I have changed and balanced, have not seen pavement in 5 years as my ATV has not, so I don't worry about the balance to much.

That said, I have been looking for a spin balancing machine, missed one by only a few minutes today, drat!

 

[Scott Danforth]

after having manually changed tires, as well as working in a service station when I was younger. I at the point where I would rather pay someone to change them.

 

[bigdee]

Only problem is you really want to spin balance your tires so you will have to bring them to a tire shop anyway. I would not bubble balance tires. Penny wise...pound foolish.

I agree dynamic balancing has an edge but for my needs that would be splitting hairs. I don't drive a high speed sports car. The only time I balance is when tires are first installed. Now I can at least check balance at home when I rotate my tires.

 

[bruceb58]

The only time I balance is when tires are first installed.

I thought you said you were replacing tires?

 

[bigdee]

I thought you said you were replacing tires?

I am. I will bubble balance at that time and every time I rotate. In the past I would rotate but had no way to balance or mount.

 

[bruceb58]

I am. I will bubble balance at that time and every time I rotate. In the past I would rotate but had no way to balance or mount.

Will be interesting to see how much vibration you get over 50 MPH. Even if you don't feel it, for the cost of a spin balance, you will save life on your tire that will be more than what a spin balance costs.

 

[bigdee]

Will be interesting to see how much vibration you get over 50 MPH. Even if you don't feel it, for the cost of a spin balance, you will save life on your tire that will be more than what a spin balance costs.

IF there is a vibration I'll get a spin balance. Even a spin balance does not do much good if hub/rotors are unbalanced. As far as my application goes I think your overthinking this.

 

[fhhuber]

Some seem to be stuck on balancing the tires... when that is a side issue.

If he's doing tires for farm equipment then its not going to go fast enough to care if its balanced or not.

I've known a few farmers that bought used tires to put on grain augers and field wagons... get a few years from a $2 to $10 used tire that wasn't safe for the highway, instead of buying a new tire for $50 to $100 and getting just a year or two more.

They couldn't care less about balance. Its only going to go 15 mph once a year.

***********

The original post seemed to be about wanting to use a tire mounting device as an exercise machine.

It can work as an exercise machine... eventually you'll wear out the tire beads and need different tires.

Unless you are doing a lot of tire changing... its not an exercise program.
Unless you are doing a lot of tire work its probably cheaper to just have the mounting/balancing done professionally.

Basically I'd recommend choosing something else for exercise.
(Since that seemed to be the point of the original post)

 

[StarTed]

I can attest to the workout from changing tires. A little while ago (in the 50"s) I changed out 4 tires one day in the living room (in the winter in Montana) using screw drivers and a hammer. Then pumped them up with a hand pump. That was a workout even for a young man.

Another reason is to solve a problem that the tire shop couldn't solve. My back hoe's rear tire kept loosing air so we got a new tube installed by the shop. It kept loosing air slowly needing refilled every month or two. I kept taking it back to them to fix but they couldn't find anything wrong with the tube and began blaming the tire since it's worn. I kept telling them that the tube is what holds the air, not the tire which protects the tube. A long story short, I broke down the tire myself and took in the tube to have it rechecked again. No leak found but I bought a new tube anyway. The rim is 28" and the tube is rated for 18" to 28" because the rubber will stretch that much. That's when I discovered that the tube was almost impossible to slide to the center of the wheel. I managed to move it there using a bicycle tire spoon. That's when I realized what the tire shop had done. They had left the tube by the side and pinched it while putting the tire back on. Just enough to make a high pressure leak because the tube was stretched so much. Now it doesn't leak at all.

I now have a snow tube. No it doesn't leak at all when inflated normally.

Now, breaking down and changing a backhoe tire is a workout.

To keep up the workout, start inviting your neighbors over. They watch, you work.eace:

 

[bigdee]

No exercise was just one justification. Been thinking of getting one of these for awhile. I have lots of things(and friends) with tires! Boredom can make you think of crazy things to do.

 

[bruceb58]

IF there is a vibration I'll get a spin balance. Even a spin balance does not do much good if hub/rotors are unbalanced. As far as my application goes I think your overthinking this.

You don't understand what dynamic balance does if you think hubs rotors have any affect.

If you have fancy wheels and you don't put weights on the outside of the wheel, a dynamic balance doesn't really do you any good anyway unless the guy at the shop knows how to position the stick on weights.

 

[MTboatguy]

Bruce, I have to agree with bigdee, for the types of situations we are talking about, you are way over thinking.

 

[bruceb58]

Bruce, I have to agree with bigdee, for the types of situations we are talking about, you are way over thinking.

I never saw his situation mentioned other than it was for a Grand Cherokee...clue me in!

Maybe because a Grand Cherokee is going to shake and wear out its tires if you balance or not.

 

[frobotz]

I do mine . Old manual bead breakers, a couple large spoons and go to it. The tire shops always seem to screw something up so I don't let em touch my vehicles. Bubble balance will be fine . Its just static instead of dynamic. Worked for years.

 

[JoLin]

Bubble balance will be fine . Its just static instead of dynamic. Worked for years.

I worked my way through college doing this stuff in a shop 45 years ago. If anyone who did it recalls, you spin the tire on the balancer , adjust weights, repeat until the bubble stays centered as the tire rotates. That's dynamic balancing. Today's high-speed dynamic balancing process is more exacting and less labor intensive, but just how much does it add to the life of a tire? And, who here has their tires rebalanced after they're installed? I never have. The OP plans to do just that when he rotates them. IMO, his tires will last just as long.

My .02