[Ghost Rider 2]

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Would like to hear imput about tire changers. I wrestled a tire that was stuck on a rim. I am either buying a changer or the dealer is going to start doing them. Questions. What about the manual changer offered at Harbor Frieght? Also had a friend tell me that the No Mar is a great manual changer.

 

[Bagmaster]

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Kit Carson has the Harbor Freight with the motorcycle tire adapter and seems to like it.

 

[Q]

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I have one of the Harbor Freight ones with motorcycle adapter. It works OK, easier than using tire irons.

Q

 

[Ghost Rider 2]

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Q wrote:

I have one of the Harbor Freight ones with motorcycle adapter. It works OK, easier than using tire irons.

Q

Does the OK mean you are not very impressed with it? I really can't justify buying this. I have a small local shop that will mount and balance tires for me. They did one last week for $15. But I just like donig everything on the bike myself.

 

[Scooter61]

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Consider your last statement. Buying a tire change is on thing, but do you also plan on buy a wheel balancer(which in my opinion is far more important)? It's not going to do you any good to mount them and not balance them properly.

 

[Ghost Rider 2]

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I already have the balancer. Harbar Frieght had them on sale back in the fall. I think I gave $39. for it. If I have the bike up on the lift for service I can check or rebalance. I have had wheel wieghts fall of before.

 

[buddy0253]

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for $15 i think its worth it, how often do you change tires?? your still doing the work of R&R.

 

[Ghost Rider 2]

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Right now between wife and I we have 4 bikes. I have installed 4 new tires this winter. She rides about 8,000 a year on her bike and I normally do 20 to 25,000 between the bikes. So I change at least a tire or 2 every year. Like I mentioned it's not the money saved. I think I just want to be able to do everything myself , but not have to wrestle these tires.

 

[Nightrider1]

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Scooter61 wrote:

Consider your last statement. Buying a tire change is on thing, but do you also plan on buy a wheel balancer(which in my opinion is far more important)? It's not going to do you any good to mount them and not balance them properly.

Very true Scoter, but looking on the less Dollar sign in the long run, it doesn't cost much to have your tires balanced, unless you have a dealer out to rip You off.
Nightrider1

 

[Scooter61]

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I'd buy it then. You could always recoop you money by changing/balancing tires for other riders. I wouldn't even directly charge them, just put a donation cup on the changer big enough ofr all to see.

 

[confish86]

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I`m waiting for them to be onsale again & buy the whole thing to do my own bike tires. I needed a valve stem on my 83 (started to leak) & didn`t have time to do it & the Honda dealer charged me $36.00 bucks to do it (i just brought the rim & tire in) , & didn`t rebalence it. He said he put it back in the same place & it shouldn`t have changed it , but if i wanted it balanced it would have been another $10.00 bucks (what a rip) OK on to the tire changer , do you have to bolt it to the ground to get the tire off & on ???

 

[Ghost Rider 2]

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I talked to a couple of people about this. They say to put anchors in the concrete floor. The type that is just a nut. Then you bolt it down to use. Thenremove to store out of the way when not in use. Was told to use a hammer drill on the floor and grout the anbchors in place.

 

[DickKelso]

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Thanks, folks, for this thread. I have been looking at doing my own tire changing and balancing, but the more I learned, the less attractive an option is became. And the last bit about putting holes in my garage floor, yikes. Way too much trouble for possibly 1 time a year use. My dealer charges $35 USD to mount and balance my GL1500 rear wheel, as long as I take it off and install it. That would take a lot of home-style tirechanging to justify getting all the equipment. So, thanks again. And my hat's off to those who do change and balance their tires at home. I just don't see it as worth my time and effort. But most of the other maintenance, including timing belts, forks, and steering bearings, I do myself. Best regards, Dick

 

[Ghost Rider 2]

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I still have not decided if I am going to buy 1 or not. Probibly don't need it, but I do like to own the right tool to do a job.

 

[sonat]

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I have a harbor freight tire changer and it works pretty good for the money spent. I change the tires on my gl1800 which are fairly hard to change being a radial tire. one thing you will probably need though is to buy a Mojo lever mount-demount bar. you can see it here (http://home.comcast.net/~prestondrake/mojoweb.htm). the mount-demount bar that comes with the Harbor machine is a good strong bar but it will make up your rims. the Mojo bar has Teflon on both ends and works great. but it will add about $80 to the total cost and it will also make the job go much easier with no damage to your rims.

 

[TrackT2411]

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I've thought about buying one also, only because there are no shops within 50 miles I can trust to do more than wash my bike. I'm thinking of mounting it to a 4x4 sheet of plywood rather than the floor. I've seen shorter models that could be mounted to a bench, but no clue of brand or where purchased.
As for the balancing thing, I'm looking at the 'dyna-beads' (I think that's the name) type of thing, self balancing beads inside the tire.
THEN, OF COURSE, there's the TOOL FACTOR! I've found that when I buy a tool to do one job, I always seem to use the tool alot more often then I thought I would! (Look at my sig line for my opinion on tools!)

My two cents!

Todd

 

[Ghost Rider 2]

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NoMar makes a mount that I saw in a promo video/ It fits in the 2" reciever hitch on a truck or suv. It is for the shorter tire changer.

 

[Oregonwinger]

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I have a mount I made for the receiver. I made it about 2" too high, add I have to jack the pick-up up, to slide it in. I let it down on a rubber mat. That setup works awesome. But, the job is still not a lot of fun, at least doing radials. I haven't used it on any bias tires yet. I bought the Marc Parnes balancer, which works for the rear wheel, as well as the front, and I also bought the Mojo blocks and MoJo lever. I still end up using tire irons to get the last bit on. It's a bit more difficult with Smartire sensors to contend with. Those suckers are 80.00 apiece, now !!! So, I have to be extra careful.
I don't trust tire shops to deal with the sensors. I've heard of many getting broken. :shock:
All in all, I give the whole set-up a 5, for overall impression.

 

[Q]

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What I mean by OK is that it isn't that difficult to change the tires using tire irons like I've been doing for nearly 40 years. I bought the machine to save money by changing tires on my cars and truck, and it has paid for itself many times over. The motorcycle attachment was on sale one day so I bought it and have used it a few times with good results.

Q

Ghost Rider 2 wrote:

Q wrote:

I have one of the Harbor Freight ones with motorcycle adapter. It works OK, easier than using tire irons.

Q

Does the OK mean you are not very impressed with it? I really can't justify buying this. I have a small local shop that will mount and balance tires for me. They did one last week for $15. But I just like donig everything on the bike myself.

 

[Q]

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I don't think you'll get away with mounting it on a piece of plywood unless you have an elephant to stand on each corner. There is a lot of leverage there.

For balancing I've always just put the axle or steel rod in a vise, slide the wheel on, put weights on the light side until a different spot ends up at the bottom each time it's spun.

Q





TrackT2411 wrote:

I've thought about buying one also, only because there are no shops within 50 miles I can trust to do more than wash my bike. I'm thinking of mounting it to a 4x4 sheet of plywood rather than the floor. I've seen shorter models that could be mounted to a bench, but no clue of brand or where purchased.
As for the balancing thing, I'm looking at the 'dyna-beads' (I think that's the name) type of thing, self balancing beads inside the tire.
THEN, OF COURSE, there's the TOOL FACTOR! I've found that when I buy a tool to do one job, I always seem to use the tool alot more often then I thought I would! (Look at my sig line for my opinion on tools!)

My two cents!

Todd