Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

I need to change the 19" tires on my 31. I am not sure if I trust the locals to do it without scratches.

Has anyone used this from HF? Or would I just be better to take it to a garage?

https://www.harborfreight.com/manual...ger-62317.html

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

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I have one and use it sometimes, but mounting tires on finished wheels is just as easy or more so using the garbage bag technique. The HF unit is likely to scratch the wheel, and mounting by hand is easy by hand. Another drawback is having the HF unit permanently taking up precious shop floor space. Mine was a gift.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

You are much better off doing it yourself. Find someone in a local club that has done it before. Put your general location in your profile and someone may volunteer or at least loan you tools. The last thing to do is to take it to a local garage staffed by high school kids using a machine that can badly damage the rim.

Charlie Stephens

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Any shop that sells/installs aftermarket custom wheels should be able to do it.
Call Tire Rack and ask for the names of several shops in your area that buys their wheels.
Some of these shops can be pricey.


Loubob

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

The tyres on a Model A are large diameter, small profile bias ply tyres, all features that make them easy to change. It's so easy to change them that I can see no reason to buy more junk just to take up space in my workshop. So easy, in fact that if the tyre is warm, you might even be able to put it on with nothing more than your hands - NO TOOLS at all. If it is cold, you will need a couple of levers to get it off and a rubber mallet to put it on. Easy to do without marking the rims.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Change the tires yourself. Use either soap or talc powder and use your feet to roll the tire bead on the rim. Give it a try, you will find how simple it it is to do as long at you are doing it @70+ degrees temp. I usually do it on the lawn

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Yes, piece of cake, did it several times, first one took half hour, second, third and fourth about twenty minutes each.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Years ago one of our club members did a demonstration for easily mounting a tire on a rim. This method works in reverse for removing a tire from a rim.
To mount the tire:
1. Place the rim on a piece of carpet, or a mounting platform see attached photo
2. Cover the rim with a black plastic garbage bag keeping the bag double thickness
3. Place the tire on the rim and work the inner bead over the rim, this can be done by hand without tools for tires that are not rock hard
4. After the inner bead is on the rim remove the plastic garbage bag
5. Place the inner tube in the tire
6. Place the plastic bag between the rim and the outer bead
7. Hand work the outer bead onto the rim, if needed you can stand on the tire and work it on to the rim.
I hope this come across clearly

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

My son has one of those HF tire changers. You don't need one for a Model A and I am sure it WILL scratch your rim. Follow 160B's directions with a garbage bag. If you have never worked on one find a club member who has. Change them on a warm day, best if you set them in the sun for awhile, cold temps makes the rubber hard. Once you do it you will never consider taking them to have it done, just think about those who came before us changing then on the side of the road. I also lay them on a piece of old carpet to protect the paint on the down side.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Not hard to do manually. My 29 has 21 inch wheels. Like has been said, it is harder to take the tire off than put it on. I did need a tire iron to remove them. Putting one on did not involve any tools other than my hands and in one case standing on it and walking it around the rim. It's a lot like an over-grown bicycle tire.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

The attached article shows how I do it.


Tom Endy

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

All of these Barners are giving you the straight story. I was afraid that I would mar the rims with tire irons, so I made some out of hardwood. I use Murphy's Oil Soap as a lubricant and I do them on my basement floor so the temperature is no problem. Give it a try.
Marty

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Like everybody here has said - do it yourself, just not that hard particularly after you do the first one. For me, somehow, the hard part isn't getting the tire on the rim as much as working the tube into it. Another secret is to use lots of silicone spray, the tires practically seat themselves.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Also.

Don't cut the tube by getting it between the rim and the tire iron.
Don't pinch the tube between the tire and the rim.
Inflate the tube and then let the air out to get it properly positioned, then refill it.

Charlie Stephens

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

I use the spare tire mount, talcum pouter, with plastic bag.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

OK guys, you convinced me to do it myself. I will let you know how it goes.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Ooops, I should have mentioned this earlier. These 6 tires are going to be Cokers new Radial Whitewall. They are finally shipping.

So this tire change will be harder than biased.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

For dismounting tires, I have a bead breaker (made for motorcycle tires) that helps in getting things started. I work them off the wheel with a couple of tire irons I bought from Snyder's.

For mounting, I built one of the little platforms such as pictured in post #8 and also in Tom Endy's article mentioned in post #11. I've used various methods of getting it back on including walking it on, plastic bag, and using tire irons. I've done both Radials and bias ply (all 19") and don't think either one is more difficult than the other. It really depends on the age of the tire, the newer, the easier. The last really old one I took off, I had to cut it off.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Cut some pieces of plastic milk jug to use between the tire irons and the rim. Will protect it from chipping.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

I was watching a video recently about a couple of guys that went out, in recent times in 4wds, looking for the remains of the "Kookaburra" a plane which disappeared here in 1929.

They had to go about 30 k's thru the Tanami Desert (fairly open country, but can be deadly as it all looks the same).
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cpb0k6y4R8...nami_Deser.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanami...6.1_Tanami.png

If I remember the figures right, they got 240 punctures going there, and 290 going back.

One of those tyre thingy's might have come in handy...

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

On the return trip, that is a flat every 100 metres or so. No chance of a speeding ticket!

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

I'm glad to see this topic....just out of curiosity, isn't the historical background that the original tires were natural rubber and not as stiff when changing?

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

I’m not totally sure, but I’m thinking this topic has been beaten like the proverbial dead horse ❗️ LOL

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Just one comment...I don't even take the wheels off the car. The car does a great job of holding the wheel for me.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

I have also found that positioning the tube is the most challenging part of the mounting process. Is it possible to install a lightly inflated tube in the tire prior to mounting, then mounting it with the stem lined up with the rim hole? That is common with bicycle tires.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

did you find the airplane?

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

I ended up doing it exactly like 160B #8.

Tried it both ways. Like 160B and on the car. No comparison. On the car is much harder than on the homemade stand.

I won't talk about the pinched tubes.:mad:

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

My Goodyear tires are fine, new just a few years ago. But, unfortunately I had new tubes installed at the same time, and they were junk....everyone of them leaks about 3-4 pounds in a couple of weeks, so I need to replace just the tubes. I’ve heard Bratton’s are the best, but is it possible to remove and replace just the tubes without removing the tire too?

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

I take it you mean the Kookaburra? Not me. Not going out there. I hate punctures!
The truck that went out there, back in the day, was a Thornycroft truck with solid tyres. A good idea that.
The Kookaburra was a Westland Widgeon. Like this
https://cdn.exploroz.com/images/foru...TN1000x800.jpg
And was brought back to a museum 50 years later.
https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1395238/
Burnt out by grass fires. I gather the blue one has some parts in it from the wreck.

Les Hiddens, known as "The Bush Tucker Man", an army survival expert made this doco about it.
Read the blurb underneath first to understand the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auYjUKGFTVI

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

What holds the wheel down on that HF unit? Is there a thread? Or? Can't see it in the pictures.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Car tires are easy compared to motorcycles and especially Harley Davidson type spoked drop center rims. I fabricated my own rim protector from some nylon tubing so that the spoons won't mar the rim edge. and it can be scooted around the periphery of a rim to follow the spoon leverage spots. I eventually purchased a No Mar manual tire changer to do the car and bike tires to make the bead breaker and removal jobs easier. On some wheels I still use spoons and the rim protector to mount but it depends on the shape and style of the rim.

The old Model A rims are a lot harder to dismount the tire than mount one usually due to the old decrepit tires that have been mounted for 20+ years or more. New rubber is a lot easier to work with. I've done them on the car many times but I have to use a big clamp and some wood blocks to break the bead sometimes. They don't have a safety bead like the more modern ones have.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

Dick Smith with some other adventurers finally found the Kookaburra and recovered it from it's resting place in 1978.

He went on to set some records flying his Bell Jet Ranger after he learned to fly it.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

double post

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

So did they find the plane? :p:p

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

No.

Re: Tire changers, do you use the DIY units?
 

They found what was left of it. Wild fires and weather had not been good to it.

http://monumentaustralia.org.au/them...burra-memorial