| Author | Message | ||
     Lake_bueller |
Now that I'm a "two bike" family, I was looking into ways of changing my own tires. I found the motorcycle tire changer at Harbor Freight while looking for something for another project. My question is: Has anybody here used this device? If so, how well does it work? The "Portable Tire Changer" is $35.00. The motorcycle adaptor is on sale for $25.00. With the labor costs at the local shops, it seems this would pay for itself in no time. Let me know your thoughts, comments, concerns, etc. | ||
| Davefl |
I have one and for the price it is pretty good. You really can't use it like the instructions say but it does a good job of holding the wheel while you go about using the tire irons and the bead breaker works well. It works much better on steel wheels. If you get this you will want to get a setup to do your own balancing as well. I can take pics if you are interested. | ||
| Dyna |
Dennis, I pay $18-20 per tire at the local indy shop for mounting & balancing. It well worth it to me. Its not like im changing tires every other week, depending on the bike & the tire you may get as much as 12,000-15,000 miles out of a set. Get the sticky gumballs & do a few holeshots tho & you will be lucky to see 1500. PS, changing em yourself isnt as ez as some will claim. It is very easy to chew up your rims however. Knicks & gouges out of the powdercoat, or worse yet the actual metal really sux. | ||
| Awprior |
I've changed my own tires a few times, I've got a set of plastic 'rim savers' that you toss on after you've broken the beads and before you start messing around with the tire spoons. They've worked real well for me so far. Alex | ||
| Koz5150 |
The front page of www.motorcycle.com has a great article using that exact tool. Of course youhave to be a paid member to read it. | ||
| Bigblock |
Hi guys, I have one of these aforementioned HF tire machines, and it can work well- I have found that there are 2 things I HAD to do to make it work- first, ( after bolting it solidly to the concrete slab, of course!) I used some steel shims (cut up some joist hangers I had left-over) to tighten up the fit of the motorcycle adaptor to the base before tightening the bolts, and second, I used some old inner tube pieces to cover the "jaws" of the wheel holding clamp to protect the wheel and keep it from slipping and spinning in the clamp. Duck tape will NOT work for this, it is too slppery, I know this for a fact(OOPS, atleast it was my wheel, and the dammage was only to the very edge, and barely noticeable) Duct tape will work OK for the bead- bar, but a set of those plastic end-covers might be better if you can find-em, the second tire I did worked perfectly, and I am very happy with the thing now. Ray | ||
| Bigblock |
I found the bead bar that comes with it to work fine with some duck tape on the ends(you'll probably need new tape every tire, and atleast double it), and I didn't need to use tire spoons. some soapy water to lube the bead, of course. Ray | ||
| Aesquire |
I can pull the wheel off myself, & that's worth it. Changing the tire? I can do that, with some risk to the wheel's finish. My compromise is to bring the wheel in to the dealer, pay his higher price for the tire, and make clear that if they mess up the wheel, It's no big deal, since they will be giving me a brand new one to replace it. I write this across the work order. Seems to focus their attention wonderfully. | ||
| Mbsween |
Jeez Pat, are we talking about the dealer in Henrietta? They're the reason I change my own now. Online tire prices are just too good to ignore these days and if you take the wheel off you're 1/2 way there! |
