I tried this on the Wheel/tire board, but no response.
Anyone here has experience?
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Has anyone had experience with the Harbor Freight cheap changer, the $999 deal ?
Will only be doing a few dozen changes a year and want to get away from the PITA factor of lugging the track wheels to the local shop. I already have a Snap-on hand spin balancer which works great.

 

No input on the tire changer itself, but you're definitely raising the bar of what a well equipped home garage has. My guess is the ROI will be 1 years if you do 2 dozen changes a year, but since you have the machine, you may do more. Go for it!?!?

 

John,
Get in touch with Don Hanson about tire changers. I am sure he has one and does his own tire busting so he could give you some informed input.
Cheers!

 

Don has a manual changer. I'm to lazy to break tires by hand! At the track I'll spend the $60.00 since time and energy is valuable at the track.

The reason for the changer is to get better life out of my expensive Hoosier (flipping them more often), reduce the trips to the local tire place and for street car and trailer tire changes.
Typically:
Remove all for wheels and tire from the car, place on jack stands
Load wheels w/ old tire into the truckLoad the 4 new tires
Drop them all off at the shop (hoping the "new" guy isn't learning on my stuff)
Go pick them up that evening
Unload them from the truck
Put them back on the car.

I really want an air only operated machine, but can't find one that isn't way out of my price range.

 

I want one too......let me know what you find out. I am concerned about a cheap unit bitching up the alloy wheels.....that is the reason I haven't seriously looked into it. I buy my tires at tire rack and would just as soon do my own installs. Tell me more about the balancing device you use.......

I have a fleet of cars (5) plus several other wheeled vehicles and am tired of using spoons to change tires......

 

Wheel balancer is a Snap-on, think it's a WB200. Usually show up on ebay from time to time for $600-$900.

So far no feedback on the tire changer

 

I may have been looking at the same one the other day John.. I shied away out of concerns regarding the alloy wheels and possibly damaging them...
I know the guys who run the local HF and will see if I can find someone who has purchased one and see what they think..

 

Thanks Rixter!

 

John, one of the 928 guys sent me to this thread. Tires are my business. I will help you if I can. I have purchased and used virtually any decent tire machine made in the last 7-10 years.

Do you have a link you can post from HF so I can see which model you are looking at?
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Matt:

This is probably the one:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=45656

HF sells another for twice as much too:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47186

 

Bill's link is the one, thanks Bill.

Matt,

Can you recommend other machines that maybe on the used market and also the ones to avoid? I'll be using it for up to 12" wide rims and 18"dia. As always price (and location) is a big factor.

Thanks for your help!

 

Some thing that are kind of "basic" about changers. I am assuming you are going to be doing mostly low profile wheels/tires.

1) If the table is electric you can plan on having to switch the breaker at least once during every mount. When the top portion of the bead is going on it has to stretch a little. Electric table machines tend to not have a whole lot of power (though they deliver it very consistently) and when the machine gets stuck it blows the breaker. This will drive you 100% insane!

2) If the table is air operated you will need to have a large compressor that you are in the habit of regularly draining. A typical 5HP compressor might work but the machine will be very slow and may not have enough power to mount tough tires. I would probably recommend at least a 7.5HP compressor. I can, on Monday, get you the specs that you would need to run an all air machine, way to go if you can afford it.

3) The machines that HF is selling are really stuff designed for a small tire shop. You can mount the tires you likely have with it, but you will need a stock of hard rubber heads (that is the part that touches the face of the wheel), plastic feet guards (you need to clamp the wheels from the outside so you dont scratch the inside of the wheel), at least one more bar (you cannot mount a UHP tire with one bar unless the machine you are using has a RFT attachment or you have been mounting tires your whole life, even then you would want a second one).

4) I would be inclined to pass on both of them. Ranger products are "okay" but you should be able to pick up a much nicer, lightly used, Coats/Hennesey, Bean, maybe a Corghi depending on how much you are willing to spend. Contact the local Hunter Engineering representative. He will know every shop within 100 miles. If someone is upgrading and you only need to use the machine a few times a year a used one is a good idea. I can probably get you the reps name if you PM me with a location.

If you havent mounted tires before I urge you to grab a steel wheel and tall passenger car tire and mount it about 100 times before you touch your own wheels and tires. Trust me, from years of doing this, it is NOT as easy as it looks. When you are doing very low and wide tires it really almost requires two sets of hands (which is why machines now have RFT attachments!).
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Thanks Matt. Sending you a PM right now.

 

I have used HF $40 tire change to dismount about 12 tires with out any damage to the rims. Mounting tires might be a different story.