Tool review? Harbor Freight Bead Breaker

Howdy all,

Harbor Freight sent me a cupon for their "US General" (sounds tough, huh?) bead breaker tool for like $32. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92961

I'm curious if this is really worth having or just a joke. I find the need to do lots of tire swapping (back40 racing and such). If anybody has any yeah-or-neigh type review for this...I'd appreciate it.

My gut says it will be great for exercising futility...but not necessarily changing tires.

I appreciate it! Clem

Once you break the bead, how you going to swap the tire?

A friend has one of their tire changers (bolted to the ground) and it works pretty good. The bead breaker part was a bit weak (it was bending) so I welded it up for him.

I had one, it's useless.

It tries to break off far to long a section of bead, so all you do is dangle from the handle, the bead stays solidly mounted.

You need a small footprint to break a tire bead by hand. That's why the bead breaker on the manual tire changing machine is small. That one actually works.

There was a good thread on here a month or so ago. Showed alot of DIY bead breakers. Can't find it now. The search is useless... If you search for "bead breaker" this thread doesn't even show up....

I have one of these, It works great. Tire changer

I see no part on the Harbour Freight device that would make a decent Schroeder.

MGAMGB wrote: I have one, it's awesome. I had to relocate a hole to change the geometry and replace the bolts, which were apparently made from an alloy containing Velveeta.

I think I peed a little bit when I read this. I now know the secret ingredient in cheap-o tools.....