E-Bay tire machines.

Just another update.

That's a 19" Corvette rear wheel with a 325/30 19 Hoosier A7. The assist arms paid for themselves on these. That's about the maximum the machine can handle, but handle them it did.

These are outstanding machines.

You know I will be up there in a few weeks, and I have a set of drag tires that I need mounted for the Challenge Q45, and Asa, my mom, and I would love to check out the bus ...

In reply to Stampie:

I've got some dates this month that I'll be out of town, but let me know when you will be here and we can try to make it happen. Shoot me a PM.

Last update on this. 

This afternoon I mounted my 9th set of tires. These machines have worked flawlessly. I have mounted everything from Z06 tires to 34" mud grips, from 10" F400 tires to the set I just finished for the Polaris. They have saved a lot of people, a lot of hassle and time, including myself. 

The Donation Bucket has $140 in it to boot. 

If you have the room in the shop, I can recommend them. They are nice to have.

This was the last set.

Great machines. They aren't as clean as they used to be. 

I just finished the 27th set of tires. The machines are still working like new. 

Can you take some pictures of the assist arm?  I think i want to make one for my machine.  

How can we find the guy who pays for old tires?  I wouldn't charge him - I just want to know that I can get rid of the tires without paying almost the amount I'm saving by changing them myself.  

In reply to Patrick: 

I'll try to shoot some pictures this afternoon. If you don't see them pop up here, remind me. 

In reply to jfryjfry :

Locally, I can take them to the county landfill convenience center two at a time. You might try your landfill. 

Patrick said:

Can you take some pictures of the assist arm?  I think i want to make one for my machine.  

Assist arm pictures per your request.

Overall. I haven't found a use for the lower arm yet. 

Base

Upper ram and first two pivots.

Outer arm and control. 

Control

Head. The hook is for pulling tough bottom beads. The nose I use for pushing stiff sidewalls down. It works. 

The ram has a stroke of 14".

Up

Down.

Thanks!

Im looking at picking up the same thing (or similar) and was wondering how its working out, especially with the larger rims. Our lemons car and track cars are all between 14-17". But wheels for passenger cars are getting larger and larger. For example the new Camaro and XTS in our family roll on 19" and 20" wheels from the factory, and while I wouldnt expect to change those often, I would still want this tool to work. Will the jaws make it around the larger wheels OK, or could adapters possibly be made easily to extend its range, is it a real bear to get the larger wheels done?

Just trying to think into the future a bit.

The machine says it will do 23" wheels. I've never tried anything that big. I've done a set of Corvette 19s and the only problem with them was the width.

Edit: I just checked it. It will grab the outside lip of a 22" wheel. If you can grab it the inside, larger shouldn't be a problem. 

At this point I've had them just over a year and mounted 31 sets (124) of tires. They have been well worth it to me. 

I made extension blocks for mine out of 2x3x.250 tube and got longer bolts to hold the air tank/arm piece to the base.  If i’m doing something like 15x12 with slicks i can have the spacers in in a few minutes.  Then if i have to go back for 4” skinnies i pop the spacers out.  

This brings me up to 40 sets of tires done. The donation bucket has made a pretty good dent in paying for the machines. I've taught the Lemons team how to run the machines at this point so all I have to do when they are swapping things, is supervise. A fun day hanging out in the shop. 

I think you might have convinced me to get one of these machines. My Coats RC15 works well but it's older and can only do up to 18" wheels. I also have to use motorcycle bead helpers when I mount slicks because I'm not strong or heavy enough to keep the sidewalls held down. The jaw range and assist arm would make my life a lot easier.

In reply to boxedfox :

The assist arms are worth every penny. Getting a 205 SM Hoosier on a stock Miata wheel would take a stronger man than me without them. With them, it's a walk in the park. 

I did my 69th set of tires last night and they by far were the worst set. 

10.5" wheels with 295s on a Camaro SS. The tires were too wide to use the changer to mount the first bead, so they had to be done by brute force. It took 4 of us to get them on. 

Then the balancer decided it wanted to act screwy. I'm going to have to recalibrate it this weekend.

Nice.

my balancer broke the little plastic tip that measures the distace to the rim from the machine.  I'm going to make a new one from metal, but for the time being i'm measuring because it's just centimeters.  
 

i'll be looking at making an assist arm soon from your pictures.  I have an electric ram that might work

Question, Have you done anything big?  Like 18x12 big?  At some point I need to get me a set in my garage, but want to make sure I can fit these on there.

Weird to hear about that camaro tire being the worst to date.  You had done larger before ( a 19" Corvette rear wheel with a 325/30 19 Hoosier A7).   What was different??

In reply to jfryjfry :

The back bead on the Vette wheels just slipped over the wheel. Just lube it up and push it on by hand. Then the machine would mount the outside bead. No issues. The back bead on the Camaro set would not slip over the wheel easily. They were a fight from the start. Could have been due to a couple of things. Wheel design, mounting a set of second hand RE71s on a cold afternoon. Who knows. I will be building a riser block for the column so I can mount wider tires using the machine rather than main force.

In reply to Thinkkker :

The 12" width is going to be a problem. The combined height of the wheel and tire is taller than the height from the table to the arm. Usually you can push the back bead over the wheel by hand and then use the machine it mount the outside bead. It's not a problem then. The above Camaro wheels were such a fight because the back bead would not slip over the wheel without 4 people forcing it on and the wheels were too wide for the machine.

I'm going to build a spacer block to raise the arm 4". That should solve the problem of not enough width. 

mounting a set of second hand RE71s on a cold afternoon

Sounds like that. I mount a fair number of tires in the process of teaching students how to run tire machines. Usually the new tires are so much more flexible than the old ones that they barely put up a fight trying to push them on like that, and old ones fight you on that and also everything else.  I don't teach the pushing on thing but there's always one person who's seen it or done it before who will try to show that off and that's fine except that students end up trying to do it instead of learning how to actually use the machine. Sigh..

In reply to Vigo :

I'm all for letting the machines do all the hard work so I don't push them on unless I have to. This time around, with 4 of us hanging on the tire to push it on, I got my little finger caught between the bead and the wheel. It may well be cracked. It sure hurts like hell. 

Yeah, i get the issue you were having and i think the mod you're planning should help if you ever have to stack two solid feet of crap on the machine ever again, lol. 

One thing that can also kick your ass if you don't happen to notice before having a long fight with it is on super wide wheels the drop center is often on the back side of the rim so if you're trying to push a tire on the front side it will fight like hell.