Anyone laid hands on both? Look pretty much the same to me, but Weaver is nearly twice the price ($2800 vs $1600, if I'm comparing apples to apples). Any reason to go with one over the other? Will purchase with assist arm if that makes any difference.
Have given up on used Coats. Can't see spending same money on what looks like a pretty used up Coats machine that would buy a new Chinese machine. This is home use for my "fleet" and a few track friends, so don't really need it to hold up to "heavy" use.
Sorry I can't compare them, but I've been happy with a Mayflower machine with assist arm. Had it about 3 or 4 years now with use similar to yours, and it's done everything well with no failures or quality concerns.
pkingham (Forum Supporter) said:
Sorry I can't compare them, but I've been happy with a Mayflower machine with assist arm. Had it about 3 or 4 years now with use similar to yours, and it's done everything well with no failures or quality concerns.
I've got supreme confidence in the Chinese machines in general. My buddy who does some pretty heavy "side hustling" has 10+years on a set that he bought purely based on "cheapest I could find". They're not perfect, but they've worked plenty good enough over the years.
I'm specifically asking on those two as a comparison because there's a nearly new Weaver machine for sale locally and next to no discount from new, but it's local and I could pick it up tomorrow. Just not sure that benefit is worth much extra money compared to waiting on a Mayflower (or similar).
Bought some tires from a tire shop last week and they had a Mayflower 980 off to the side and I asked the guy how he liked it. Said it was the only machine they had for the first 3 years they were open. Bought a fancy Coats machine a year or so ago and they keep the Mayflower around to use when the Coats is broken. He said the Mayflower machine broke much less often than the Coats did. But the Coats had all the arms and other features that made mounting rubber band tires much easier.
I'll be ordering one of these as soon as I get my shop built. Major feature for me is that it can mount up to a 44" tire, my friends and I all run 40"+ tires on our off-road rigs.
Mayflower 980
My Mayflower set is 7 years old. I've had one problem that entire time with a hose that popped out of a fitting. They have mounted quite a few tires in that time up to 19.5 truck tires for a motorhome. I have had to recalibrate the balancer a couple of times but that's more maintenance than a problem.
While they may not hold up in a pro tire shop, they are perfect for the home shop.
My only recommendation is if you plan to do low profile and race tires, get the assist arm. It's well worth the extra money.
Link to the 2017 thread when I was buying mine.
Edit to fix the broken link.
Picked up the nearly new Weaver machine after work today. Now to make room, add airline to wherever I make room...and gets to mounting!
An aside: I'm sure I could make do without a tractor/loader/clamp on forks...but I don't want to try. I'm too used to moving heavy E36 M3 around with it.
I have a mayflower bought literally off amazon. It works like a charm. No complaints.
We gouged the ever loving E36 M3 out of momma's wheel before we figured out how to keep the tire in the drop center... But hey, neither of us is particularly experienced.
Word of my fledgling skills on the new machines traveled fast. I gave my buddy all of the disclaimers I could, but first one went on without issue, then we got called for dinner.
Today's use: replace valve stem on recently done VW tires for the wife. Her TPMS told her that I'd done a less than stellar job mounting her new tires on her way home from work today. Soapy water showed me that leaving her old valve stems in was a mistake (I only had the bigger sized stems on-hand and where I live, there aren't weekend options to purchase such things, so I sent it with her existing stems).
I had exactly one correctly sized valve stem on hand, so took tire off car, broke bead, replaced valve stem and then fought getting that bead to seat for a good little while. But got it. So, used tire machine to make a bad decision, then used it to fix it!
In reply to Spearfishin :
I hope your assistant gets paid well.
DrMikeCSI said:
In reply to Spearfishin :
I hope your assistant gets paid well.
Her rent is heavily subsidized.
