Harbour Freight Manual Tire Changer Question

Hi,

I have one of the harbour freight manual tire changers (actually from princess auto). I'm having trouble getting tires off of rims.

Breaking the bead is easy, but getting the tire over the lip of the rim is very difficult. Everyone online seems to be able do it with ease. eg. here's one where a guy does it for the first time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWXEwDH3F8k When I use the tool to pull the tire up over the lip of the rim and spin the tool around the rim, the bit of tire behind the tool edge that I've pulled over slips back under. The demo videos online show the tire staying above the rim once it's been pulled up. I've tried sticking another tool in at the same time to prevent this from happening, but this doesn't seem to work well either. I have the "truck" tire changer for 16-20" rims and I'm practising with <16" rims. I fail to see why this would make any difference on this step.

Any suggestions? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I've got the Tractor Supply version of that floor-mounted hammer, and I've had varying levels of success with it. The effectiveness of the tool seems to be tied directly to the flexibility of the tire with older, harder, and/or lower-profile tires being very difficult and super-tall, flexy snow tires being cake. Helping a friend, we had a couple Camabird tires that would just not release from the rim. If I recall, we could get one side off, but trying to lift the tire completely off the rim just wasn't happening -- same thing you're describing.

I'd try more lube on the rim and the sidewall, a bit of pipe on the tire iron for more leverage, and using additional tire irons to try to keep the removed portion off the rim. I've also found that using the funky little curved end is usually a fool's errand and that the wide and flat part works best. Sometimes, spinning the iron around the rim doesn't work and you need to just lever the tire over the rim bit by bit. Carefully applied heat could also give the sidewall enough flex, but I have no idea if that would damage the tire.

You might consider getting out the recip saw or outsourcing the job to someone with the power equipment if that tire is smaller than a /55 or if the sidewalls are just crazy super stiff.

After doing a dozen and a half tires on that thing, I think it's kind of like a slot machine where it works just frequently enough between failures to make you hesitate before just walking away.

I finally got it off and practised removing/installing ~7x. I used a flat carpentry crow bar to prevent the tire from going back under the lip. I think some of the problem is the age of the tires I have been practising with. Once I removed/installed them they became a lot more flexible. I'm a bit concerned that I'm applying too much force on the tire and that I'll damage the new tires. I'm also concerned about scratching/denting rims with the tool. Finally I'm concerned about doing it with a lower profile tire. The tires I used were 175-195/65-75/13-14. I'm planning on installing 245/40/18. That's ~25% less sidewall.

i have no problems with it, but i would never use it on rims i liked or wanted to keep pretty. especially not aluminum ones. i use it mostly on my truck tires, i run trim rings on all my trucks with steel wheels so i could care less that it scratches the crap out of the edge of the rim.

No matter what, the bar is sliding on the rim. You can clean it, sand it smooth and even polish it. But it's still sliding along the rim lip.

I've done down as low as a 50 series on mine, I think. Wasn't hard. Oddly, I've found the lower profile tires easier to get on and off with that tool than the high profile truck tires.

Lubricant is your friend with this tool.

are you pushing the bead on the opposite side of the tire into the recess in the rim that allows the tire to move over enough to get off the rim?

i only ask because i've seen "professionals" at tire places fight tires and destroy beads because they didn't bother to make sure the bead was properly positioned..

To get the tire OFF: I keep it dry; no lube.

I use multiple pry bars. I have 2 of the giant red "pry tools" and a tire spoon and a motorcycle tire spoon, rubber mallet. Between 4 tire spoons, a rubber mallet, a dry tire and rim (if its lubed everything slips and its near impossible), two hands, two forearms, all my abdomen muscles and usually a thigh, I get them off.

Use the large pry bar/spoon to lift a portion of the bead over the rim, hold that in place. Go 6-12" away and do that again with another spoon/prybar. Now lock one of those pry bars in place with your awesome strength and coordination while pulling the other tool away . May need to use rubber mallet, may need to do that in 4 spots, and you will crush your fingers.

As for putting new tires on, I use lube, lots of it. I prefer tire shine for lube as I don't want water inside the rim, but the tool works best slippery going on.

I have mixed results putting tires on with the HF changer.. The bar kinda stinks IMO... or I just haven't quite figured out the 'trick"

Taking tires off though.. This tool rocks.. if nothing else even if going at it with spoons it holds the tire in place so you can work. I broke the HF pry bar doing a CV joint/ ball joint install on a car.. So I replaced it with one of the cheap HF spoon/pry bars welded into some old steel tubing.. It works excellent

I use KY jelly or astroglide for lube on the bar. Works great and rubber safe. Well at least on the tough ones.. most of the time dishsoap works.

I have beefed up my changer with some extra steel in a couple places, and it helped the bead breaker tremendously.. I also wrapped parts of it with an old commercial floor mat, rubber side out, to help protect the wheels..

This HF tool pays for itself on the first four tires. I must have done 40 off/on's and 60 more off's by now..

Just need to buy one of these bars to make the on's a bit simpler.. as the going one often resorts to tradition tire iron spoon methods.. but yeah..

http://www.nomartirechanger.com/products/6

..

yeah we reinforced the vertical tube to the base on the back side(opposite the bead breaker) after we bent the base plate. that helped a ton.

novaderrik wrote: are you pushing the bead on the opposite side of the tire into the recess in the rim that allows the tire to move over enough to get off the rim? i only ask because i've seen "professionals" at tire places fight tires and destroy beads because they didn't bother to make sure the bead was properly positioned..

No it goes back in almost immediately behind the tool. I'm not sure why it works differently when I do it compared to the videos online.

I think I'll try to glue some hard plastic on the flat side of the tool to save my aluminum rims. Has anyone tried anything like this?