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Modding a HF tire changer


JMortensen

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I was concerned about finding a shop that could put tires on my 15x14 wheels. Cary suggested that I go get a Harbor Freight tire changing machine and mod it to work. At $39.95 and with the prospect of not having to pay for tire changes in the future, I decided to go for it. I bought the machine last night and started looking at it to see what I had to do.

 

Cary mentioned using an old hub on it, so that was the first thing to try. I have a bunch of old hubs so that wasn't an issue. The hub wouldn't slide onto the tube, because the stop for the outer bearing race is just a little bit too thick. With a die grinder and burr I was able to open up the center hole until it just slid down the tube. I cut the tube right where the stop was so that it didn't interfere with the top tube that I would install later. This allowed the top tube to sit on the bearing stop, providing a nice square surface.

 

For the top tube I took a look around the shop and found that an old 1.75" piece of roll bar tubing fit pretty darn nicely into the end of the hub. It's not a perfect fit, but snug enough that welding it in wasn't an issue. I cut the tube to a 16" length which will give me about 5" over the rim face to use the tire mounting bar on. After setting it into the hub, I checked to make sure it was straight by measuring from the rim edge to the tube at 4 points, and tacked it in place. Double checked again to make sure it was still straight, and then welded it in. 

 

All I have left to do is get a piece of 2" square tube and weld it to the bottom of the unit, and perhaps drill a hole for a hitch pin. The plan is to plug this into the winch receiver on my trailer and use it right there. 

 

I was kind of skeptical at first, but having gotten this far this looks like it will work out nicely, and this is a pretty easy modification to do if you have the parts and a welder. Cary suggested using the No-Mar tire mounting bar. I haven't ordered that yet, will probably do so relatively soon. Since I have wheels and tires separated, I might try to install them without the No-Mar tool. Sometimes if you do it right and use enough lube you can get the tire on there without using the lever.

 

Also bought the HF static tire balancer, figuring that should be good enough for autox usage.

 

Tire mounting machine:

http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-tire-changer-69686.html

 

 

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Did the bottom today and made a mistake. I was concentrating on getting the post squared up, and neglected to notice that the bead breaker is coming off at a 45 degree angle. I figured there might be some mods to the breaker anyway, so if necessary I'll cut the mount off and move it or cut the square tube off the bottom, clock it 45 degrees, and weld it back on. 

 

Hardware stores don't have this 2" square tubing, and rather than order it online, paying for shipping and waiting or driving all over town, I called the place that I bought the trailer from and they sold me a piece of 1/8" wall for $5.

 

 

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Building an X Prepared autox car. No tire limitation, and these are relatively cheap tires to get used. The question is whether the increased width will be more of a hindrance than the increased grip. I think it will work out, but I'll know for sure after I've actually run them.

 

I have a pic of a wheel mounted in front with no tire or fender, and I have a pic of a car running the 14's in the back. You can bet there will be pics when I get the car on the ground. I have 2 wheels here and 2 on order, so it should be pretty soon. Tires are ready to go, decided to wait for the better mounting tool to get them installed, so will probably be a couple weeks before everything gets here and I can take the car off the rotisserie and get some shots...

 

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Sweet mother of ...  

 

I'm guessing you will be running somewhere around a 355 width but how wide can you actually go on a 14" wheel?  Oh and you say relatively cheap tires, but in this case what does that really mean?

 

Pure curiosity here, although the rear of that car does look awesome.

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Good guess. The Yokohama FA rears are 350mm. The Hoosiers are available in a 12" and 13" tread width (not section width). All are recommended for 14" wide rims. There is also a bias ply modified asphalt tire from American Racer that is a 13" and uses a 14" rim. 

 

The AR tires are $150 each new, but bias ply is supposed to run higher slip angles which means that it isn't as precise as radial. I think I paid $200 or so for my set of 4 Hoosiers off of ebay including shipping. New tires would be faster, of course. New ones from Hoosier are ~$400/ea.

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Mine are Diamond Racing wheels in the picture, but I just ordered a couple more for the rear from Bassett. The guys at Bassett are really helpful and they seem to think that they make a better when than DRW. The price is similar. $111 per wheel, $262 shipped to WA.

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The height of the tire is 23.5. It's a friggin huge tread, so it's probably like a 30 series or something, but that's not too bad because of the width. My No-Mar tool was supposed to show up today but we have usually had our deliveries by now. If it does show up with some light left outside I'll mount the tires on the rims I have and maybe video it. I'm hopeful that it's pretty easy. I think Cary said he can mount or dismount a tire in 5 min...

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Well the tool showed up for my birthday, so that was cool. I went out and put two tires on the DRW's that I had here. Then the Bassett wheels showed up right after I put everything away. No matter, I needed to go get valve stems anyway. I do think the Bassetts are a nicer wheel. They have the outer lip folded and doubled over, looks like it would be stronger, bigger openings in the spokes and the spokes have more shape. All in all just looks a little nicer in quality, although I am comparing to a used DRW.

 

Took me about 7 or 8 minutes for the first tire, then a lot longer with the second one. Probably 15 minutes of fighting with it. It's really cold here and I got sidetracked talking to a neighbor and I think the tire got cold and that was what made the second one harder to install. The first one was room temp when I tried to put it on and I think that helped. I went and got the valve stems so tomorrow I'll see if I can't wrestle the other two wheels on. Tried to video it today, camera kept turning off. Might try again tomorrow, but today's first attempts weren't pretty, so I guess I'm glad it shut off on me.

 

The Yellow Thing is pretty handy. I think I was using it wrong at first, but now I'm using the protrusion on the end as a lever to hold the bead down in the drop center with the handle facing the center. I've always wanted to be able to change my own tires and had considered a $1000 pro tool, but I think as I get more proficient this will be just fine.

 

Only downside so far is that the wheel is pretty high off the ground, so the tool ends up in my armpit and it should be at my waist. Might section the tool to get it lower. I could probably take 10" out of it and have it be just about right. If the rims weren't so wide it wouldn't be as big a deal.

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WOW!!! Just got done putting the tires on the Bassett wheels. I think it's a function of the rolled lip on the outside, but they just about FELL onto the rims. I probably spent 1:30 with the No-Mar tool in my hand installing both tires. Amazing. If you're going to do this yourself, and you're using steel wheels, get Bassetts!

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