HF Tire Changer and Bubble Balancer

[RayCJ]

I've got a 20% coupon for Harbor Freight and in all probability, I'll buy their manual tire changer and bubble balancer today. Yes, I know... not the greatest equipment in the world but, I'm fairly good at squeezing the most out of things. The HF tire changer is kinda flimsy so I'll weld-up some braces and struts as needed (if needed). In the 70's I used an old Coats model 3 tire changer. In the late fall and spring, I would swap tires on/off rims fast as lightening. I really like that tool and me and others would have races to see who could do the fastest tire swap.

Anyhow, not long ago, I started a thread about the "Tire Selection Process". This is one step in getting new tires for my wife.


Here's picture of the same model tire changer I used to operate. Wish I could find one locally...

Ray

 

[Kira]

Best of luck with it. I've used the HF one many times. A nearby gas station had a spin balancer and would charge $5 per.

From my youth I remember a mechanic using a bubble balancer and telling me to close the door so wind wouldn't effect it.

NOTE: That spinner utilized a adjustment where the operator would measure the rim bead-to-bead with a caliper and dial it in. PERFECT every time it was.

 

[RayCJ]

Originally Posted by Kira
Best of luck with it. I've used the HF one many times. A nearby gas station had a spin balancer and would charge $5 per.

From my youth I remember a mechanic using a bubble balancer and telling me to close the door so wind wouldn't effect it.

NOTE: That spinner utilized a adjustment where the operator would measure the rim bead-to-bead with a caliper and dial it in. PERFECT every time it was.


Back when I was working on cars, we had a Snap-On horizontal tire balancer. It was a little slow to operate but gave outstanding results. Having balanced many hundreds of tires on that thing, I never had problem or rejected job.

The unit was portable and was set on level ground. It had 2 arms extending upward from the base. A horizontal bar, held by a centering cone was placed through the tire's hub hole. You slipped a couple ball bearings over each end of horizontal bar and set the bearings atop a rounded-out indent at the top of the arms. The tire was given a gentle nudge and it would settle with heavy end downward. Next the tire was rotated by hand 90 degrees and a metal T-Bar slipped over the end of the horizontal bar. The T-Bar had a sliding weight and by adjusting it sideways, it simulated wheel-weights. The slider was adjusted until the tire's natural settling spot was neutral. The sliding bar told you how much wheel weight to use. The whole setup was easily to get 1/4 ounce tuning. We would take the final weight and put half the amount on each side of the tire and call it a day. It usually took about 2 minutes to balance a tire this way.

Freshman through senior year of HS, I balanced tires that way. At that time in Chicago, people used dedicated snow tires and swapped them on/off in the Fall and Spring. I balanced HUNDREDS of tires like that and never had a problem.

I wish I could find that same style of tire balancer. If anyone knows what I'm talking about, please chime in and post a picture if you can.

Ray

 

[RayCJ]

Last time I searched for the balancer, nothing showed-up. I tried DuckDuckGo.com and found it. Wish I could get my hands on one of these. I'm the main grease monkey for 5 family cars.

 

[BrocLuno]

Old Coats 10 and bubble balancer will do wonders with good stick-on weights applied to the rim center inner side. Works every time for me on alloy wheels. They gotta be spotless clean to make them stick well. But wheels should be scrubbed before balancing anyway

 

[SatinSilver]

I believe eljefino(sp?) has one from HF and says it works just fine. Sure beats paying $80 for the install.

 

[qdeezie]

I just wanted to chime in and say thank you for the OP for creating this post. I absolutely despise taking my vehicles into tire shops to have tire work done. Lately there's always been some sort of problem such as missing custom caps, wheels not torqued tight enough, etc. I knew about manual tire changers that were reasonably priced and could be done at home, but didn't know how I could balance tires at home without spending an arm and a leg. I will be doing further research and purchasing a bubble balancer for sure. Even if it doesn't work out in the long term, it's worth a try.

 

[ruhroh]

Is there a trick to using the HF manual tire changer without damaging alloy wheels?

 

[RayCJ]

Originally Posted by qdeezie
I just wanted to chime in and say thank you for the OP for creating this post. I absolutely despise taking my vehicles into tire shops to have tire work done. Lately there's always been some sort of problem such as missing custom caps, wheels not torqued tight enough, etc. I knew about manual tire changers that were reasonably priced and could be done at home, but didn't know how I could balance tires at home without spending an arm and a leg. I will be doing further research and purchasing a bubble balancer for sure. Even if it doesn't work out in the long term, it's worth a try.


I've had problems getting quality work done around here. I'm basically convinced that my last couple sets of tires were damaged by the $15/hour nimrod that they called a "Tire Technician Associate". I was watching in the waiting room and the nimrod was using a high-end Coats pneumatic tire changing machine while struggling, tugging and using a leverage bar as well. He had already finished 3 tires when I came back and saw him struggling with the last one. My jaw dropped to the floor. It looked like an industrial accident waiting to happen. I tried to find a manager and go back there but, the manager was nothing more than a senior version of the junior nimrod. A different place did my wife's tires a year earlier and we've had nothing but slow rim-leaks and one tire that seems to have a rumble. I highly doubt if they cleaned the rim beads before putting the new tire on. Also, they lost of the center caps on my wife's car.

Anyhow qdeezie, it's not hard at all to manually change a tire once you know how. The tire platform has to be bolted to the ground or to a sheet of plywood big enough for you to stand on while you're operating the leverage bars. The more rigid the better. I'm sure there are YouTube videos that show how. It basically works no different than the old unit shown in the first post. Long time ago, I could have a tire off, rim cleaned, valve stem replaced and new tire mounted and re-inflated in less than 5 minutes. It's trivial once you know how the machine operates. Some rags, light emery cloth or abrasive scrub pad and a spray bottle with some soapy water is all you will need.

Originally Posted by ruhroh
Is there a trick to using the HF manual tire changer without damaging alloy wheels?


I'll have to let others chime in or, you'll have to wait a week or so. I just got back from HF with both items in hand. I remember the old Coats unit I used had problems with some types of rims. We made some adapters of varying sizes and overcame all the issues. I have a fully equipped machine shop and if I need to make adapters to hold the wheel, so be it.


My wife's car needs new TPMS units on this upcoming set of tires... There's no way I'm going to let the bozos around here touch my cars anymore.


Ray

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by ruhroh
Is there a trick to using the HF manual tire changer without damaging alloy wheels?


The wheels get mauled during the bead breaking part of the process. An old car floor mat over the 45 degree "spike" sticking out of the base does a lot to save.

The "spider" also can cause trouble; poke a hole in a rag and put that in between surfaces.

The HF bubble balancer is pure junk. Better to pick a non-driven axle, take the brake drum off or pads out, and mount your finished tire/wheel to that. Put a weight on the top, spin it, if it winds up on top, add more and spin again. When it stops at a different spot each time you have a static balance.

I splurged for a Snap on hand-crank dynamic balancer. kinda like this guy

I would encourage almost everyone to get the mounter at least. Lots of tire stores have attitudes, thinking you "have to" visit them for mounting and then follow their arcane ($) policies.

 

[Fitter30]

Have a HF tire changer anchored to the garage floor had no problem .mounting 70 series tires but can't get 60 series to mount. Tried several times may i need a bigger butt , can't get the last third over the rim with alot of soap.

 

[joegreen]

I have the harbor freight manual tire changer and a bishman air bubble balancer. If you can find a bubble air balancer on CL definitely buy it. It's awesome. As far as the manual tire changer I have mine bolted to my garage floor. I definitely would consider that an only option as I imagine a pallet would move to much. It's definitely a workout and time consuming to change tires and balance. It might be worth it just to pay a shop to do it. I enjoy doing things myself so I don't mind the workout. I will say it will definitely scratch the rim of the wheel taking the tires off and putting them back in. I'm still trying to figure out how to avoid that issue.

 

[Traction]

A manual tire changer, and bubble balancer I would never consider with all the troubles I have with top equipment. Every tire and wheel has a new challenge, especially with newer cars. I have a manual tire changer for lawn mower tires, etc. and I hate it. Using a manual tire changer on expensive wheels, and tires is very seldom going to save you money, or time. Even some 15 inch steel wheels can be a major workout with a good tire machine trying to get the beads loose, let alone get it on, and off the wheel without damage. Some tires can be a piece of cake, but many make you wonder, what were they thinking when they designed that wheel/tire combo?


http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/tmp/2258.jpg

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by Fitter30
Have a HF tire changer anchored to the garage floor had no problem .mounting 70 series tires but can't get 60 series to mount. Tried several times may i need a bigger butt , can't get the last third over the rim with alot of soap.


There's a "tight spot" where you have to have both the bead you're working and the opposite side down in the wheels' recess. They like to slither out of there. One of those things where you need three hands.

Ironically you might want less soap on the part you already mounted, so it stays put.

 

[RayCJ]

Sweet deal there Traction. Cool toys!... Yeah, I don't think the HF tire changer will work too well on a tire like that. What is that, a 335-25-20 ?

I just assembled the changer and balancer and played-around with it. The leverage bar on the changer is way too short and will need a cheater pipe/extension. Also, the ends of the bar would scratch the rims for sure. The ends will need some kind of plastic or nylon coating. I'll see what I can come-up with or possibly track-down some nylon gliders that are made specifically for that purpose. The base that bolts to the floor is so-so and I'll probably weld a few braces to beef it up. Finally, the star-cone and plate that holds the wheel will certainly chew-up the finish so, that will need some carpeting material or Derlin cut to size. Basically for $39, this is a simple kit that would benefit from a little jerry-rigging.

Just by playing around, the balancer seems better than imagined. I leveled it on the ground, zeroed the bubble with the adjusting screws and tossed a junk tire on it. It definitely seems to show a heavy spot in the same place even after several attempts of removing and re-positioning the tire. I don't have any wheel weights but 6 or 7 quarters (coins) set on the rim seems to zero it each time I tested it.

So, the cost for both items was $114 after the 20% discount coupon. In my neck of the woods, complete tire installation cost about $25 per tire. LOL... the pressure is on to see return on investment.

I'm still trying to figure-out what tires to put on my wife's car. Anybody care to give recommendations? It's a 2007 Mazda 6 with 215/50/17's on it. She's not into performance driving at all.

Ray

 

[ccs368]

Here are some thoughts about this manual changer. Many years ago, I purchased a used Coats 220 motorcycle tire changer that works as the same principle as the HF with a lever that peels the tire tire off. I did manage to change the tires off a '95 2wd Tacoma with not too much of an issue. Later I bought a used Coats RC-1 pneumatic tire changer and still have this today. The problem with the HF is the amount of modifications that is done in order to prevent damage to aluminum rims. The 1 star reviews in the HF website are pretty accurate for this issue.

I have read some DIY's purchase the No-Mar mount/demount bar separately in conjunction with the HF changer because of the protective plastic contact points that will not scar your aluminum rims. The existing HF bar would benefit with plastic inserts during use which should have been part of the setup. The 220 and of course RC-1 had molded plastic protectors furnished and I believe there are generic versions on eBay but likely will not fit the HF head so whether you use electrical tape, or mess around with plastic dip, use the No-mar bar, or don't care...this was the issues I encountered using a manual changer. Lastly, I properly anchored the changer to the floor too. Attaching to something temporary like a wooden pallet wasn't useful because you'd be surprised the amount of torque you need to generate when you peel the tire off.

 

[BozoDeClowne]

I use a Mojobar that I originally purchased for use with motorcycle rims, and have changed car tires on wheels up to 18" without too much trouble. I would prefer a heavier-duty version of the Mojo, but I haven't bent mine yet. Would never work on low-profile tires, though. My changer mounts to a 4'x4' platform that is two 3/4" plywood sheets with a 2x4 frame sandwiched between. Large enough for me to stand on while working, and reasonably portable.

Also purchased a non-HF bubble balancer that is completely useless. Probably from the same factory, but even less attention to QC. Where the head sits on the post, instead of a precision-machined surface, it has what appears to be a glob of epoxy that had a countersink run into it. Too far, in fact, so there is a small off-center hole that the post always seems to find. I'm on the hunt for an old-school bubble balancer. They pop up on Craigslist from time to time, usually for way too much money.

 

[RayCJ]

Originally Posted by BozoDeClowne
I use a Mojobar that I originally purchased for use with motorcycle rims, and have changed car tires on wheels up to 18" without too much trouble. I would prefer a heavier-duty version of the Mojo, but I haven't bent mine yet. Would never work on low-profile tires, though. My changer mounts to a 4'x4' platform that is two 3/4" plywood sheets with a 2x4 frame sandwiched between. Large enough for me to stand on while working, and reasonably portable.

Also purchased a non-HF bubble balancer that is completely useless. Probably from the same factory, but even less attention to QC. Where the head sits on the post, instead of a precision-machined surface, it has what appears to be a glob of epoxy that had a countersink run into it. Too far, in fact, so there is a small off-center hole that the post always seems to find. I'm on the hunt for an old-school bubble balancer. They pop up on Craigslist from time to time, usually for way too much money.



Thanks for the tip about the mojobar. My first impression of the HF pry-bar was not too good. Upon closer look I will machine a better bar from the get-go or will heavily modify this one and will machine some Derlin or PVC to fit on the ends. I'll also make it long enough to actually be usable. There is no mystery to changing tires with a manual changer but, without a solid setup and a decent bar, I can see how the task would be a nightmare.

Ray

 

[supton]

The HF bubble balancer I had was junk too. Just to add another review.

On my HF changer I find I use the long provided bar to remove tires, but wind up using their $5 (?) tire irons for tire install. Maybe it's because the last few tires I've done were all 70 series rubber, dunno.