Which Tire Changer?

[tktplz]

The 1 thing I notice after yesterday is do you have a center rod to go through the center of the tire sticking straight up. It made a lot of difference to have the center bar to use as leverage with your hip to pry the mount/dismount bar around the tire.  Looks like a sturdy setup. The NoMar I used yesterday didn't budge a bit. 👍

[2and3cylinders]

4 hours ago, tktplz said:

Yeah 1 of my buddies said his rear RS2 was stiff, mine was. He said the RS3 he had put on just before this RS2 was much easier. The RS2 are hard to pass up at $161 dollars for front and rear to your door. That's regular price at Rocky Mountain.  draco_1967 what machine or knees and spoons did you use to mount yours?

The newer rs2 s are not the same as the old RS twos

Beware they are not anywhere near as good as the old rs2 were

 

[piotrek]

Max2h.com ran a sale over the winter, so I buckled. I was going to bolt the thing to the floor in the garage, but thought I'd try this first/instead... a hitch mount vise plate. I bolted a 12" x 12" x 3/16" steel plate to it and added one additional bolt-down point to the changer. I also had to shim the tubing to take up the slop. We shall see how I do with this, but it feels very solid. Comes apart and is easily stored on a shelving unit in the garage. Management drives the Subie, but we're on good terms.😬

Edited April 25, 2021 by piotrek

[daboo]

I changed another set of tires since I last posted.  Some thoughts from that tire change...

• The Harbor Freight clamps worked great.  It didn't take something fancy to keep the bead from walking.
• I heated up the new tires before putting them on.  This isn't Texas where the sun does anything to soften the rubber.  I put a piece of cardboard on the floor.  Laid the tire down.  Put in some halogen work lamps I had ...and have never used because they are so hot.  Then covered that with another sheet of cardboard.  The top layer of cardboard got warm, but never in danger of catching fire.  When I went to put them on the rim, just pushing down ontop of the tire sidewall got the bottom bead on all the way and the top bead only needed a gentle touch with one of my tire levers.
• My biggest issue was breaking the bead on the old tire.  My plan is to buy a simple bead breaker when I get to that point.  Perhaps the HF bead breaker.
  
• Or something like this one.
  

Putting the tire on, or even getting it off the rim is not the hard part.  The hard part is simply getting that bead to break free of the rim.

Chris

[piotrek]

1 hour ago, daboo said:

I heated up the new tires before putting them on.  This isn't Texas where the sun does anything to soften the rubber.  I put a piece of cardboard on the floor.  Laid the tire down.  Put in some halogen work lamps I had ...and have never used because they are so hot.  Then covered that with another sheet of cardboard.

Did something similar myself, but used a hair-dryer in the tire and covered with a piece of plywood. It did make the tire much more compliant. Still had a hard time with the RS3. I expect that even with the changer, I will have to pay more attention to the technique.

Edited April 26, 2021 by piotrek

[whisperquiet]

I have owned a NoMar tire changer and balancer for a dozen years.  I used to use a shovel to break the tire bead on most wheels/tires.....works great and a lot easier than tire irons at home.

[koth442]

I use a vise to break tire beads. You need a real wide vise to break the beads on the FJ rear, but it's do-able. 

[peteinpa]

I've had a Harbor Freight changer since early 90s? Great bead breaker and holder, but I use tire irons instead of the bar.

I have a big piece of plywood I can stand on that I mount it to when needed. When done dismount and it goes in the corner.

I've even mounted rear car tires on the ST1300. Nothing harder.

For balancing I've got a kit from Ebay.

Can't imagine all the $$$$ I've saved over the years. SO MANY tires.

[metallion]

I recently bought the No-Mar Classic HD during the stimulus sale (which is still active) and used it for the first time yesterday. I've been wanting one for a while now. I will say that it's a very stout, sturdy & well built. Many of my tools are from Harbor Freight since their is a store less than 5 miles from my house. I bought my motorcycle lift from HF and while it has been great their tire changer just didn't look to good to me.

Being my first time using the No-Mar i was not very fast. For my trial run I mounted a new rear Conti-motion tire on my girlfriend's Gladius as the guinea pig. I had my lap open watching a youtube video for reference. I will agree with others that technique is key. The supplied special lube and keeping the tire in the drop center seem to be key elements to making the final stretch possible. That yellow thing tool is also a MUST have and does a great job of holding the bead. 

It was a fairly cool cloudy day so keeping the tire in the sun was not an option. It has been in my house for days but on the next tire i mount i will attempt to heat it with a hair dryer or some other method if sunshine is absent. I see that others have commented on RS3's being difficult to mount. That's what i plan on buying some for my Tracer soon since it was such a great tire on my previous FJ-09. 

[piotrek]

8 hours ago, metallion said:

I recently bought the No-Mar Classic HD during the stimulus sale (which is still active) and used it for the first time yesterday. I've been wanting one for a while now. I will say that it's a very stout, sturdy & well built.

I've been ogling the No-Mar for some time, but unfortunately floor spaces (space in general) is a big constraint for me at the moment. I take it that the tire change for the Gladius went well. I have kept a couple of old rears to sacrifice in training.

[roy826]

I’ve had the No-Mar changer for 14 years. I have the hitch mount and floor mount. It’s mounted many many sets of all type tires over the years. Paid for itself many many times over 

[tktplz]

40 minutes ago, piotrek said:

but unfortunately floor spaces (space in general) is a big constraint for me at the moment.

They do have an attachment for the No-Mar that mounts it to the 2 inch receiver on the rear of the truck or car for that matter. Then put it away when done. Just a thought. 

[koth442]

12 hours ago, tktplz said:

They do have an attachment for the No-Mar that mounts it to the 2 inch receiver on the rear of the truck or car for that matter. Then put it away when done. Just a thought. 

That might be a thing for me. Getting a back tire mounted recently has been a fiasco of the driving all over town variety... 

[metallion]

14 hours ago, piotrek said:

I've been ogling the No-Mar for some time, but unfortunately floor spaces (space in general) is a big constraint for me at the moment. I take it that the tire change for the Gladius went well. I have kept a couple of old rears to sacrifice in training.

I know exactly what you mean as i did not have very much space for this either. No-Mar recommends a 5' radius around the changer and 12" space from the back of the changer. I had exactly 5' radius of floor space but could only manage about 8" from my wall. I'm not sure why the backspacing is important except maybe for the tool caddy. I swung mine to the left side of the machine anyway. 

Yes the Gladius tire change went fine. I still have to balance the tire with a static balancer i just picked up.  That will also be a first for me. That's why i am practicing on the girlfriend's bike before i attempt to change any of my own!

[metallion]

13 hours ago, tktplz said:

They do have an attachment for the No-Mar that mounts it to the 2 inch receiver on the rear of the truck or car for that matter. Then put it away when done. Just a thought. 

I know i saw that on their website, unfortunately my truck does not have a hitch on it. I used 5/8" drop in anchors that accept 1/2" bolts to mount the changer to my concrete floor. Luckily a buddy of mine is a HVAC guy and let me borrow his hammer drill to drill the holes. I can easily remove the changer and store it away in my shed for the winter. Then put the bolts back in the holes to keep debris out.