Ditching the Tire Shops, At Home Install

[DIY 1985]

I'm thinking about removing and installing tires on steel wheels here at home. HF manual tire changer, HF bubble balance, clip-on spring weights. Is the tire lever powder coated as to not scratch steel wheels?

Is there an issue with a small shop compressor (like for a portable nailing gun) setting beads? Do I really want tons of volume quickly, necessitating pro equipment? I realize that I'll remove the valve from the stem and use a safety-nozzle for max volume. I'm not interested in a flammable technique.

How will I know which side of the wheel to place weights, axle side or hub cap side? Or, is the inside of the wheel for when the front gets kinda weighty?

Do I even need to balance? I lost a small to medium weight installed by a pro shop on my 215/75R15 on my FJ40 with factory steelies, and I would never have known by driving it. I'll also be mounting 195/75R14 for my other ride, so these aren't what you might think of as truck tires. Is there a tool needed for weight installation and removal?

Do I need dried compressed air, or can it be just New Mexico on a dry day?

There has to be a preferable soap, and its ideal concentration? I'm thinking about corrosion, and compatibility with the tire, valve stem, patches, etc. My guess is that I'm probably overthinking this one.

 

[Racer X 69]

41 minutes ago, DIY 1985 said:

I'm thinking about removing and installing tires on steel wheels here at home. HF manual tire changer, HF bubble balance, clip-on spring weights. Is the tire lever powder coated as to not scratch steel wheels?

Is there an issue with a small shop compressor (like for a portable nailing gun) setting beads? Do I really want tons of volume quickly, necessitating pro equipment? I realize that I'll remove the valve from the stem and use a safety-nozzle for max volume. I'm not interested in a flammable technique.

How will I know which side of the wheel to place weights, axle side or hub cap side? Or, is the inside of the wheel for when the front gets kinda weighty?

Do I even need to balance? I lost a small to medium weight installed by a pro shop on my 215/75R15 on my FJ40 with factory steelies, and I would never have known by driving it. I'll also be mounting 195/75R14 for my other ride, so these aren't what you might think of as truck tires. Is there a tool needed for weight installation and removal?

Do I need dried compressed air, or can it be just New Mexico on a dry day?

There has to be a preferable soap, and its ideal concentration? I'm thinking about corrosion, and compatibility with the tire, valve stem, patches, etc. My guess is that I'm probably overthinking this one.

 

 

Volume is king when trying to seat beads. There are tools available that have a reservoir and a quick release valve to give a blast of air to force the tire beads to the seats long enough for the air coming in the stem to fill the void and keep the beads seated. So yoou could make do with the nailgun compressor. 

 

Be prepared to wait while filling tires.

 

It is always good to have a water separator on the compressor outlet, and keep it and the compressor tank empty of water accumulation, but beyond that the air form your small unit should be OK.

 

The local shop equipment supply house that sells tire changing equipment and consumables should have tire soap Some people just mix up dishwashing soap (not the kind that goes in the dishwasher) or even use it straight. Just wash the tire and wheel after mounting.

 

I would try splitting the weight between the inside and outside and see what results that gives.

Edited July 11, 2021 by Racer X 69

[datzenmike]

 

I've changed 3 or 4 sets of tires by hand with only a tire lever. Only ones I had done at a shop were the new ones put on my 620.

 

Take the valve out of the stem to get the air out. Put large plank on the rubber and drive family car up the board till it pops off the bead.

 

Detergent and water in a Windex bottle.

 

When blowing the tire onto the bead, remove the valve, stand upright and lean over and on it pushing down with your body. Usually goes on this way. If not, while blowing in air pick wheel up and slam down on tread. This causes the rubber to swell outward and all you need is contact for a split second.

 

Always replace the valve stem.

 

 

 

[john510]

A small nail gun compressor will have a hard time seating beads.

[DIY 1985]

I like the plank idea, but, I also saw someone do it with a high-lift jack and the weight of the truck, on Youtube.  

 

The HF unit with the center spindle might be easier to lever off of - 40 USA dollars (ish), and it comes with the bar.  However, it would be nice to have about two or three of Mike's tire irons / spoons just to hold the tire in position against the rim?

 

@john510It seems like the nail gun compressor has the volume, and pressure, just not the volume delivery thru the blow-gun with rubber safety tip, or am I wrong?

 

 

[datzenmike]

The spoons are to pry the tire on and off the rim. Two would be better but I only have one. I also have a  15" Mac screwdriver. Can't see how you could hold the tire in position against the rim.

 

I don't have one but a ratchet strap wrapped around the tread and tightened would also force the tire sides out against the bead.

[]2eDeYe]

Clinic

 

 

 

[datzenmike]

Wouldn't try that on a good tire.

[banzai510(hainz)]

My Hawaiian relatives would drive over the tire section to break the bead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DIY 1985]

Humm, the bubble balancers seem to only be up to 4" diameter, that will get the factory 720 wheels done, but not the Land Cruiser's. 

[DIY 1985]

maybe mounting them to the front hub for balancing?

 

 

 

[DIY 1985]

Got a gallon of RuGlyde from NAPA - no way I'm using all of that in my life, but, whatever.

 

I must have used an hour or more to just determine how to mount the tire changer without concrete anchors.  I figured that I would use my HF engine crane base.  I ran to the hardware store to get some 3/8" eye-bolts, they are held by the eye of the outside leg hitch pin.  I thought that I was going to weld pipes in for U-bolts, but it wasn't necessary.

 

\\\

 

So, I was able to remove my 720 spare from a good wheel (gonna paint it), to a junkyard wheel that has minor blow-out damage (wish I would have known that before I bought it, oh, well, I made an extra 150 miles for another wheel and harvested a spare/trail starter too).  The whole tire mounting process was super easy.  The directions didn't mention removing the spring weights before starting, oops, lost some paint on that one.  Now, on to tire shopping, finding plugs for the inside and figuring out balancing.  I'm thinking Hankook Kinergy ST 195/75R14, harvesting a bunch of steel-rim weights from the local scrap yard, and fabbing a tool for weight removal.  If I get a machine shop to make an aluminum insert for the Toyota 15" Land Cruiser wheels, I might get away with a bubble balance for both rigs.

[Rick-rat]

On 7/11/2021 at 8:11 PM, datzenmike said:

Wouldn't try that on a good tire.

Why not, used to do my own tire mounting for my race car with 10 inch slick racing tires, never had any problems, using the same tools as in the video

[Hondanx250]

Hey, I went the harbor freight route and purchased a dot balancer and manual tire stand. I can say i have saved a lot of money doing it myself. I did find that Walmart is probably the cheapest place to get tires put on if you bring in your own, I had em do 6 dually tires and it only cost me like 68 bucks. 

 

Anyways, One thing i would look into is making a stronger bead breaker, I've bent mine on some stubborn tires. If your worried about scratching the rims, I would purchase a No-Mar Mount/Demount Bar. I purchases one and even made my own and i would not look back. 

[DIY 1985]

So, I finished the install of four new tires.  However, on one of them, I tore the rubber that encases the bead.  So, I ordered a replacement.

 

I installed zero balancing weights on the four wheels.  Haven't driven it on the highway yet.

 

The install seemed easier when I wasn't working in hot weather.  Maybe it was just my imagination. 

[Lockleaf]

Check out pellet or lead shot balancing.  Might provide you with a solution for your balancing concerns.

[flyerdan]

I've got a HF manual changer that I welded to a plate that slides over my fork extensions so it's only set up when I use it.  Got a bubble balancer (not HF) at a garage sale for $15.  For bead seating, I have one of the clip on air chucks with the guts out so it blows all the time.  Press the tire so the bottom bead is set, connect the air and lift the tire so that the top bead will seat.  You'll hear the difference, it might take a few tries, but if you're not doing it all the time it's pretty effective.

[pdp8]

Datsun tire and wheel combos that are factory-ish in profile are remarkably easy to change.

That said, the factory steel wheels are also *very* easy to bend.  I bent a couple using non-tire-machine removal techniques.  You can get a wheel and tire combo that looks good and is in balance, but you've bent the wheel and the thing wobbles badly.

 

A tiny compressor will, or won't work based on the width of the tire vs. wheel.  You can fall back on the ratchet-strap or propane trick if you have to, but not storing tires horizontally and cutting them loose right away after shipment and letting them sit a couple days will help them seat more easily.  You can also buy a bead-seating doughnut to help out.

 

I use euro-paste rather than soap and water for my tire stuff, seems to work fine.  Hair conditioner works pretty OK to be honest.

 

Your air can be pretty wet with no issues whatsoever.  I knew a guy who had so much water in his air that in winter it would freeze and the tires would be out of balance until they warmed-up from driving.  Obviously that's extreme, but the point is the rubber in the tire doesn't care and if your wheel has intact paint then you won't have corrosion issues no matter how wet it is and most shops for most of the time we have been using pneumatic tires haven't had particularly dry air.

If you wanted to be fancy, after mounting and on a nice hot day deflate and the inflate with bottled nitrogen, argon, or whatever from your bottled gas supplies.

 

All that said, I scored an older tire machine off Craigslist for not much more then a HF machine and sometimes I've seen them at or nearly free, so snoop around.

As wheels and tires keep getting more expensive and lower profile while labour, especially skilled labour gets more expensive, machines that work just fine for the likes of us are getting scrapped out in favor of fancy roller-arm automated ones.

 

A bubble-balancer is better than nothing, but a dynamic spin-balancer does a lot better job and also helps you see how true things are running.

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

On 7/12/2021 at 6:25 AM, banzai510(hainz) said:

My Hawaiian relatives would drive over the tire section to break the bead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do that with the loader bucket on my tractor.