Tire Changer Recommendation

[gawald 30]

I seldom recommend any tools but am doing so to help out fellow WH owners.   I have always struggled to replace tires on riding lawnmowers and garden tractors with the most trouble with smaller tires.  Just could not get good leverage on them.  I bought a Harbor Freight mini tire changer tool for $30 with a coupon and have used it several times with very good results.  It works on the same principle as the large machines at tire shops but is small and manual.  I clamp the post is my vise (comes with a bolt down mount which I don't use), mount the tire per instructions and dismount tires and mount them with greatly reduced effort.  I have use this tool on up to 8 inch rims so far with good results.  I feel I got my $30 worth when changing tires on my Snapper riding mower with 4" diameter rims.   The tires were old and brittle but the changer peeled them off with no difficulty.  I normally don't buy Harbor Freight tools but tried this one out of desperation and it came through.  Has anyone else used this tool?    I suspect that the tool may not work as well with larger diameter rims but it is supposed to range up to 12" rims.  

[Kurt-NEPA 755]

I also gave the HF mini changer a try.  Worked just fine on my 8" rims.  It helped with 12" rims, but I clearly need a larger changer.  In any case I was able to change 4 tires on 8" rims and 4 tires on 12" rim.  Well worth the price tag.  And it was so nice not to have the old, cracked, and hard tires on my 520H's last summer.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,376]

This is the 8" tire bead breaker I fabbed up last summer (should have made it adjustable for more diameters), and thanks for your thoughts on the HF tool,Jeff.

[KC9KAS 4,743]

I bought this from GREG SMITH EQUIPMENT @ Indianapolis Indiana. It was a little more expensive than the Harbor Freight model, buy well worth it to me.

I couldn't get the bead broke on 2 old ag tread 6 X 12 tires by hand. I beat and beat on them and never did get them broke down.

5 minutes on the changer, and I had both broke down and rubber off the steel!

 

 

 

[Fun Engineer 859]

How much is "a little more" KC9KAS?

[ACman 7,630]

@KC9KAS  , and can you post some pics of the bars (tools) that come with it please   .

[AMC RULES 37,144]

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Heavy-Duty-Manual-Tire-Changer

[Zeek 2,286]

On 1/27/2017 at 0:35 PM, gawald said:

I seldom recommend any tools but am doing so to help out fellow WH owners.   I have always struggled to replace tires on riding lawnmowers and garden tractors with the most trouble with smaller tires.  Just could not get good leverage on them.  I bought a Harbor Freight mini tire changer tool for $30 with a coupon and have used it several times with very good results.  It works on the same principle as the large machines at tire shops but is small and manual.  I clamp the post is my vise (comes with a bolt down mount which I don't use), mount the tire per instructions and dismount tires and mount them with greatly reduced effort.  I have use this tool on up to 8 inch rims so far with good results.  I feel I got my $30 worth when changing tires on my Snapper riding mower with 4" diameter rims.   The tires were old and brittle but the changer peeled them off with no difficulty.  I normally don't buy Harbor Freight tools but tried this one out of desperation and it came through.  Has anyone else used this tool?    I suspect that the tool may not work as well with larger diameter rims but it is supposed to range up to 12" rims.  

 

 

 

I have used this one Mini Tire Changer Eval , but it takes a little oomph to operate.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Zeek

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,360]

I had the small model HF tire changer that@Zeek evaluated but the dang thing broke after a few years. Last year I purchased the larger HF model and it works great. I did some trading with a fellow member to replace the rear worn out tires on my 416-8 for a nice set of turf tires. I think the tires on the 1988 416-8 were original . Broke the beads without any problems , should have worn rubber boots for the gallon of sealer or crud that was in each old tire. Put the new turf tires with tubes without any problem.