| Author | Message | ||
     Tpehak |
Alright, today I'm going to show you how you can build your own scratch free tire changer for cheap and it works better than famous No-Mar Tire Changer, it is compact and no concrete floor mounting required. Buy a few dollars nylon duck head tire changer. I use this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LC4MLPK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Find some 3/4" thick plywood and build two boxes like on the picture below. The top and bottom panels have holes for tubes. Assemble the boxes with screws.  Put small plywood blocks on the top corners of the big box and cover the top faces of the blocks with thick duct tape or rubber sheets. Those blocks are for rim support. Find two steel tubes. The central tube should be about 23-24.5mm outside diameter tube. This tube goes through the wheel bearings. The side steel tube can be any reasonable diameter (15-25 mm outside diameter is OK). This tube is to support the wheel from rotation. Wrap the side tube with foam and tape to protect the wheel from scratches.   Attach plastic duck head to the top box with bolts and nuts. 5/16-18 thread size bolts and nuts should work. You have to put the wheel rim on the big box, put central tube through the rim hub and the box, put the upper box on top. Then mark the mounting holes for the duck head on the upper box. The duck head should touch the rim like on the picture below  Drill the mounting holes for the duck head and mount the duck head with bolts and nuts.  Attach lever to the upper box with duck head. I attached long piece of plywood with screws to it.  Now you can mount your tire! Warm up your tire with heat gun. I use big cardboard box with hole on side, put tire in the box, stick the heat gun in the side hole, than close the box and warm the tire up in the cardboard box chamber with heat gun on low setting for an hour or so.   It would be better if you can attach the big box to something heavy. I attach the big box tire changer to the heavy table with clamps. Put the rim on the big box on the blocks aligning the central hole with hub, put the central steel tube. Apply tire mounting lube to the rim drop center, rim top lip, to the tire beads and to the duck head. I use this lube https://www.nomartirechanger.com/Tire_Lube_Paste_1_Pint_Jar_p/sp-lube-pint.htm Put the tire on the rim (you can slide first tire bead on the rim without tools, it might be hard, but it is possible, you have to press really hard). Make sure the tire rotation direction and rim rotation direction are the same. Also make sure the lightest portion of the tire (in most cases marked on the tire with red dot) are in the valve stem area. Then press one side of the second bead of the tire in the rim drop center and fix it with clamp tire. I use this tool https://www.nomartirechanger.com/XtraHand_Clamp_p/ac-eh-clamp.htm Yellow thing can also be helpful to hold the tire bead down during attaching duck head but not necessary https://www.nomartirechanger.com/YellowThing_Tire_Tool_p/ac-yellowthing.htm Remove the central steel tube and attach the duck head and then slide the central steel tube through the duck head box, wheel hum and big box holes  Now rotate the duck head to mount the tire second bead.  Set the tire with pressure, attach the wheel hardware, balance the wheel. Done!  |
