| Author | Message | ||
     Km2 |
Anyone have any experience with Harbor Freight's tire changer #34542? KM2 | ||
| Tim |
Are you looking to do motorcycle tires? If so, I recommend the Cycle Hill changer made by Nomar. I think there is an additional adapter required to use the harbor freight changer on motorcycle tires. | ||
| Km2 |
Yes, motorcycle tires. The cycle hill SHOULD be better, it costs $315 more than the HF item! If there is an adapter required for the HF I doubt if it would cost $300. I would like to hear from someone who has experience with the Harbor Freight changer. | ||
| F_skinner |
I use the HF one and the adapter came with it. Cheap and easy to use. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Works OK, a pain to mount stationary and work with. We finally settled on welding it up to a bar that would socket into the trailer hitch on the neighbors F150. Two guys can do it without the machine as well, almost as well. Breaking the bead is the trickiest thing to get past, and the HF changer does that well. | ||
| Jandj_davis |
I use the HF changer, with Mojoblocks http://home.comcast.net/~prestondrake/mojoblocks.h tm and the NoMar tire change bar. I bought a wheel balancer on ebay, and got the whole setup for less than the cycle hill changer. I've change a dozen tires on it for myself and friends, and it has worked well, with only cruiser tires being the cause of swearing. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Jandj hit it on the head. I have the exact same setup, I've lost count how many tires I've changed with the rig. The Mojo blocks and NoMar are recent purchases, they make the changer work SO MUCH better than the stock HF unit, I've done 4 or 5 sets of tires so far with the full setup. As far as mounting, I have 4 holes drilled in the garage floor with expansion slugs in them. I use lag bolts to hold the changer to the floor when needed. Otherwise I just remove the bolts and put the changer out by the storage shed. When it comes time to change tires, it takes less than 5 minutes to get set up. Grab the changer, the air wrench and a 9/16 socket, the 4 lag bolts and let er rip. I give each of the holes a quick blast with the blower nozzle then run the lag bolts in tight. | ||
| Jandj_davis |
I have mine mounted to the garage floor as well. I have heard people trying to use a sheet of plywood on the bottom, and that really doesn't let you wrench on the thing the way you need to. I used some big TapCon (or maybe RedHead) bolts. | ||
| Road_thing |
I was thinking about buying a HF changer, but can't find the MC wheel adapter on their site, Does the changer come with the adapter? rt | ||
| Jramsey |
Rt the mc adapter is priced about the same as the base unit 39.00 with the discount coupon IIRC. The mc adapter fits loose on the base, easy fix to remove slop is two bushings made from 1-1/2 blk. pipe. I also welded the channel iron base as it comes as bolt together affair then mounted to floor with Readhead anchors. I built my dismount bar and machined a Delrin cover and tossed the overarm support as its not necessary. The HF dismount bar is a pos rim gouger. | ||
| Km2 |
I couldn't find any info on the HF adapter so I e mailed HF customer service. The official response is the adapter is not available and there is no replacement item. For owners of the HF changer, what does the adapter do, and is it a necessity? Could a person fabricate a replacement? Thought I had this figured out, the HF changer, MC adapter, Mojo blocks and Mojolever. But without the adapter, am I blown out of the water? Kevin | ||
| Bluzm2 |
That's interesting. I can't find it on their website either. You really do need the motorcycle adapter. Really not sure what your options are. Bummer. | ||
| Jandj_davis |
The MC Adapter is basically what clamps onto the rim. If you look at the cycle-hill tire changer, the "MC Adapter" is the three arms that clamp onto the rim and the arm that goes over the top. Without it, there is nothing to hold onto the bike rim. To tell you the truth, if I had to do it over again, I probably would have gone with cycle hill. The brand didn't exist when I bought my HF setup, and the NoMar changer was just too costly. With all the other bits I had to buy to make the HF changer workable, I figure there was only a $100 or less price difference between the two. |
