Cheaper Alternative

I spent most of my day in my garage today. In addition to putting the new shock on my Hawk, I also started work on a little project....tire changing. I've almost completed a little machine to change motorcycle tires.

Thats right, I've talked about it for almost a year now and have been complaining about the expensive fee's the local dealers are charging for tire changes.

Within couple of weeks, I plan on being fully functional. Instead of doing the spin balancing stuff, I'm planning on giving the dynabeads a shot. I've heard some good things about them and they are much cheaper and easier than traditional spin balancing. Maybe when I get the extra cash, I'll spring for the balancer, but thats a little further down the road.

This won't be "full service" thing. I don't have the space or time to pull the tire off the bike. you'll need to bring me the rim and tire off the bike. I'm not a business so I won't have hours, there is no business number, and I won't stock tires. I'm doing this just to help friends and myself.

I'll let you all know when I'm functional, until then :beerbang:

Awesome! Let me know if you need some investment capital in return for a discounted rate :idea: And I'm totally in line as a customer of yours Jason :beerbang:

I get pissed off by the fees dealers charge for tire changing too, so I bought a set of tire irons. I changed both tires on my V-Strom a few weeks ago, and changed both tires on my buddy Jarrel's Bandit 400 yesterday (and rebuilt the forks as long as the front wheel was dismounted).

As for balancing, all you need is two jack stands. Mount up the new tire, air it up, put the axle through the wheel, and set it on the jack stands so it spins freely. Find heavy spot. Add weight to opposite side until there's no more heavy spot. Done. (Of course, Dynabeads are a good solution too -- need to try those sometime.)

At some point I need to invest in or build a better bead breaker, because that's the only real pain in the ass of the whole project. (Well, okay, I also need to buy an air compressor so I don't need to run the wheel over to the gas station to air it up and seat the bead.)

--mark

I got the compressor, and making a bead breaker as part of the stand.

;)

I remembered talking to you about the jack stand balancer, but I run into a problem because both bikes I own have SSA so that won't work for the rear wheel. Need a balancer with cones to do those.

This is what I have set up. Cheap and simple.

You can see the bead breaker, balancer, and carb sink tool in the pic.

http://www.nestreetriders.com/galler...le=2286&size=1

Pffft .... threaded rod, couple of nuts to lock in a large bushing washer with some dense foam on the back side and the regular wheel washer and nut to clamp it in on the front.

my.02 It cost too much for someone elses time and efforts .... your time and a little ingenuity are free

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Originally Posted by Wishbone

This is what I have set up. Cheap and simple.

You can see the bead breaker, balancer, and carb sink tool in the pic.

http://www.nestreetriders.com/galler...le=2286&size=1

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And the S&M set up is just seen at the left and top of the pics :naughty


John Straps ANNND chains?? Those poor bikes didn't have a chance ......:mope:

I'll be making a setup like this in te next few weeks, with bead breaker, tire spoons, weights and an archaic ballancer as well :)

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Originally Posted by The Crashing Tomato

And the S&M set up is just seen at the left and top of the pics :naughty

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Man you can't keep a secret for nothin :mope::teehee: :outtie:

John where is the bead breaker? (is it seriously the two clamps?)

Bead breaker is the 2x4 setup towards the top of the picture. Simple lever set-up that is pretty powerful and can break beads. I'm doing something similar.

WOW I saaaaaaaaaack at PHYSICS and finding Waldo

Geometry and spacial awareness GREAT

A good sized C clamp or bench vice will usually work as a decent bead breaker. If you want to go high tech - a bottle jack will keep down the number of veins popping out in your forehead.

:idea: .... so the air / hydraulic wood splitter can double as a bead breaker ... :idea: just have to flip the cutting wedge over to the blunt side

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Originally Posted by The Crashing Tomato

And the S&M set up is just seen at the left and top of the pics :naughty


John Straps ANNND chains?? Those poor bikes didn't have a chance ......:mope:

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Kinda looks like something out of Saw!

Or like this.
http://www.crusades4you.com/970801_0216_1041_oslp.jpg

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Originally Posted by The Crashing Tomato

:idea: .... so the air / hydraulic wood splitter can double as a bead breaker ... :idea: just have to flip the cutting wedge over to the blunt side

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You don't even need to flip the wedge over. You should, but you don't need to...

Some ideas that may (or may not) help people doing this. NOT trying to steal your thread Bell :) :wub: lol Just hoping this will give some ideas. Awesome on you for doing this up. :drink:

When I take of a tire that is going to just get ditched after and it is real old or real stiff, cold, whatever, after I break the bead I will take a hacksaw blade and being careful not to hit the rim itself, just cut about a half inch through the bead on either side. Between that and some soapy water around the lip the old tire should pop off easy.

I need to build a new tire changer for myself, but here are some ideas for you based on stuff I have done in the past.

If you want good support for your tire one of those steel, deep rims you find on older cars works great. Usually you want like a 14 or 15 inch one. Just pad the lip to keep it from banging up your motorcycle rim. If you want it to look pretty go to advance auto and grab some of that self adhering door jamb or whatever they call it rubber stripping and put that around it. For extra cushiness top it off with some door jamb foam or something. Throw a threaded rod through the middle to use to secure the rim. Thread a nut part way down then thread another one against it and tighten them against each other. Put a nice big thick steel washer, then a real stiff spring (aubochons sp?) that isn't much bigger then the rod. Next put another big thick steel washer on. Follow this by a really big wide teflon washer (big as in bigger diameter then your hub). Get a piece of rubber tubing just big enough to slip over the rod and drop that on top. That just protects the middle of the rim some. Get the length just slightly shorter then the hub on your rim (1/8 inch or so shorter). No worries, it will compress if you are too long and there should be plenty of room in there. Now you want another thickish (1/4 inch or so) teflon washer. Get the smallest possible diameter that will fit through your hub and drop it over the rod on top of the rubber tubing. If you can't find a good one use a piece of pvc piping and just smooth out the surface facing up. You want the tubing and washer or pvc washer to be only about 1/8 inch longer then the middle of your hub. The washer makes it so when you tighten down you twist the tubing all around anymore then you need to to get tight. The rim goes over all this nice and pretty like. To tighten down drop a nice big wide (bigger then your hub again) teflon washer down the rod. Follow it with a thick steel one and tighten down on that. A butterfly nut makes this a lot quicker or you can take a regular STEEL nut and a piece of flat steel, drill a hole through the middle of the steel, larger then the rods diameter, smaller then the nut. Set the nut so the rod can go through the steel and nut and tack weld the nut to the steel. Bend the steel up on both sides and get some of that cool dippy rubber stuff (comes in a can for making handles on pliers etc, dip, lift and dry) to make handles. Super fast on and off now and the bent steel keeps you from hitting anything.

A pair of cheapo vise grips with THICK rubber tips helps too when putting the tire back on. Use it as a 3rd arm to keep the bead from working back off as you work it further on. Just don't clamp tight, you don't need or want to and you could tweak the rim wall that way. It's just blocking the tire from popping off while you work further along.

Anyways, may not help anyone, but figured I would through it out there. Total cost is only like 30 bucks after you buy a steel rim from Ratthe's or wherever.

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Originally Posted by yesterdayze

If you want good support for your tire one of those steel, deep rims you find on older cars works great.

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I just use a takeoff rear tire as a support. Works fine, although obviously it doesn't keep everything as steady as the rig you've described.

--mark

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Originally Posted by markbvt

I just use a takeoff rear tire as a support. Works fine, although obviously it doesn't keep everything as steady as the rig you've described.

--mark

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I love the easy solutions too :) And you're so right, unless you do it a lot, what I described is probably way overkill.

I've changed a lot of tires in my life on all sorts of equipment and there's a few things I've figured out.
It is impossible to use too much soapy water. You can not have the bead or rim too lubed up.
If done right, it doesn't require a lot of leverage or force to mount a new tire (getting the old hardened ones off or back on will fight you every step of the way). You can get the first bead on without tools, just grab the tire and spin it right on. You should be able to get a good portion of the second bead on by hand. For the last section make sure the opposite side of the bead is dropped down into the very center of the rim. Use a C clamp to force this to happen if needed on wider low profile tires. The last bit should slip right in with a little assistance from the tire iron.
For tubeless to initially get the beads onto the rim bounce the wheel and tire a few times around the circumfrence.