Project: DuckHead Arm

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Sep 23, 2018
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Location
Maryland
There's a mod for the Harbor Freight tire changer that I've wanted to make for a while. I had the day off today and fiddled a little this afternoon. The link is a commercial unit sold on eBay for about $349.
Pretty steep price if you ask me. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultimate-Manual-Tire-Changer-XL-Modified-Upgrade-Attachment-Duckhead-Mount-Kit/293119882846?hash=item443f4e765e:g:uEIAAOSwMytdwLbF

I picked-up that duck head and a bag of replacement nylon scuff pads on eBay for under $30. It's pretty solid.

Anyhow, I've changed a few sets of tires with the harbor-freight changer and figured this would be nice mod and fun project. I'll update the pics as it comes along.








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Nice!

Good choice on the metal duckhead, too, btw. The 100% nylon duckheads are nice, but they're bulky. A metal one with nylon inserts is the way to go, IMO, as they're much smaller. Comes in handy when doing low profile tires for sure.
 
Originally Posted by cpayne5
Nice!

Good choice on the metal duckhead, too, btw. The 100% nylon duckheads are nice, but they're bulky. A metal one with nylon inserts is the way to go, IMO, as they're much smaller. Comes in handy when doing low profile tires for sure.


The metal ones seemed like a better choice at the grand price of $23 with the vinyl ones costing just a few dollars less. A snug and stubborn tire on a cold day seems like it would push vinyl to the limit.
 
How's this been working out for you Ray? Does it allow you to do larger than 16" wheels? Any chance you'd like to make another and sell it?
 
How's this been working out for you Ray? Does it allow you to do larger than 16" wheels? Any chance you'd like to make another and sell it?

This contraption works just fine. The limitations are due to the HF components. The suppled wheel locking "nut" is crude and will scratch wheels because it does not have a cone to center the hole. Of course, I've since created some cone inserts to remedy that. Also, I also cut some carpet remnants so the base plate does not scratch-up the underside of the rim where the lug-nut holes are. Finally, some some triangular gussets were welded to the base and pole to make it more rigid.

I made the thing to handle up to a 19" wheel but, only did up to 17" so far. Works great but, it helps to have my wife or son stand on the 2x4s for extra stability. It would be much nicer if I solidly mounted it to a concrete floor -but that's not going to happen in my case.

As far as making/selling them... It's not something I can easily schedule right now since (while glad to be employed) I'm working 2 jobs these days to stay afloat.

Ray
 
{snip} It would be much nicer if I solidly mounted it to a concrete floor -but that's not going to happen in my case.

As far as making/selling them... It's not something I can easily schedule right now since (while glad to be employed) I'm working 2 jobs these days to stay afloat.

Ray
Well, I just ordered a cheap duckhead with pads, too. I need another project like I need a hole in the head so I may never get around to actually building it.

I virtually never use the machine because it's too much work (plus I can't balance anyway) but my buddy who is poorer than dirt uses it often. He reports bolting it to the floor was a huge improvement.

I previously had it in a receiver mount attached to my metal stairs which are bolted to the floor, but even a receiver with set screws allows more twist and slop than you'd think.
20221128_074612.jpg
 
This contraption works just fine. The limitations are due to the HF components. The suppled wheel locking "nut" is crude and will scratch wheels because it does not have a cone to center the hole. Of course, I've since created some cone inserts to remedy that. Also, I also cut some carpet remnants so the base plate does not scratch-up the underside of the rim where the lug-nut holes are. Finally, some some triangular gussets were welded to the base and pole to make it more rigid.

I made the thing to handle up to a 19" wheel but, only did up to 17" so far. Works great but, it helps to have my wife or son stand on the 2x4s for extra stability. It would be much nicer if I solidly mounted it to a concrete floor -but that's not going to happen in my case.

As far as making/selling them... It's not something I can easily schedule right now since (while glad to be employed) I'm working 2 jobs these days to stay afloat.

Ray
Thanks for the feedback. I've watched some videos that confirm much of what you're saying. Some people drill holes in the base plate so that the wheel can be bolted down snugly. Obviously that involves a few different holes for different patterns. Alternatively, you can now buy a cone for easy centering and snugging down. In fact, the one you pictured from Lucid includes that; for $450 it had better! There are some less expensive options out there; not as nice as the Lucid, but a little easier to cost justify.
 
Seems like a nice thing to be able to remove or mount (?) a tire, but if you cant balance, do you actually come out ahead?
 
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Seems like a nice thing to be able to remove or mount (?) a tire, but if you cant balance, do you actually come out ahead?
This is actually why I only want the cheap machine, I mean it's either a bare minimum (beater tires, low speed tires etc) or whole hog nice power machine and balancer.

We just did some 205/70/15s for a broke college student on a '98 CRV. With such a relatively small tire and OEM Honda alloys I figured it might be just fine. She wound up with a slight vibe at 65, but it's not there at 60 or 70.

She just runs around locally so she's thrilled. I did warn her ahead of time that balancing might be required and she'd have to go to a real tire shop if so.
 
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