And People Think I am Wacky!

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Everyone I know thinks I am a total nut job because I do everything myself - plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc, etc, especially auto work including wheel alignment. I do it because I can, I love it and do not trust others. I have had several occasions over the years to take cars back to dealers for warranty or recall work. In every single case, dealer totally effed up my car...I will spare you the horror stories.

Ok, back to the reason for this post. On another forum, a person asked what are the best hand tools for manually removing old and installing new tires on his rims. He said he thought it would be a lot of fun plus would save $$. I have changed tires on my garden tractor and can not imagine doing same on a car. Do any of you dedicated BITOG DIY’ers remove/install tires with hand tools?
 
There are some DIY projects not even worth considering for me, mounting tires is one of them. Then once they're mounted they still have to be balanced if you want any quality of a ride. I don't think the average, or above average Joe is capable to do that at home 'properly' without the right equipment.
 
I've been considering buying the Harbor Freight manual tire mounter. I have some wheels I'm trying to sell. They have junk tires mounted to them. I think they'd be easier to sell as bare rims without the junk tires. So I'm exploring my options on how to remove the tires.

I also already own the Harbor Freight mini tire changer, so I can remove and mount small tires for my lawn equipment.
 
I only change my own tires on my dirt bikes and bicycles.

Ultimately, I have to suck it up for balancing on anything bigger or higher speed, so why bother?

BTW, I've done the fire trick a load of times on trailers, heavy equipment, UTVs, and wrecked cars for one of my commercial neighbors. Always a real crowd pleaser.

After I taught that trick to the Salvadorian exporters next door, they fight over who gets to do it.
 
Well, I don't personally remove/install my own vehicles tires however, I have done this with small equipment tires...in the past. Now, on my small equipment, it's easier to buy the whole wheel/tire replacement and just well, replace it.

On the other hand, I am with you in terms of doing everything myself around the home or vehicle & small equipment, when I can. I do not like the work of others whom I am paying. Most of the time(or I should say, all too often) their work is subpar and cost too much.
 
Pay to have it done. It's a body wrecking affair as when you manually mount and demount tires as are using muscles you normally don't use
and it wrecks your body for a day or two.

I have changed tires and balanced wheels a couple of times. It's not hard when doing tires with a large sidewall like a 205/75/15.
Forget about using tire irons on something of modern sizing like a 225/40/18 with a stiff 2 ply sidewall.


I have tire irons, a bubble balancer and wheel weight pliers I bought off JC Whitney at half my age 20ish years ago and a bunch of clip on and stick on wheel weights.
The stick on wheel weights came from O'Reillys. I use to buy Milton valve stems as they are/were? made in the USA'
I did buy a Harbor Freight tire changer which was good for breaking the bead. I sold it when I moved to my new house.

 
I use a harbor freight manual tire remover and a bishman bubble balancer. Works fine for me. Would only use on steel wheels because it definitely scratches the wheel. Some tire shops have great deals on tire mounting and lifetime balancing it's hard to pass up those deals. I did have to mount the tire changer to my garage floor otherwise it would be almost impossible to change the tire without the whole machine moving.
 
I like to take the wheels and tires off all my vehicles and light them on fire periodically. Burns all the brake dust off and sterilizes the tires at the same time.
 
1972-74 worked at a Goodyear store and changed tires on big trucks,,your darn right if we had known this we would have done it and on large mud tires,,no breaker bars, none of that back breaking stuff,,,
 
I know a few people that install their own tires and go without balancing.

My Jeep lost a weight a few years ago and I could really tell. I don't see how not balancing them would be any different.
 
Originally Posted By: SilverSnake
I like to take the wheels and tires off all my vehicles and light them on fire periodically. Burns all the brake dust off and sterilizes the tires at the same time.


Me too. Always have a few marshmallows ready for toasting. They taste especially good with that subtle hint of burned rubber.
 
Originally Posted By: artbuc
Originally Posted By: SilverSnake
I like to take the wheels and tires off all my vehicles and light them on fire periodically. Burns all the brake dust off and sterilizes the tires at the same time.


Me too. Always have a few marshmallows ready for toasting. They taste especially good with that subtle hint of burned rubber.


Yeah we do the same with hot dogs. Gives them a unique flavor. I find that with the proper application of accelerant, the fire will leave a nice shiny, even, coat of melted rubber on the surface of the tire so I don't ever need to use any tire shine.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Kamele0N


I like the guy who fed a fuse through the empty valve stem. Not completely without risk, but better than most of them.
 
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