theWolfTamer Chronicles: Maintenance: Tire Change Time Again!

23 July 2020 In the time of a pandemic...

I was excited to learn we were going to have our rally, pandemic or not. This time I didn't need to do much to the bike to be ready, just change the tires. I had them in plenty of time for the rally but I didn't know where to go to put them on. Cruzman said we could do it at his house so that's where I went.

This was an all day ordeal as usual. We talk, we work, we work, we talk. I enjoy it very much but is it really necessary? I used to own the stuff I needed to do my own tire changes but when I moved a few years ago I decided it wasn't necessary to keep. At the time I knew where to take my tires for changes that were relatively reasonable. But after the last change, that was no longer the case and I was kicking myself when I was putting the wheels back on and vowed to revisit doing changes myself before it was time for a new set.

The $100 tire change that left me asking why I sold my changing setup.

What I paid for that tire change would have bought a brand new Harbor Freight Tools Manual Changer and some of the mods to make it useful. I didn't want to do that again this time plus I couldn't because motorcycle tire changes weren't essential. Instead, it was back to Cruzman's and this:

Old school tire changing tools.

The same setup that made me obsessed with doing the tire change myself in the first place. Plus theWolf doesn't like being on the ground changing tires. I was really sore the next day and Cruzman did all the work. Just like the first time we did a tire change, I came away thinking I need a tire changer. More accurately feeling dumb for letting mine go. Sure it was a pain in the ass that I could barely work but I did get a successful change on my own without calling anyone.

Unlike the first time, now HFT has the Motorcycle attachment and I had coupons. But before I could make it to my local HFT, I decided to revisit the manual tire changer market. Was the HFT Changer still the only value-priced solution for DIY? Was it really value-priced? Let’s see.

The last time I got my changer used for $50. Then I spent about $35 on the rim protection pieces that made mounting the rim into the changer more secure. I also got the yellow thing to help with mounting the tire so add another $35. I was at $120 and still needed to spend another $140ish on the mounting bar, so let’s say that my $50 tire machine was $260. That doesn’t included the $150ish I spent on an air compressor and it’s accessories. Not to mention the paint and paint stripper I used to fix my scratched to hell rims. There’s no wonder I’m rethinking this!

Now HFT has the basechanger on sale for about $30, the attachment adds another $40 with coupon and deception (a trip to the car so I can use the coupon twice). The rim protection pieces still cost about $35 but this time I won’t bother with the yellow thing. The yellow thing was the key to my one successful change but I think a <$10 clamp will do the same thing. This time I don’t have that 4x8 piece of wood to mount the changer to for it to be stable. Plus the tire removal tool I had decided on 5 or 6 years ago still costs $140. So it’s about the same $260 I spent before.

The thing that delayed me getting the bar back then is the same thing that

The No-scuff Tire Tool

makes me hesitate now: I never got the hang of using the bar to get the tire off or on. The videos make it look easy but I just never got it. The other thing contributing to my hesitation now is I never really believed the HFT Tool was the best tool for diy. I mean, why do you have to fix it just to use it? Why don’t they raise the price and make it so that it’s good to go outta the box?

This is what I was thinking as I re-watched YouTube videos of people changing tires or making changes to their changers. A couple were completely different from a few years ago plus there are a couple of options available that when you add everything up make viable alternatives to the still popular HFT Changer. I’m not going to bother to list them because if you’re reading this you probably know better than I do. In the end, I decided to get something else.

When I was looking for an alternative to the motorcycle attachment however many years ago, I saw a different attachment and base that I really liked but didn’t like the price. It looked like a better version of the HFT Changer but at Cycle Hill or No-Mar prices. That was more than I wanted to spend on something I’d be using maybe twice a year, three times if I got lucky. That was then but now it’s even more true. The last couple of years, I’ve barely gotten the two changes in. That doesn’t include my brother or father’s changes. Daddy doesn’t ride as much and both are willing to pay stealership prices.

Just like when I bought the trailer thinking of them, I’m thinking of them now too. Last year, my brother’s $200 tire cost him nearly $350 by the time the dealer was done with him. I might have been able to convince him to let me do the change for way less than that if I had my changer. I couldn’t charge him because of everything he does for me and I know I could have found that tire cheaper online. For the $350 we could have changed both tires!

Now that he’s retired I hope it means he rides more and will need more changes. At least I’m figuring that into this purchase this time. I also remember my huge learning curve with the HFT changer. It wouldn’t be the same this time because back then I’d never changed a tire before. Now I’ve done it alone at least once with several failed attempts to learn from.

When I was looking at manual tire changers for motorcycle tires, that changer was still in the back of my mind. Then I saw a video about an eBay tire changer that looked a lot like the Northern Tool one I didn’t get 8 years ago.

Well, now I think I know what I’m gonna do! But before I did anything I wanted to see if the no scuff bar or no mar bar were still the best option. Short answer is no. There’s nothing “off the shelf” like them but there is a better way. With that decided, I pulled the trigger on the new changer. I’m now the proud owner of an eBay no name Tire Changer (eTC?).

From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like it requires mods that cost more money. Just a little change to be sure it fits 17” rims. I won’t know until it gets here about the rim clamps. They look like they’ll work and the few reviews/videos I could find didn’t mention anything about it scratching rims. They did comment that the bar that comes with it might not be the best for motorcycle tires but every video shows them using the included bar.

I got my changer for $110. I think I'll spend another $60ish on the demount/mounting part. That's gonna have me at least $100 cheaper than going down the road most traveled with the HFT Changer.

I have no intention of using the included bar for more than breaking the bead if that’s the piece that fits into the bead breaker. I can’t wait for it to get here so I can get started on my own demount/mount solution. Needless to say, I’ve spent too much time searching the internet and YouTube to learn what that’s gonna be. At this point, I can’t stop myself and probably will keep doing it until I’ve got something tangible to work from.