Princess Auto / Harbor Freight Tire Changer

[pmbrunelle]

Years ago, my dad bought one of these manual tire changers:
https://www.princessauto.com/en/4-to-16 ... 0008741464

Tire Changer.jpg (20.01 KiB) Viewed 3484 times

It's a pretty crude device; it's more or less a stand on which your wheel is held. Then, you use a prybar to work the tire on/off. The unit must be fixed to the floor. It includes a bead-breaker, which also needs improvement (too much play in the pivots and cheap feeling).

Using it as-is is a recipe for scratched wheels, so it didn't see much use.

My dad doesn't have a good place for it, I have a bunch of room in the basement of my house, so I inherited this tool. It would be the perfect complement to my wheel balancer.

The first order of business was to buy a duckbill conversion kit from ebay:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/373624493594

Duckbill Kit.jpg (203.79 KiB) Viewed 3484 times

The duckbill is the specially-shaped piece of plastic that guides the rubber bead on/off the rim. When you look at a duckbill the right way (especially a metal one), it looks like a duck. Duckbills are used on commercial tire changing machines.

In the above photo, we see a metal cruciform shape that is used to clamp down the wheel. Not very wheel-friendly...

This is my new wheel mounting solution:

IMG_6410.JPG (140.13 KiB) Viewed 3484 times

I drilled and tapped these wheel patterns into the 1/2" steel plate:
5 x 100mm
5 x 4.5"
5 x 5.5"

The wheels shall be secured using BMW lug bolts. I'll need adapters for other lug patterns.

I stiffened the legs by welding them to each other, and welding to the base plate. Originally, the legs were bolted on.

IMG_2040.JPG (189.93 KiB) Viewed 3484 times

Further stiffening will be done.

Originally, the duckbill arm just slipped over the center post of the tire changer, with a bunch of play.

I made plastic bushings that fit into each end of the duckbill arm:

IMG_6406.JPG (104.42 KiB) Viewed 3484 times

I'll be making a new center shaft to support the duckbill arm bushings.

I thought that a long handle might be useful to rotate the duckbill arm, so I bought a piece of steel square tubing. It was a little bit too big to slide into the duckbill arm, so I shaved some material from the tube. The tube still has enough wall thickness to work.

IMG_6407.JPG (165.48 KiB) Viewed 3484 times

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The build is obviously not finished yet... I'll make updates as I progress.

I ordered tires (coming in a few days) for my fancy Fiero wheels, so I'll need to finish this tool before I can mount them. Then, I'll need to buy an air compressor before I can seat the beads... which is a whole other project!

I'm not in a particular rush to get the wheels/tires on the car ASAP; it only makes sense to phase in the new wheels/tires at the same time as the first series of suspension mods.

[ericjon262]

I look forward to the rest of the progress! I find that most Horrible Freight tools seem usable, but not lacking room for improvement. I'm hoping that I can start making more of my own tools with the plasma cutter.

[The Dark Side of Will]

If you buy a hammer at Harbor Freight, what does it turn into?

[pmbrunelle]

I would say that there was still added value to starting with the Princess Auto tool, for two reasons:

1. I needed experience using a tire changer in order to identify the requirements for a new design. It would have been hard for me to come up with a design from scratch without some sort of baseline.

2. I'll still be using a number of elements from the Princess Auto tool. Had I instead bought raw steel from my local steel dépanneur (that's Canadian for convenience store) and cut/shaped it myself, there's a good chance I would have spent more $$$ on raw ingredients and consumables.

[pmbrunelle]

I welded the drilled plate onto the new centre post.

Plate welded on.jpg (81.61 KiB) Viewed 3353 times

Before welding, I prepared the centre post by:
1. Facing the ends, drilling centre holes
2. Turning a shoulder for the plate to sit on

Next, the assembly will have to go back on a lathe for final machining, so any weld distortion shouldn't cause problems.

[pmbrunelle]

I tapped in (very light press fit) the plastic bushings into the duckbill tube and secured each bushing with two screws separated by 120°. I did that after work today.

IMG_6427.JPG (219.55 KiB) Viewed 3326 times

Initially, I was going to glue the bushings in place, but with screws, I can remove them if the need arises. However, I don't expect wear to be a problem for an occasional-use tool.

Probably the ideal lube for these bushings will be tire mounting lube, because I'll have it available, and if any lube gets on the tire, no problem.

[pmbrunelle]

Last weekend I welded on some additions to the base of the tool.

The tool is meant to be bolted to the floor with four bolts or studs with nuts. In the original setup, as the nuts were tightened, the C-channels would collapse, unable to support the tensile load of a 3/8" cheap steel fastener. I added 1/4" thick steel doublers to help transfer the nut load to the edges of the channel.

I also added three angle struts to help keep the post straight relative to the base. One side is missing a strut because that's where the bead breaker goes.

My dad sandblasted and painted the base section this week. He left the top part bare, because I will be welding the wheel mounting flange to that.

IMG_3428.JPG (558.78 KiB) Viewed 3245 times

[pmbrunelle]

I took a day off work today... and then I spent a good chunk of it at work!

I got that upper shaft weldment back on the lathe.

Having a threaded flange made the "lathe dog" setup easy.

IMG_6469.JPG (247.48 KiB) Viewed 3150 times

From the way the flange was cut unevenly, it looks like it was worth turning the part after welding!

IMG_6472.JPG (312.17 KiB) Viewed 3150 times

I turned the journals to fit the plastic duckbill tube bushings I had made.

The subassembly is done, ready to weld onto the floor-mounted base:

IMG_6473.JPG (413.39 KiB) Viewed 3150 times

[ericjon262]

looking good!

[pmbrunelle]

The top is welded onto the base column.

The wheel mounting flange distorted a bit more than I'd like, but it should still work fine. I should have ran less amps during welding.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Just need a bigger lathe to face it again.

[pmbrunelle]

The Coats duckbill requires that the arm rotate counterclockwise when viewed from above.

To prevent loosening during use, I used a left-hand thread bolt for the duckbill arm retention bolt.

LH Bolt.JPG (315.75 KiB) Viewed 2869 times

LH bolts are sort of hard to come by. Some ring gears are bolted onto their diff carrier with LH bolts. I found a suitable ring gear bolt for a Chrysler, and I ordered it from Rockauto.

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On the Princess Auto tire changer, a piece of angle steel was welded to the base to help keep the wheel in place while using the bead breaker:

Bead Breaker.jpg (44.95 KiB) Viewed 2869 times

Looks like a recipe for scratched wheels...

I made a wood block to replace the steel angle:

Wood Block.JPG (281.96 KiB) Viewed 2869 times

I think the wood block will be more "surface friendly". I still might place a rug beneath the wheel; to be seen.

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The tire mounting/dismounting tool itself is more or less complete.

I need to decide where I want it in the basement.

The basement is pretty empty now; I would like to make a "master plan" for the basement where all the tools/shelves will have their place. Even if I don't have some tools yet, I should still designate spots for them in the plan.

I want stuff in the basement to be added like a well-planned city, versus a city that grows "organically" over time.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I want stuff in the basement to be added like a well-planned city, versus a city that grows "organically" over time.

Keep in mind that when urban planners try to "design" a walkable neighborhood, they invariably end up with a strip mall surrounded by apartment complexes... IE, a neighborhood that is technically "walkable" but has exactly zero charm to induce people to want to walk there.

Sometimes organic growth works better as decisions are made according to the need rather than a grand plan that's obsolete as soon as it's written down.
Instead of finding a permanent home for everything, put everything on rollers so the shop is easy to reconfigure to enable whatever job you need to do.

[pmbrunelle]

The tire machine is bolted to the concrete slab in the basement and is pretty much ready to go!

Tire Machine.JPG (672 KiB) Viewed 2195 times

I was going to try to mount my first tire with it (195/55R16 on a 16x7 rim), but I hit a snag with the tire valve that came with the Enkei wheel.

The valve body is threaded; as the nut is tightened, the rubber seal squishes and makes the seal between the valve body and the wheel.

Tire Valve.JPG (123.23 KiB) Viewed 2195 times

The problem is that I'm not sure how to tighten this type of tire valve. There's no noticeable torque rise to indicate that the nut has been sufficiently tightened. The rubber just gets squeezed out and the torque never increases much.

If I can't figure out how to install these tire valves, I'll get more standard rubber tire valves (I have experience with this type) that pull through the hole in the wheel.

[ericjon262]

FWIW, some racing sanctioning bodies require threaded valve stems.

[Shaun41178(2)]

In the basement? So you gotta lug the wheel and tire up and down stairs?

[pmbrunelle]

FWIW, some racing sanctioning bodies require threaded valve stems.

I ended up going with rubber.

I don't think I'll race this car, but it may eventually make it to a track. If I ever need to swap valve stems, it's not a huge deal to replace.

Good point though.

In the basement? So you gotta lug the wheel and tire up and down stairs?

Yeah, in the basement of the house.

I don't have a garage, so the basement is where most of my tools go. Wrenches and things that are used on the car itself are kept in a toolbox on the main floor. When I want to work on the car outside, I roll the toolbox right up to the entrance door of the house.

Carrying things up and down the stairs is inefficient, but this is just hobby wrenching; I'm not a professional mechanic. I expect to do maybe 1 or 2 sets of tires a year, mostly for myself or close family/friends.

Eventually, if/when I do build a detached garage, I'll still probably want to keep a bunch of bigger tools (hydraulic press, compressor, wheel/tire stuff, etc) in the house basement. This is so the garage size doesn't have to be so big to accommodate the vehicles and all the tools.

I do want to keep garage size reasonable in order to limit cost (construction, and winter heating), and ease of resale to a Joe Average homebuyer who may not see added value in an extra-large car-guy garage.

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I was able to mount and balance all four tires.

Tires mounted and balanced.JPG (402.87 KiB) Viewed 1967 times

Installation of the 195/55R16 tires went perfectly.

When I installed the 255/40R17 tires, they were tighter to force onto the wheel. The greater forces involved pushed the plastic duckbill down into the wheel, which scratched a bit of the paint on the rim. I was able to apply touch-up paint and mostly conceal the scratches.

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With a "normal" placement of the inner plane balancing weights on the rear 17x9 (ET+40mm) wheels, there isn't enough clearance between the strut taco clamp and the stick-on balancing weight:

Rear strut taco clamp clearance.JPG (465.05 KiB) Viewed 1967 times

Since I have my own wheel balancer at home, I was able to easily shift the inner plane of balancing weight outwards, away from the taco clamp.

Shifted inner plane.JPG (495.22 KiB) Viewed 1967 times

Clearance issue solved...

As the separation between the inner and outer balancing weight planes is reduced, more weight is needed to be able to correct a given amount of couple imbalance. I was expecting to have some trouble balancing the 17x9 wheels with the reduced plane separation, but I didn't have any problems with this.

It seems like wheel quality is a big factor. I used to have 17x8 ASA AR1 wheels from tirerack, and those needed a lot of weights. When I span the ASAs on the balancer, I could see the runout between the cast surfaces and the machined surfaces...

While my current Enkei wheels are not necessarily the best, they are still a reputable brand, and they appear to turn much straighter when I spin them on the balancer.

[The Dark Side of Will]

While my current Enkei wheels are not necessarily the best, they are still a reputable brand, and they appear to turn much straighter when I spin them on the balancer.

My daily is a 2005 Benz E320 CDI. It shipped with 16x8 wheels. I scrounged 10x 17x8.5 wheels from an E500 at junkyards. The two styles actually look nearly identical. I had a specialty wheel shop(1) refinish them. I ended up with a set of 5 "summer" ones that were machined and clear coated (BLING!) and a set of 5 "winter" wheels that I had black powder coated. The shop said 9 of the 10 junkyard wheels needed straightening (wow, go figure!). I had the specialty shop install and balance the tires as well.

I have *NEVER* felt a car that was *THAT* *SMOOTH* into the *WELL* above 100 mph speed range.
Never underestimate the impact of sweating the grams on a wheel balance.

(1) One of the times I went to the shop, there was a 992 Turbo S Cabrio with carbon brakes and single lug wheels out back, up on jackstands with the wheels off. If their customers bring them $200,000+ Porsches, they can work on my 17 year old Mercedes any day of the week.

[pmbrunelle]

Never underestimate the impact of sweating the grams on a wheel balance.

Yeah... it's an iterative process for me. I use stick-on weights, but I (temporarily) fix them to the wheel using masking tape, so I can shift the weights around (iteratively) until the residual imbalance is to my liking (generally less than 1/8 oz per plane). Only when I'm done do I remove the masking tape and stick the weights on permanently.

My dad is a pmbrunelle balancing addict now; he can't go to any normal garage anymore, or else he complains that his wheels vibrate.

Also note that the wheel's rotation axis on the balancer must be reproduced when it is mounted on the car. A perfect balance on the balancer is useless if the rotation axis changes on the car.