Changing my own tires

Youtube is your friend. While I don’t mount my vehicle tires myself I do mount the tires on my 8+ trailers. I have the HF manual tire machine and spoons. I mounted my changer to the concrete floor and remove it when not being used. The HF changer is light weight and I’ve had to reinforce the mounting/demounting bar and the bead breaker. Setting the bead can be dangerous. I don’t balance my trailer tires.

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E-Ticket said:
Man am I glad my son is a mechanic and has access to tire equipment. No labor cost and all the tires swaps I want for the price of a dinner and few beers!
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Dinner and a few beers, you're paying double. :sneaky:
 
Just remember a 35 12.50 15 6ply will mount easier than a 35 12.50 20 8 or 10ply!!!!!

The more sidewall you have to work with the and the lower the ply rating the easier it is, still not easy, but doable.
 
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John Cooper said:
Just remember a 35 12.50 15 6ply will mount easier than a 35 12.50 20 8 or 10ply!!!!!

The more sidewall you have to work with the and the lower the ply rating the easier it is, still not easy, but doable.
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The E rated, 10 ply Nokian Rockproof tires I put on my wife's WJ, had the thickest sidewall I've ever seen on any tire I've had. Heavy too, for the small 225/7516 size (around 45lbs). I couldn't imagine mounting them without a machine.
 
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srimes said:
That restriction applies to mounting them on the car. Shops with that rule will usually mount anything if you bring just the tires and rims.
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That was my experience when I got new tires and wheels. Walmart told me I couldn’t even drive the jeep to the shop, it needed to be in a different car. So I threw them in my brother’s minivan and they did it for me without question… Thought that was kinda odd, but whatever
 
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I ended up ordering a bubble balancer, hi-lift, and the Ken tool set recommended by Victor. Maybe I'm a masochist but I always prefer to do stuff myself.

If I really hate it, it'll pay for itself in only two sets of tires, so I can give up after the second set if I want to :LOL:
 
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lBasket said:
I ended up ordering a bubble balancer, hi-lift, and the Ken tool set recommended by Victor. Maybe I'm a masochist but I always prefer to do stuff myself.

If I really hate it, it'll pay for itself in only two sets of tires, so I can give up after the second set if I want to :LOL:
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Good tire lube makes life easier too.
 
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lBasket said:
I ended up ordering a bubble balancer, hi-lift, and the Ken tool set recommended by Victor. Maybe I'm a masochist but I always prefer to do stuff myself.

If I really hate it, it'll pay for itself in only two sets of tires, so I can give up after the second set if I want to :LOL:
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A bottle jack will be nicer to use than a hi lift 😉
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Apparition said:
Tire Mounting & Demounting Liquid... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0859NJFKN?tag=wranglerorg-20

Auto Supplies Direct Angled Tire... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S24W1N8?tag=wranglerorg-20
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Haha that was a serious question, if you read @Woodrows build where he does this he uses Windex and mentions it was recommended as lube for the bead instead of soap cos it won't get slippery if it gets wet again IIRC. Does this juice serve a different purpose?

I also need to remember to get valve stems and weights and I will probably want balancing beads since I can only static balance
 
lBasket said:
Haha that was a serious question, if you read @Woodrows build where he does this he uses Windex and mentions it was recommended as lube for the bead instead of soap cos it won't get slippery if it gets wet again IIRC. Does this juice serve a different purpose?

I also need to remember to get valve stems and weights and I will probably want balancing beads since I can only static balance
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It’s similar stuff to what my buddy uses at his tire shop.

Back when we were mounting dozens of ATV tires a year we’d use armor all but we didn’t know better was available.

On the beads my tires/wheels on my jeep don’t have balance beads nor have they been balanced.
 
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Apparition said:
It’s similar stuff to what my buddy uses at his tire shop.

Back when we were mounting dozens of ATV tires a year we’d use armor all but we didn’t know better was available.
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Ok so it's for the same purpose but much better.
Apparition said:
On the beads my tires/wheels on my jeep don’t have balance beads nor have they been balanced.
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Yeahhhh. I honestly don't know if I've been lucky, or just don't care, but balancing tires seems to be a bigger deal to others than it is to me. I know I've knocked weights off my tires and I just don't see them as an issue. Are the tires fine? Is it a tolerance thing? Who knows.

So I'm not sure if I need them but (depending on price) I may pick up bwads and throw them in just in case to avoid doing the tires twice.
 
lBasket said:
Do you mean Windex?
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When I worked in that shop, we used WD40 when breaking beads and some tire lube called lizard slime or something like that for mounting.

When mounting, if the tires come with paint dots on the side wall, that needs to line up with the valve stem.
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