The Ford Barn - View Single Post

tubman · 03-29-2019, 09:27 AM

I'm with "corvette8n" on this. I got mine from Northern Tool, but from what I can see, it is the same as the one from HF. And yes, unless you bolt it down securely, you'll be quite unhappy. You will also need to get a couple of quality tire irons, which you should have anyway. Mine needed to be modified slightly, as the "thing-a-majig" that keeps the wheel from turning was obviously located wrong and the "foot" on the bead breaker was shaped wrong. I have done dozens with mine with no problem, and with a bubble balancer from the same source I can do all of my own tire work. I have saved a bunch of money and a lot of time. Curiously, the larger the wheel size, the easier the job. The toughest set I did was a set of 14's for the little lady's minivan. Larger than that is easy.

The tire shops up where I live consider their main job to be selling and mounting their own tires. Doing "walk-in" tire mounting and balancing is waaaay down on their list, especially if it is not a run of the mill job. Even if you call and make an appointment, any other task that comes up will be put in front of you. I tried the "I'll drop 'em off today and pick 'em up tomorrow" approach, and most of the time, my stuff was sitting untouched when I came back the next day. And the there is the cost, they will over charge you and add in "Shop Supplies", "Disposal Fees", and other charges that can drive the charge to get one tire mounted to over $20.00. There used to be a shop about 6 miles away that was helpful to hobbyists, but they went out of business about 10 years ago. I wonder why.

The only problem with mine is I paid $100 for it. I guess HF has got a couple of advantages.

03-29-2019, 09:27 AM	#17
tubman Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Minnesota, Florida Keys Posts: 10,303	Re: Tubeless Bias Tires I'm with "corvette8n" on this. I got mine from Northern Tool, but from what I can see, it is the same as the one from HF. And yes, unless you bolt it down securely, you'll be quite unhappy. You will also need to get a couple of quality tire irons, which you should have anyway. Mine needed to be modified slightly, as the "thing-a-majig" that keeps the wheel from turning was obviously located wrong and the "foot" on the bead breaker was shaped wrong. I have done dozens with mine with no problem, and with a bubble balancer from the same source I can do all of my own tire work. I have saved a bunch of money and a lot of time. Curiously, the larger the wheel size, the easier the job. The toughest set I did was a set of 14's for the little lady's minivan. Larger than that is easy. The tire shops up where I live consider their main job to be selling and mounting their own tires. Doing "walk-in" tire mounting and balancing is waaaay down on their list, especially if it is not a run of the mill job. Even if you call and make an appointment, any other task that comes up will be put in front of you. I tried the "I'll drop 'em off today and pick 'em up tomorrow" approach, and most of the time, my stuff was sitting untouched when I came back the next day. And the there is the cost, they will over charge you and add in "Shop Supplies", "Disposal Fees", and other charges that can drive the charge to get one tire mounted to over $20.00. There used to be a shop about 6 miles away that was helpful to hobbyists, but they went out of business about 10 years ago. I wonder why. The only problem with mine is I paid $100 for it. I guess HF has got a couple of advantages.