Human Struggle Leads to Eventual Victory or How I Changed My Tire

[Albert]

I have a Harbor Freight tire changer and used it last fall without much ado. Yesterday I decided it was time to replace the worn Battle Axe with the new Road Attack (is there a pattern to m/c tire names?). Anyway, the bead breaking was a breeze. Tire removal no problem. Tire install, however, was a hurculean effort with frequent episodes of head scratching, soul searching and foul language. I've obviously forgotten some key step in the tire mounting process that is critical to success. I recall seeing a well documented thread detailing tire changing with the HF tool. I can't find this in the archives but I may have missed it. If anyone has a link I will be forever greatful. I plan to print it and make it a part of my nightly prayers.

[Davis]

My guess is that when you were mounting the tire you weren't keeping the bead of the already mounted portion in the "drop" center of the rim. If you fail to hold the tire down on the side opposite where the bar is working, it becomes extremely difficult to get the last portion on.

[Albert]

Actually the mounting bar kept climbing out of the rim when I would try to pull it around (up and over the bead).

[Davis]

Was it Jim VonBaden's pictorial on the MOA site here that you were looking for?

[smiller]

Actually the mounting bar kept climbing out of the rim when I would try to pull it around (up and over the bead).

The Harbor Freight mount/demount bar isn't so great. Many people use the Harbor Freight equipment as a holder and use one of the several much better mounting bars, such as Mitch's Mojolever or the Nomar bar. I can say that it's an easy job with the Mojolever (and a little technique of course), and probably the same with the Nomar.

 

If you follow the (critical!) tip of having the opposite bead of the tire pressed fully into the rim and use a quality mounting bar then the job should be easy once you get the drill down. In any event, if you are forcing things and/or have to swear at the equipment then stop because that is not part and parcel to a home tire change... something is wrong. With the right equipment and a little practice it should be a pretty easy task.

[Albert]

That pictorial is similar to what I was thinking only the one I saw used the HF bar to remount the tire. I recall using this twice last year and it wasn't all that bad. Yes Mitch's bar and others like it are certainly going to streamline the process but I don't think that was it. I think I simply had the bar aligned wrong or was using an incorrect technique. Thanks for the replies.