DIY tire mounting?

[Dr.Rock]

Alright so I was in Harbor Freight tools yesterday and I see a bead breaker in there. see link here (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92961) I've mounted car tires before and that is not something I would ever consider doing without the proper tooling, but does anyone out there mount their own atv tires? A dealer around here said $35 PER TIRE to mount tires (it was a guess, the service dept. was closed)

[deathman53]

I mount my own tires and remove them. I have for almost 6 years. You need a bead breaker, 3- 18" tire irons(large screwdrivers will work too) and a somekind of soap(I use dish soap). It not real hard, after the first few, you get good at it.

[miller821]

We have this one, and it works pretty good... Haven't tried on atv wheels, but truck and car works great.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=34542

[ccdhowell]

I change most of mine, can't to Holeshot HDs, they're too stiff, but most of the others aren't a problem.

You don't need the bead breaker. I break my beads by running over it with my truck. Position the atv wheel so that the truck tire will just miss the wheel and roll over the tire, and drive over it. This will push the bead down on that area of the wheel. Back up off the tire, rotate the atv wheel around about a quarter turn and run over it again. Repeat until the bead is broken, turn it over and repeat. I will warn that if you do this on a concrete drive way that the wheel will get scratched. Dirt doesn't work as well because the wheel sinks into the ground. What I do is take an old welcome mat and set the atv wheel on it to prevent all the sctraching. Sometimes the truck pushes the atv wheel, just reposition it, maybe stand on the atv wheel and someone drives up on it. Practice makes perfect, it doesn't take me long at all to break beads this way and it's free.

[Dr.Rock]

Nice, thanks for the replies guys. It looks like that $50HF tire changer would pay for itself in no time.

Originally posted by ccdhowell
I change most of mine, can't to Holeshot HDs, they're too stiff, but most of the others aren't a problem.

You don't need the bead breaker. I break my beads by running over it with my truck. Position the atv wheel so that the truck tire will just miss the wheel and roll over the tire, and drive over it. This will push the bead down on that area of the wheel. Back up off the tire, rotate the atv wheel around about a quarter turn and run over it again. Repeat until the bead is broken, turn it over and repeat. I will warn that if you do this on a concrete drive way that the wheel will get scratched. Dirt doesn't work as well because the wheel sinks into the ground. What I do is take an old welcome mat and set the atv wheel on it to prevent all the sctraching. Sometimes the truck pushes the atv wheel, just reposition it, maybe stand on the atv wheel and someone drives up on it. Practice makes perfect, it doesn't take me long at all to break beads this way and it's free.
I remember seeing an article about this in 4 Wheel and Off-road or similar mag for doing this with truck and SUV tires on the trail. Should work the same, but its not always convenient running over tires. The $20 would probably be worth it.

[mc_racer]

I haven't had very good luck with that changer. The design is fine, but the quality sucks. I use one of these types to break the bead
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_ATV-Parts-Accessories__CMP-ATV-Tire-Bead-Breaker-BRP-Honda-Polaris-Yamaha_W0QQitemZ150310888610QQadiZ2869QQadnZATVQ20 PartsQ20Q26Q20AccessoriesQQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors _ATV_Parts_Accessories?hash=item150310888610&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A543%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
and a pair of tire irons or prybars. On a really tough tire, I use a few pairs of vise grips as extra hands.

[22LTR450]

Some Walmart's will change them for I think $5 bucks per tire. Thats what I paid for mine.

[deathman53]

Some guys in 3ww, got tires changed at walmart and they ended up bending the rim and others had them mess up the rims badly. Just a word of caution. Unfortunity the rims that were bent and badly damaged were 86 350x rims(scalloped center and discontinued for over 10 years). They weren't happy at all. I had tires changed at a gas station by me, they damaged my rims also, thankfully those were 85-87 250r rims(dime a dozen), I wasn't too upset.

[Dr.Rock]

Yeah, If I'm not paying a shop with some one who "specializes" in ATV tires and wheels, I would rather do it myself.

[22LTR450]

Are you talking about cycle stop in henrietta? I had them do my streetbike tire and it was $35. They did a good job, no scratches or anything.

i can't believe how much people charge for tire changes...my local honda shop charged me a whopping $7 a tire as did a local tire shop...the local walmart does it for a$5 a tire...i have also changed them myself

[04TRX400EX]

How much easier does a beadlock wheel make it? I was thinking about getting one set of Hipers to act as my trail wheels and sand wheels thinking I could change the tires myself, or am I way off base?

[mc_racer]

Much easier with beadlocks, for the rears you won't need to break the bead, but on the front you will still need to break the inner bead.

[NacsMXer]

Originally posted by 04TRX400EX
How much easier does a beadlock wheel make it? I was thinking about getting one set of Hipers to act as my trail wheels and sand wheels thinking I could change the tires myself, or am I way off base?

If you get the dual beadlock Hipers, it's the easiest thing ever to mount/dismount your tires. Like no tools necessary other than to tighten the beadlock bolts. The first set of tires, I mounted in my bedroom lol it was that clean and easy!

[Dr.Rock]

It was actually Hollink I had talked to. Didn't get a price from Cycle Stop.



Originally posted by 22LTR450
Are you talking about cycle stop in henrietta? I had them do my streetbike tire and it was $35. They did a good job, no scratches or anything.

[04TRX400EX]

Originally posted by NacsMXer
If you get the dual beadlock Hipers, it's the easiest thing ever to mount/dismount your tires. Like no tools necessary other than to tighten the beadlock bolts. The first set of tires, I mounted in my bedroom lol it was that clean and easy!

But if you just go with single beadlock fronts and rears is it still pretty easy to seat the inner bead or is it going to be a pain involving tire irons and bead breakers?

[mc_racer]

Seating the bead is easy, just air the tire up. It's breaking the bead that is the difficult part.
If I were you, I'd get a old tire and wheel and practice, you'll figure it out easy enough.