manual tire changing

[SIZZSAM]

i just bought a portable tire changer with a motorcycle attachment from harbor freight and wonder if anyone has had experience using one with the xs1100 tires. i was wondering about any problems i might encounter. i will worry about balancing them once i get them mounted.

[81xsproject]

There was a great thread just recently by maximan about tire removal/mounting/balancing.

[81xsproject]

HERE you go

[SIZZSAM]

TIRE CHANGING

THANK YOU FOR THE HELP. THE STATIC BALANCER SEEMS LIKE A GOOD ONE. I'LL HAVE TO SEND MAXIMAN AN EMAIL ABOUT THE HARBOR FREIGHT TIRE CHANGER. I'M NOT SURE IF IT WILL HANDLE THE 19" FRONT TIRE. IT DOESN'T SEEM TO FIT OR I HAVEN'T READ ALL THE DIRECTIONS ENOUGH TIMES. WOULD YOU KNOW IF THE BRAKE DISCS HAVE TO COME OFF TO CHANGE THE TIRES. I KNOW I READ WHERE YOU BALANCE THE WHEEL WITH THE DISCS ON. THANKS FOR THE HELP. I'M STILL WORKING ON IT WITH THE SPECIAL HANGING FROM THE RAFTERS.

[Dragonrider]

Brake disks don't have to come off.

The 19" will fit. Mine had the clamps mounted backwards from Harbor freight and I had to do some reconfiguring before it would do the job.

[SIZZSAM]

TIRE CHANGER

THANKS FOR THE REPLY. I TRY TO FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS WHEN I'M PUTTING THINGS TOGETHER BUT THAT DOESN'T WORK ALL THE TIME. I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO BREAK THE BEAD ONCE I HAD THE MOTORCYCLE ATTACHMENT INSTALLED WITH THE RIM IN PLACE. I FINALLY FIGURED THAT YOU DO THAT WITH THE RIM ON THE FLOOR. THE BEAD BROKE PRETTY EASY WITH SOME WELDING VICE GRIPS I HAD HANDY. I GOT THE FRONT TIRE OFF AND ORDERED SOME DUNLOP GT 501'S THIS MORNING. I MIGHT DO THE REAR TOMORROW. ONE THING I CAN'T FIND IS RUBBER LUBRICANT. ONE ARTICLE SAID NOT TO USE DISH WASHING DETERGENT AS IT WOULD MAKE THE TIRE SLIP. WHAT'S YOUR THOUGHT ON THAT? ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED.
SAM

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Sizzsam,

Welcome to the Forum. We had a recent discussion in the Member's Forum about things that bother "us". One of the items was regarding messages in ALL CAPS. According to "Netiquette", it's considered SHOUTING, and is generally frowned upon!

However, we also discussed the fact that many folks don't have the best typing skills, find it hard to hit the SHIFT key for Capital Letters, or just forget to turn off the Shift Lock! Just an FYI, we'll continue to assist you no matter how you reply!

As for the tire mounting lubricant, plain water doesn't stick to rubber very well, too much surface tension. So....a few drops of DAWN in a cup or so of water can be enough to help break the tension and provide a touch of lubricant for mounting without being so dense as to NOT evaporate or leave too thick a residue to interfere with the bead contact of tire and rim! I had some of this "miracle green" cleaner that is sold door to door, is biodegrable, can even drink it, etc., it's mixed in a very low concentration, so that's what I used on mine!

I recently changed my front tire manually, just using tire irons, took lots of photos, was going to make a tech tip, but the web sites "TechTip" photo storage has apparently reached capacity!?
You can remove and replace the tire/wheel WITHOUT removing the calipers...at least on a special, provided you deflate the tire first, takes a little squeezing, but it will squeeze thru with a little muscle.

One of the tricks to mounting the tire back on the rim is positioning the opposite end of the tire down into the groove in the middle of the rim instead of up on the bead edge, this actually gives you more slack to pry the remaining amount of tire around the rim edge!
T.C.

[COOL TOM]

Tire Lube

Go to any good tire store, take a baby food jar with you (or some small container that will seal) and ask if you can buy some tire lube. Mine just gave me some. Get a small paint brush a 1/2 or 1in brush works good. Was getting ready to buy one of those Harbor Frieght tire changer myself so let us know how it works.

Tom

82 XJ DAILY RIDE
78 XS1100E FIXING UP
79 XS1100F PARTS BIKE
82 XJ IN THE ROUGH

[SIZZSAM]

tire changing

thanks topcat for the heads up on the caps. i'm really not that kind of guy that raises his voice, maybe in traffic sometimes. the information about the dawn is good. i read so many different things. when i took the tire off there was slime inside so it came off pretty easy. evidently the previous owner had a slow leak. the tires had good tread and i didn't do a close inspection as they were dry rotted and had old dot numbers. would you happen to know of a good way to support an xs11 that has 4into 1 exhaust? i bought a motorcycle jack but couldn't find enough frame to slide under as the exhaust get in the way. i ended up with part of the jack under the headers (they had been used before as they were not quite round) and a com a long tied to the rafter of my basement. are the "thruster" stands good for this purpose? there has to be a better way. thanks for your help.

[SIZZSAM]

tire changing

thanks Tom. That's a good idea. I know of a tire place not too far from home that may help me out. It's going to be a good ride with the new tires.
Would you happen to know if the windjammer iv that came on my 80 sg would fit on my 78 e. The e is more of a touring bike and the special needs to be naked for effect. I would know the answer but haven't had either bikes that long. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Geezer]

I've used tire-changing machines but I never warmed up to them. Maybe I'm just old fashioned but I still change tires by hand with tire irons. The hard part is breaking the bead loose to get the old tire off. For this the air powered bead breakers are the best part of the machine.

After I get the new tire on the rim, I haul it over to the nearest shop and pay to have it dynamically balanced. It's worth the few bucks per wheel to have it done.

Geezer

[MAXIMAN]

Sam

The Windjammer should fit fine.

Geezer

I use the machine to hold the tire/wheel in place and off the floor. I still use tire irons to remove the tire and mount a new one. But with the wheel secured in the machine it makes for less "wrestling". Also the machine HF sells has a good bead breaker.

[Geezer]

What I've always done is put and old tire down on the floor to keep the disks off the cement. Then I get down on my knees and work the tire on the floor. I've found most tire machines put the wheel at a bad height for me and it makes my back hurt more than working on the floor.

Can't beat those air powered bead breakers. When I get power in my garage for my welder, I'm going to weld up something to make that part of the job easier.

Geezer

[Pat Kelly]

I use my short handle 1 lb sledge hammer to break the bead on my tires. Hit the (deflated) tire, not the rim.
I used to be a tire-buster and have done thousands of motorhome tires. I found I could do them faster by hand than with the old Coates 40-40. I used to race the young guys and could usually beat them (it got them to pick-up the pace).
I just hated airing up those split rims.

[SIZZSAM]

tire changer

Thanks Geezer for the advice about the tire changing. My changer doesn't have air but I think once I get used to it I'll do o.k. Thanks also about the windjammer info. I went to the Vetter site but didn't get a concrete answer. I'll take it off the special and see how it goes. Would you know if the center stand will clear on Kerker 4into1 headers on my 78 e? It didn't have the center stand when I got it and the previous owner said it wasn't there when he bought it. I was looking around for one but I won't need it if it won't work. I was thinking about putting 4into2 exhaust back on as these Kerker headers are missing the baffles and is too loud for me. Guess I'm getting old. Thanks very much for your help.