How to modify a Harbor Freight Tire Changer to work amazing!!! Follow this DIY guide!! 

Watch the follow up video here!! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-r1ncuxGHcIc.htmlsi=P_qW-Tq3UXcR3scR

I'm totally saving this video for when I buy one of those tire changers! People like you keep the world turning! 👍🏽

Handy tip: Before you attempt mounting a tire, soap or lube the bead. It makes things so much easier.

She is a good sport!!! My wife would go back in the house.

As a person who also likes to do everything themselves, I own this exact tire changer. I've had mine for about 4 years now. I've always used it as is, without any modifications other than using towels to prevent damaging the wheel. It does work but it is definitely a pain to use. Especially since the towels always slip or get caught up and you have to keep readjusting. I've saved a lot of money by using this tire changer but it has cost me a lot of time. After all the hours I've spent struggling with this thing, I now know what I'm doing this weekend! Your modification is pure genius. It's definitely going to continue to save me money and now time as well. Thanks!

Well done !!!! With these mods , you inspire us to take a device that is mediocre at best and make it much , much better !!! You explained why you wanted to do these mountings yourself and then went ahead and accomplished mounting all four tires !!! This is exactly why I enjoy your approach. You inspire !!! Thanks !!!

Great video. I used to do a lot of tire changes at the golf course where I worked. I worked for a county government and our main mechanic shop was always swamped with work. We almost never got the same tire/wheel that we sent out, so the golf section got their own tire changers. My friend worked at Vehicle Maintenance and one day, he was inflating a small tire. He had it on a bench and he was talking with another mechanic. The tire/rim exploded and took off the top half of his head. It took them months to find all of the flesh, bone and brains and clean and reopen the shop. They make a cage to put the tire in or you could make one. I would highly recommend it. I still remember being told the story by the guy who was talking to him when that happened. They guy who was killed had owned a service station, retired, and got a job with the county. He didn't need the job and it was tragic the way he died. I hope you take my advice and start using a cage. Ever since that happened, I never stand in front of the wheel when I inflate it on my vehicle. There is more power in compressed air than you'd think. Laugh and call me names if you want, but I'm talking to all of you. You don't want your family having to deal with that.

Our welder was doing the same thing until I lubed up the spool holder, ours was binding up and now the welder works beautifully. Thanks for taking the time to show us the extras need to make this thing work better.

Boy that's one pretty Tire Changer! I especially like the braded hair. I need to get me one of those!

That was pretty cool esp with your modifications that probably made it work about 100 times better using that standard duck head part. A little slower than a nice modern tire changer machine,but totally practical for a home garage. Ingenious

I appreciate you both and find you entertaining and informative. Today I learned I'm going to keep tossing money to the tire store.

Love the old truck and information that those of us who aren't able to figure out on our own for any reason to have available

Hey Boss. The wire sticking in your MIG torch can be from several things. It can be: 1.) The copper tip of the torch has melted and the wire is sticking in the outfeed hole. Replace with a new tip. 2.) The wire feed wheel is not clamped tight enough onto the wire as it feeds. 3.) The wire feed rollers are dirty. The wire that feeds through has left impurities and causes it to be slick. Spray some brake cleaner/carb cleaner on the wheels and wipe off. 4.) Last and most costly is that the liner for the wire to the torch is worn or dirty and needs to be replaced. Hope this helps.

Good job! You made a cheap tool functional. The fact that it didn't damage the paint on the wheel is impressive.

I scrapped my harbor freight tire changer. I wish I would have seen this video before. Great job! Harbor freight should make them like this to begin with.

I been meaning to do this on my Northern Tool tire changer the past couple years but money was tight and never was sure on what parts to get, your links are a big help...... I really like your wife's answer when you ask her what she needed to mount the tire, she said "hammer", that was hilarious made me laugh 🤣🤣good video thanks for posting......

Little tip for mounting tires. You can use Gojo, and a cotton brush to lube the wheel. And some shops use just plain old Dawn dish washing soap, without water and sometimes a small amount of water. It’s hard to explain what the cotton brush looks like, but it’s like a larger version of the brush you see in PVC glue for welding PVC. I’ve seen some just make a brush out of a coat hanger twisted around a couple of old shop rags. I always just used Gojo, as the tire lube. Another little trick is to mount a peddle valve to the base of your tire mounting machine that allows you to use your foot, to inflate the tire while lifting the tire up with your hands.

Love the comment to Jess it ain’t oil for your taint. I almost croaked when you said that. She a great gal with a great sense of humor. Trust me buddy she had a better idea for that bar than putting that tire on. Content of your channel is entertaining Mad Ginger. Thanks for sharing your struggles😂😂 with us. 👍👍🇨🇦

Great job on the mods! The proper alignment of the duckhead is 1/8" above the rim and 1/8" clearance at the head and tail. It's also designed to move head first. In your design, you should rotate clockwise around the rim for a more effective job. Especially when you have stiffer sidewalls. Lube is your friend!! Use more soap percentage than water. Lube both beads before installing so you can wipe excess water from inside. The excess causes balance problems. Use caution when leaning over the center pipe in case you slip so you don't injure yourself. Never exceed 45psi when seating the bead for safety reasons! 💣🦺

Looks like you're modified changer is working like they should !!!!! Great job 👍

I really liked your modifications to the tire changer. That is something that I will need to do to my HF tire changer. I took the bead breaker off of the side and cut some square tubing (it's what i had at the time) and welded the 2 flat fins on it so that i could use the bead breaker on top. I'm old with some back problems so it is much easier to use it standing up instead of being stooped over and trying to maneuver the tire around. I did however need to slip a piece of flat bar in the top to keep it from slipping up over the center spindle. Just an idea. 👍👍

My dad has had one of these for over 30 years and it's still going strong. The only mod he has is making the bead breaker stronger. I'll have to make this modification for him. Thanks for the video!

For the bead break I would use bolts as you suggested. You could also weld a steel spacer inside. Great ideas and craftsmanship. Keep up the great work.

Casually found this video while looking for something else, and found it engaging enough to subscribe. Good ol' fashioned common sense, DIY ingenuity, garage engineering, and git'r'dun attitude. How could I not?

I’ve never taken the valve stem out, I just use a ratchet strap, and, put it around the tire, and, tighten it up until the beads on both sides are tight, then shoot some air to it, then I release the strap, and,air it up to the suggested pressure. Works like a charm!!

I bought my changer about 20 years ago and countless tires later using the tool that came with it and tire spoon. This is a slick set up. Thanks for sharing!

Dude. I’m freaking impressed. I’ve seen other videos on modifying the Harbor Freight tire changer. And I wasn’t impressed. You impressed me great ingenuity. The only thing I’d change is the pin to lock the tire in place. I took mine out and use a bolt and nut.

Glad that I found your video! 😉😋

The red rims with the trim ring and center cap are classic. That will look great!

I think it's an excellent idea what you've modified. I am watching it right now and I think you're doing a wonderful job. Keep up the good work the modifications look like they're really going to work out well

Good job. We bought one and modified it like you said. Works great. Even better after getting used to it.

I love the parts where you are like, "Oh damn, jeez that actually works!" Great video, you do an excellent job of explaining your motives, methods and your hands on testing really shows the newbies how to put your plans into action. Nicely done, and the magicians assistant helping at the end is just icing on the backyard DIY Tire changer. Looks like I'm goin' to Harbor Freight.

You did a fantastic job explaining the modifications for the HF tire changer and demonstrating how it works, excellent video, thnk you.

I have that whole set up. I'm glad I did. Absolutely love it. The balancer works great. Save so so much money on tires getting them online.

Do yourself a favor and get a super strong magnet to put on the tire changer to hold that stupid bead breaker up while you reposition the wheel

I have gone through 2 of those changers myself, I had to make some mods as well but I'm loving yours. Thanks for all the new fabrication ideas

I came back to watch this again. I been working my tire machine since i first watched this. I'll bet a dollar it;s way more fun with a Jess to help out. LOl my harbor freight i cobbled together now of course, just from torque. but it;s still working! also, bubble balancers are not inferior. you just have to know whats up and take your time, double check. they can be exact. You can have a beer when you are waiting! it;s fun, lol

I have one of these changers. It never worked well. Now I know how to fix it. Thanks!

I’ve been looking for this particular video for years since I bought my tire changer. I’m going to do what you did to mine and finally get it back out of storage and to good use again!

I guess this has been out for a while but I just saw it. I have wrapped a ratchet strap around the tire on the treads and tightened it to spread the beads against the rim to inflate the tire . I enjoy seeing ‘cheap’ tools modified to perform much better! Please keep up the great work.

I had a Coats manual tire machine for many years. Always hated using the bar to remove or set the tire on the wheel. Your modification is a stroke of genius. Subbed and liked.

Spray bottle of dawn dish soap, lube the edges of the tire before seating it works wonders.

This is so awesome!!! thank you for the idea. I've been thinking about buying a tire changer. I never knew there were manual options. and the modifications look doable! Again, awesome job! thank you!

Very nice work on the mods !!! Works good !!! I used to do my own tires cause I lived 30 miles from nowhere - now I'm in another state & live about 8 miles from a family owned tire shop. I take mine to them now.

Great job with the mod. I will be making the same. I had my HF changer for years and wasn't impressed. This is a whole new ball game. Earned a sub!

Nice work! Love this little tire changer super cool thanks for showing us the mods.

I love the F100's you have. I've had 3 different 1965 F100's back in the 1980s.

Awesome video. Yes, it's got to a point that I need this manual system for my 6 cars.

Great upgrade

A suggestion to help preventing the bar/ pipe used for rotating the duck head module from slipping off during use, would be: to attach a piece of flat bar or rod that's hook shaped to the end of the rotation bar, cupping around the vertical pipe section of the duck head module. There's a coloured dot on new tyres, it is positioned with the valve stem.

Give us a Subscribe if you think this would help you out!!!

It really helps if you take the valve stem out. You might have done that I couldn't tell. Great video.

Did good, enjoyed your video. Nice Ford trucks , brought back good memories from my childhood on the farm!

Awesome mod to make a so-so unit, something that is truly user friendly! Nice work!

Great job on upgrading the tire changer it works well and thanks for sharing Jess is awesome cya on next one 👍👍

Great job modifying that tool

This is exactly what I was thinking on making for my hft one. But didnt know how to make the arm thing. Thanks alot

I bought a tire mounter from HF and was wondering how well it would work. Thanks to you and your video it’s looking like a good investment. Nice job!

Another note. The claw that is supposed to hold the rim to the changer. I just cut a tire sidewall into two pieces and put it between the wheel and the claw. It will prevent the claw from damaging the wheel and will hold it secure while still using the pin that came with the changer.

I enjoyed your video. I understand changing tires as I worked for a Tire shop when I was younger. I have the same tire changer already. I intend to purchase the need axtra items and build the duckbill adapter. Thank you for the info and instruction. Jess did a great job.

I learned to drive in a food just like your green one and I have one of those tire changers I've never used the pile but now I might use it thanks for the upgrade

Yeah I got the same set up from Amazon with bubble balancer I just cut a old nylon cutting board to make pieces that slide along the edge of the rim works awesome.

That was a heck of a good modification! Great job!

Awesome mods. I've had one of those for 20 years and wish I had seen this years ago!!!

Fixn to buy this right now. Thanks for the ideas! Awesomeness!!!!

The first old tire that you demostrated breaking the bead on had an interesting tread pattern. One I'd never seen before.

Fantastic! I put one of these changers in my garage and it is a monster to get larger tires on and off! In fact my brother in law had a pickup that we were going to change the tires and we couldn’t do it (we’re in our late 60’s here). So, I’m definitely going to make your duck head fixture for it! Thanks for the idea!

Thank you for giving us all the material we need to Make this thing

Great video! I have had the HFT tire changer for quite awhile now but never used it. 100% going to do your modifications to it and finally start using it. Thanks so much for sharing this. I too like doing things myself and the knowledge is way better than asking someone to do it for you

Love the mods to the tire changer. I've used nothing but 'soapy wooder' to put the tires on the rims. You'll get good enough to 'throw' the tire on the rim for one side. I also loved the 'Safety Shoes" at the beginning of the clip. In my 30 years of Marriage my wife has never come to help me in the shop. Her idea of 'helping' is to hit panic button on the truck when I am laying under it changing the oil. Keep up the vids..

I will want to build this, thanks for posting your idea.

Boom! Lol, didn't notice that the first time I watched this hahaha, nice touch!!

I will build this! The whole thing, I guess. Save the duck head. 👍

You should have had her pull on the bar instead of pushing, if the bar slips she is going to go face first into the ground or the changer. Also with the soft pliable sidewalls of the new radial tires you can just about push them on to the rims, or at least next time grab hold of the tire and spin it around and on to the rim. If you go and get a bubble balancer try splitting the weight into 2 small ones and spilt the difference, instead of a 2 oz weight in one spot use 2 -1 oz. ,one on the front and one on the backside of the rim. It worked very well in the 60's when I was young.

I love it. I may have to build one for mine. I did buy a No-Mar tire bar to use with mine, but looks a lot easier to use and way cheaper the tire bar was.

She did a good job.

I want to thank you for the video it was very I bought one at harbor freight today you did a really good job thank you for helping us all out😊

8:00 Strongly suggest pushing the tire bead down into the inner section of the rim, to allow the section you are forcing over the rim, to have as much freedom to stretch as possible, which will also save tearing the bead as you work. That's why all rims, have a middle section MUCH SMALLER than the main rim edges. Long time ago, I learnt that simple trick when changing bicycle & motorcycle tires, (with a couple of tire levers (or screwdrivers) as there was no way to rip the bead over the rim, without moving the rest of the bead, into the inner rim concave area. When I saw you doing the initial removal, it was extremely difficult as the bead was NOT in the inner (looser) area, but close to the main bead rim, hence why it seemed tight at first. Oh that and the fact that you pulled it the WRONG WAY with the red bar. You lifted the bead up above the duckbill with the silver bar this side, which meant the duckbill would have kept lifting the bead if you had placed the red bar THIS SIDE of the center and pulled the wheel around the other way. Talk about making things hard on yourself Trev. Yes it will eventually rip the bead up & over the wrong way around, with the rest of the bead HIGH up on the rim's inner surfaces. It would have been far easier, with the red bar on this side "pulling", allowing the duckbill to do the lifting, with the entire tire (halfway) down at the middle of the rim, allowing the bead to slip up & over correctly. Try it next time and wonder why you didn't read the instructions - eh?

The pop sound that you were looking for, only happens when you have modern safety rims! The 'safety bead' was developed in the late 50s and adopted as an SAE design in the early 60s, but wasn't 'required' until the late 70s, although it was adopted by pretty much every manufacturer by the late 60s.

Nice fab job! Well thought out. Classy shop help too! Thanks.

I'm impressed I've been in been a mechanic for 35 years and almost looks like you know what you're doing good job.

That really does work well, I may build that

I honestly didn’t think I would enjoy this video as much as I did. However I found your Positive-Every-Day-Joe type personality most infectious. Your explanation of what you were doing and why was spot on. Your comic relief busted my gut on more than one occasion lol ! I could relate to, and hang with someone like you for hours messing around on crap in & around the barn. Problem is we probably would spend more time laughing and goofing off than actually getting anything productive accomplished.🤣😂 Great job man… thanks for the video. One more subscriber your way. 😎👍

You are becoming a bona fide professional Emmanuel tire replacer

I absolute love this informative video two thumbs to you and your beautiful Jess. You are a excellent instructor. Thank You

Yes I just bought one of these and tried it out and of course the bead breaker bent. And the giant rod they give the end was welded so poorly it's stuck a piece of metal in my hand. Then when I put the tire back on I could get it 3/4 of the way on but they made the stupid end of the rod wrong and it couldn't do it the whole way. So I had to use my motorcycle levers for motorcycle tires to get it on the rest of the way. I see you basically redesigned the whole stupid piece of crap. A work of genius by you but really, all that work to make a piece of crap work somewhat. You might as well have redesigned the whole thing yourself

The duckhead is a game changer. I catch myself telling old geezer stories lately. Back in the day when you bought a set of tires, the mounting and balancing was an extra 4 or 5 bucks a tire. These days, 20 bucks a tire is common. 30 or 40 bucks a tire is not rare. The machine pays for itself the first time you use it pretty much. Plus, you can do your tire work on your schedule.

Tack för dina videos, det är jag tacksam för.

had one of these and the balancer for years , from yes Princess auto i'm in Nova Scotia ...works ok but going to try out your mod's Thanks man good video

Mad Ginger Customs.. Just found your channel, new sub here. Nice modification to the manual tire changer. Now Harbor Freight needs to pay $$$ you for the design and have it in store to sell it as an upgrade to the tire changer and also start selling the new tire changers with it and charge a little extra for it.

Another Brother of the grease nipple. I just found your channel while cruising the tube. Great mods to the HF tire changer, im betting that every one of us who has bought and used one over the years has gone up against the same issues That you have made corrections for. Nice work. I subscribed and will be following, as Red Green said, " were all in this together, and if she dont find you handsome, she will find you handy. All the best from B.C. Canada. Al

Dude!!!! I got a hobo fright tire balancer for Christmas and haven’t messed with it until today! I saw your video a while back and watched it again today. I used a nice sharp 1/4” drill bit and drilled a little and tested over and over until the balancer wobbles almost forever! I have a set of old 5 slot aluminum mags so I can mount tires and balance and save a bunch of $$$$$! Thanks for your great balancer hack!!!!

Excellent mod ! I bought the HF tire changer 5 years ago to mount 165/70-10 tires on alloy rims (that's not a typo... tiny tires). I had difficulty seating the second bead. The next time I install tires I will modify my changer as you illustrated. Great job !

Very nice mod! Looks like it worked out great. On our welder its most likely the liner in the cable for the gun that is causing your feed issues.

Elegant design overall. I think it would benefit from the handles you mentioned. I have the basic tire changer and some tires are just a bear to mount and dismount. Your mods would help a lot I think.

Nice modification, you made it look pretty easy. Good video!

Worked pretty good! I've been using the stock setup for years with no problem but I didn't care about scratching old steel wheels. Good job. Maybe I will make the same modifications.

I really like your mods and it worked perfectly! The only suggestion I would make is to weld a piece of small round stock on the end of the tightening bolts (to make them T bolts) so you wouldn't have to use a wrench to tighten them. Good job big guy!

Good job! and when you have your own equipment YOUR tire store is always open. No covid appointments needed. Weld some rod on top of your lockbolts so you can tighten bolt by hand (1 less tool to go find). I use a ratchet strap to help seat the bead on new and old tires. Again, great job.

Great idea boss that makes it a lot better then it is when you buy it