I am getting ready to replace tires on my 10 FLHTK has anyone made a home made tire changer or at least a rim/tire holder to mount on bench to make it easier to dismount/mount tire?
thanks RB

 

Hopefully someone will call by and give you a direct answer soon, but my experience with tubeless tyres, early on after they were introduced, is that it easy to damage the tyre bead at home, so I take my wheels out and get my new tyres installed and balanced. A compromise, but it's quick and painless! I use my local Yamaha dealer and they had problems installing one new tyre for me and had to replace it, which I would never have been able to solve on my own. I just share that for what it's worth!

 

I could take it to a shop but what fun is there in that. I don't like to pay someone else for things that I can do. I also know that they usually don't put their best mechanic on tire changes but more likely the the shop boy when he's done sweeping the floor. The tires are a pretty important part of a motorcycle so I like to know it is done right.

 

Sounds like you might enjoy having a dedicated motorcycle tire changer, like my Cycle Hill, the "budget" model from NoMar. I got mine used for about half the price of a new one. I have no regrets, really like the thing. 7 bikes in the stable I bought used, and every one needed new tires (a 30 year old front tire? Gotta be crazy to ride on that!). If you figure the cost of taking a bike to a dealer, it's already paid for itself. Of course, if you don't already have them, you'd have to figure in the cost of a jack and air compressor...

I've seen grown men struggle, cuss, and skin their knuckles (yeah, I was one of them) using spoons. My grandkid thought it was fun popping the new tire over the rim with this (I started the tool in the tire first).



It's not just saving labor money; I know I won't scratch or dent a rim, know it's done right (especially if there's a tube involved), and while the tire is off, can use the changer as a secure holder while I change bearings and polish the wheel. And just feel good saying no one else (except the kid) has touched one of my Harleys while I owned it.

More pics of the kid having fun with my bikes and tools here:
https://www.hdforums.com/g/album/769489

 

I changed my rear tire using two $5 tire irons from Harbour Freight. It would have been easier with a third iron but two worked ok. It took me about 10 minutes to remove the old tire and about 10 minutes to put the new one with a tube on. I only have the one bike so hard to justify a changer although if you compare the fact that I saved about $200 on buying my tire online and changing my own then I could justify a changer on the second tire. Oh well I now have a set of irons or spoons whichever one you want to call them.

 

Even if you ever get a changer, you don't want to throw away the spoons, still come in handy sometimes; big fat tires are easy, it's the skinnies, like the 21" on my 1200C, that can be challenging, can need a little help to get the plastic tip of the demount bar between the tire and rim.

 

You could be right on the skinniest. Never had a skinny tire to deal with.

 

Thanks for the replies. I might look into a changer or just do it the old fashioned way since I'm OLD fashioned.
RB

 

To break the bead I use two 2x4's one about 8' long and the other about 12" long, put the short one down on the tire and use the longer one to wedge under my truck and pull down onto the short one.......very similar to how a real one works, but cheaper!! Break the bead in no time and then tire off using spoons and windex. Now ask me how I get the tire bead ON the rim......it's explosive!!