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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Tyre fitting equipment?

Does anyone know if it's possible to get hold of equipment to fit tyres manually (the powered versions being serious money)? I'm sure I've seen such stuff in the past (the local scrap yard seems to have a basic tool that does the job).

I'm fed up with being fleeced £10- £20 a wheel when stripping down wheels to paint, or fitting junk tyres to slave wheels to shove a stored car about the shed on.
Paul MkIMkIV

Hi Paul,
For that sort of swapping around of old tyres I just use a couple of standard tyre levers and heavy boots!

I thought that Machine Mart sold the basic tyre fitters' stands but cannot now see them on their web site.

Guy
Guy Weller

Paul,

http://www.uktools.com/product_info.php/sealey-tc960-tyre-changer-manual-p-3924

http://www.tooled-up.com/artwork/ProdPDF/SEAINStc960.pdf

At about £60. Buy one and then I can borrow it!

Guy
Guy Weller

Paul, that looks like the same unit as sold by Harbor Freight over here. I bought one last year for the same reasons, tired of spending so much money to get tires mounted. You'll need to bolt it down to a good concrete base, as you can put a lot of torque on it with that bar. Otherwise it works pretty well. I did have some problems with the bar contacting the wheel on my alloys and leaving a bit of paint and a small scratch there, but that could have been avoided if I'd been paying more attention. I broke down 6 mounted tires and remounted 8 in about 2 hours time and I did take a break or two at that. It will also help if you have a couple of tire spoons to use along with the unit, especially when trying to get a tire started off the rim for removal. I recommend one flat or curved spoon and one with a dropped center such as the ones shown in the drawing.


Bill Young

Paul, another bit of info. You're effort shouldn't be nearly as difficult as mine as I was mounting 205 R 13s on 7" alloys and some race slicks with really heavy sidewall construction. For tires and wheels in the usual range for a Spridget or other car the process is much simpler.


Bill Young

I used to have to fit tyres I bought from my brother's garage myself. They were agreeably cheap. All fitting done using a tyre-lever with the wheel on the ground.

I am sure I have the mechanics a load of entertainment in the process... (!)

A
Anthony Cutler

At that price, I might buy one myself. It would pay for itself in no time.
Dave O'Neill 2

Hi Paul,
An Ozy company called Tyre-Pliers makes a kit available from 4X4 dealers! It is a nice easy eay of getting the rubber off of rims.

Best Regards,

Howie
Howard Wright

UKtools price is £76.30 including VAT & carriage.

justoffbase.co.uk price is £67.16 incl. VAT & free shipping.
Dave O'Neill 2

Bill

According to the Sealey website, you need the following accessory for use with alloy wheels...

http://tinyurl.com/ycnwhe3
Dave O'Neill 2

One note; I believe that this red one is not suitable for use with steel Rostyle wheels as the the centre post diameter is to large.
I was going to buy one last year as I had 10 wheels to repaint, but when I enquired the post would not fit throught the centre hole in std rostyles. IIRC the hole is 1 1/4" and the post is 1 1/2 dia.
Should be fine with most alloys though.
Ian
Ian Webb '73 GAN5

Thanks all, the Sealey thing looks as if it fits the bill, probably not worth making one at that price either, I should think a bit of modification of the centre post will accommodate a rostyle wheel.

The alloy wheel accessory is pricey though. I found another website where a user said he'd managed to keep his alloys scratch free with the standard machine, which is more than one tyre fitting outfit managed with a set of mine.

Guy, you're welcome, I'll let you know if I sort one out, I've got some winter tyres to fit, I need to get to the tarn to skate and get to work (in that order).
Paul (MkI

Paul, what do you plan for balancing the assemblies once you have them mounted? I used a simple bubble balancer with good results and will be more than happy to share the "tricks" of bubble balancing that the guys taught me back in the 50s when bubble balancing was about all that was used if you e-mail me off the board. Same goes for anyone else as well.


Bill Young

Bill, I was thinking of getting them balanced by the tyre place, although the slave wheels obviously don't need balancing at all. Having said that the "professionals" failed to get mine right on several occasions.

I borrowed and used one of those bubble balancers many years ago with some help, it worked perfectly well, I'll Email you.
Paul (MkI

Last year I needed to swap some tyres from one set of alloys (Metro no midget) to another, so removing 8 and fitting 4. After getting silly quotes I decided to make my own equipment. All made from scrap from the garage. A bit of flat plate, an old rear hub and drum, bit of stout pipe and a lump of 1" or so thick bar. Oh and the old rusty stand we used to put the Christmas tree in....
As they were alloys I also covered the ends of the bar with section from a thick nylon ( well slippery plastic of some sort) chopping board.
Once I got the technique down it was very efficient, although there were a few areas that got redesigned as I went along.
The worst part is breaking the bead (for which I made another device), that alone probably accounted for 50% of the time spent removing each tyre.

I will try and take some pics if anyone is interested.

As for balancing .... I didn't bother, and I have had no problems at speeds up to the national limit (+ a bit ;-)
G Hawkins

Well I probably should have made my own but at £49.00 delivered the Sealey is pretty good value. There's a bit of a technique to it and the bead breaker was not up to the job of getting the tyres off some of the alloys and needed some reinforcement welding on. The Frogeye wheels were simple to do, the rostyles were about a millimetre off fitting the machine a quick file sorted that. Re-fitting tyres seems easy.

All off at the shotblasters now, anyone seen an alloy as in the (blurry) photo before? Might put them back on the MkIV, they never looked right on a Frog.
Paul (MkI

£49? Where from?

BTW there doesn't appear to be a blurry photo.

ISTR that they quote 13" as being the smallest wheel size that they will accommodate. My trailer has 10" Mini rims which I need to swap some tyres on.
Dave O'Neill 2

Memory failure, it was £52 when I checked! Flea Bay, loads at around £55 as well.
Photo hasn't loaded, will try again when home.
I can't see why a 10" wheel wouldn't fit, I was sure they said it would accomodate wheelbarrow tyres, can check that later as well.
Paul MkIMkIV

If you're near Carlisle - let me know, and I'll see if I can persuade one of my friends to do it for free whenever you want! Mind you - he is a farmer - so ...!

I'm dead lucky - the lads at my local Central Tyre do it for me for free. The woman's touch perhaps????

Otherwise, could you stand it on bricks?
rachmacb

I couldn't get Rostyles to fit!

Max "For Sale: Sealey tyre changer, one careful owner" Tyler
(with acknowledgements to David "everyone's stealing my signature" Lieb)
Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com

Paul, when breaking the bead try applying a mix of washing up liquid and water (about a 50-50 mix) around the edge of the bead and the rim before you start. Once you move the bead a bit that will begin to soak in and lubricate the bead against the rim and should make it a bit easier. I use the same lubricant when mounting the tyres as well.
Bill Young

This thread was discussed between 11/01/2010 and 26/01/2010

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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