Harbor Freight style motorcycle adapter avail again?

[wiggydotcom]

When I had my first Valkyrie, I bought the two piece Harbor Freight tire changer. It's worked pretty well through the years.
Then it seemed that they did away with the top portion-the motorcycle adapter.

I was just on Ebay and saw an almost identical setup, listed as new, for starting bid of 169.90 for the whole set up. The auction had no bids with a few hours to go, so I'm guessing they could be had for about that price.

I have no affiliation but also don't want to violate our board rules unless VRCC staff oks that I post the link.

So, if you want one and can't find it, pm me and I'll send you the link.

UPDATE************ Stanley Steamer found the setup for WAY less than the above price at Harbor Freight.. He has links posted further down in this thread. Thank you, Stanley!

[Stanley Steamer]

I just looked at the Harbor Freight one yesterday at the HF in Athens.....can't remember what it cost, but the bottom part for the regular wheels/tires was $49.......I quickly YouTubed it up, and some guy was showing how he'd modified it slightly.......got me to thinking.....

[wiggydotcom]

I just looked at the Harbor Freight one yesterday at the HF in Athens.....can't remember what it cost, but the bottom part for the regular wheels/tires was $49.......I quickly YouTubed it up, and some guy was showing how he'd modified it slightly.......got me to thinking.....

Stanley, I can't remember what I paid for the two piece setup back in the day from HF. Forty nine bucks is a pretty good price for the bottom portion. I'm assuming it had the bead breaker as part of it?

[Stanley Steamer]

Yes....I think so......found it online here for $44.99......

http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-tire-changer-69686.html#.Ux0BVc6tySo



Here it is.......$39.99

http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-tire-changer-attachment-60810.html#.Ux0Brs6tySo

[Stanley Steamer]

On a slight tangent.......I noticed one of the tires on my landscape trailer was flat this morning..... .....thought maybe I'd picked up a nail or something and was prepared to plug it.....turns out, it was a bad valve stem....... .....Tractor Supply is 3/4's of a mile from my house, so a short trip down there, and I guessed the proper size stems and came home and took both tires off and used the home-made bead breaker I'd used on my moto tire a while back.....worked slick as snot.....put a little dish soap on the new stems, used my little multi-purpose valve core tool, and I was back in business.....hardest part was getting the lug nuts off.....I was too lazy to stretch an air hose out and did it Old School with a 4-way tire iron......

[wiggydotcom]

I'm not a big improviser on my own. It'd be pretty easy to fashion a bead breaker from a 2x4, but the one on the tire changer works pretty well. I also found the Mojo lever, for me at least, works better than the bar that comes with the tire changer...Previously, I had bought various spoons that only modestly helped. I also put the mojo blocks on my changer to keep the rims from getting scratched.

The only thing I haven't done yet is drill a hole in one of the arms and install the threaded stud with the hose over it to hold the rim and keep it from spinning. I apologize that the name of the person who thought of that has escaped me.

[wiggydotcom]

Yes....I think so......found it online here for $44.99......

http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-tire-changer-69686.html#.Ux0BVc6tySo



Here it is.......$39.99

http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-tire-changer-attachment-60810.html#.Ux0Brs6tySo

Good work, you found both items...and for WAY less than the one advertised on Ebay. 

[saddlesore]

I'm not a big improviser on my own. It'd be pretty easy to fashion a bead breaker from a 2x4, but the one on the tire changer works pretty well. I also found the Mojo lever, for me at least, works better than the bar that comes with the tire changer...Previously, I had bought various spoons that only modestly helped. I also put the mojo blocks on my changer to keep the rims from getting scratched.

The only thing I haven't done yet is drill a hole in one of the arms and install the threaded stud with the hose over it to hold the rim and keep it from spinning. I apologize that the name of the person who thought of that has escaped me.

Just a picture of what I did.  Both the upper and lower parts are well worth the price.  Saves my back.

[wiggydotcom]

I'm not a big improviser on my own. It'd be pretty easy to fashion a bead breaker from a 2x4, but the one on the tire changer works pretty well. I also found the Mojo lever, for me at least, works better than the bar that comes with the tire changer...Previously, I had bought various spoons that only modestly helped. I also put the mojo blocks on my changer to keep the rims from getting scratched.

The only thing I haven't done yet is drill a hole in one of the arms and install the threaded stud with the hose over it to hold the rim and keep it from spinning. I apologize that the name of the person who thought of that has escaped me.

Just a picture of what I did.  Both the upper and lower parts are well worth the price.  Saves my back.

saddlesore, it appears you were the one who came up with the idea that I was referring to. I haven't implemented it yet, but will when the weather warms up because I'll need a new front tire before Inzane!
Thanks for chiming in so I could give proper credit for an excellent enhancement to the setup!

[Gary]

Yup, I had just recently looked into the HF option myself having a tire due soon. I had got an HF coupon in the mail for the bottom portion for $37.99 and then online pulled up a 20% off coupon and used it for the motorcycle adapter (top piece) which brought the price for that down to $31.99.

Order placed today! 

Item                                                   Sku     Qty   Subtotal
Motorcycle Tire Changer Attachment    60810   1   $39.99
Portable Tire Changer                         69686   1   $44.99
Subtotal                                                             $84.98
Shipping & Handling                                              $6.99
Discount                                                           -$15.00
Tax                                                                      $5.63
Grand Total                                                         $82.60

From using the search here, it looks like there's at least another $100 plus that could be spent on a No-Mar tire tool. 

I think F6Banger had his set up for a quick pallet mount so I'm keeping my eye out for a small size pallet or other base mount option while the order is being processed/shipped.

[wiggydotcom]

Yup, I had just recently looked into the HF option myself having a tire due soon. I had got an HF coupon in the mail for the bottom portion for $37.99 and then online pulled up a 20% off coupon and used it for the motorcycle adapter (top piece) which brought the price for that down to $31.99.

Order placed today! 

Item                                                   Sku     Qty   Subtotal
Motorcycle Tire Changer Attachment    60810   1   $39.99
Portable Tire Changer                         69686   1   $44.99
Subtotal                                                             $84.98
Shipping & Handling                                              $6.99
Discount                                                           -$15.00
Tax                                                                      $5.63
Grand Total                                                         $82.60

From using the search here, it looks like there's at least another $100 plus that could be spent on a No-Mar tire tool. 

I think F6Banger had his set up for a quick pallet mount so I'm keeping my eye out for a small size pallet or other base mount option while the order is being processed/shipped.

Gary, I was lucky enough to have a Harbor Freight only 8 miles away from me when I bought mine several years ago. I just found out tonight that Harbor Freight just started offering the motorcycle adapter again starting with December or January. I've read a lot of good reviews about the No-Mar Tool but I have the Mojo Lever and Mojo blocks that work well with the HF tire changer. I made my own balancer to find the heavy spot of the rim, put the tire on and turn it if necessary, recheck it and use Dyna Beads. I don't even use wheel weights any more.

[Gary]

Wiggy,

I think the Mojo tool is what I was thinking of. It has the No-Mar tips I believe. Their blocks to protect the rim like you mentioned also look good but the $$ keeps climbing.

I thought I'd wing it with some of the lessons learned here that I'd ran across and see how that goes before dropping another c-note or two.  

I think the tool was about $99, & $30 on the blocks.

***Update***
My mistake, Mojolever and blocks not to be confused with No-Mar.

Links
Blocks
Lever

[wiggydotcom]

Wiggy,

I think the Mojo tool is what I was thinking of. It has the No-Mar tips I believe. Their blocks to protect the rim like you mentioned also look good but the $$ keeps climbing.

I thought I'd wing it with some of the lessons learned here that I'd ran across and see how that goes before dropping another c-note or two.  

I think the tool was about $99, & $30 on the blocks.

***Update***
My mistake, Mojolever and blocks not to be confused with No-Mar.

Links
Blocks
Lever

I understand what you're saying about "where does it end"? I originally used duct tape on my tire changer supports, but the mojo blocks work much better.
They are more slippery however and will tend to let the rim rotate when you don't want it to. That's why saddlesore's idea of adding a stud solves that problem.