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MG TD TF 1500 - Harbor Freight Tools and Wire Wheels

Time to put on my 5.50 x 15 bias ply tires. In California you won't find anyone willing, able or that you will trust to not destroy your wheels in the process so it's a do it yourself project.

I tried hand tools for mounting and dismounting and found it rather difficult to get leverage on the ground, so I am trying some cheap Harbor Freight tools.

The bead tool is obviously not made for wire wheels but its not too bad. I put some 1/2" shims under where the hub goes to get it high enough to clear that "anti spin" peg. I might just cut that off since there really is not much torque when doing these small tires and I had to pad it anyway just to keep if from chipping my paint.

On the balancer it looks like it would work OK but my wheels and tires are not heavy enough to compress it to get the hub onto the spindle, so I pulled off their springs.

Anyone else have any great hacks for these Harbor Freight tools when used with wire wheels?





Christopher Couper

I'm surprised you're having trouble finding a tire shop that can mount them safely. They only need a mounting machine that holds the wheel by the rim. My local independent tire shop does all my late model cars (I do the TC and earlier stuff by hand). Sorry I have no experience with the tool mentioned.
Steve Simmons

Chris, On the balancer, try pushing down on the rim to help center the rim. By itself it doesn't comptess but with a little assistance it does. To work anyway.

Tire machine I removed the stud hole locater and replaced the bolt with a clevis pin and hitch pin. So it can be removed easily/
CR Tyrell

Did you just hack off the stud locator with a Sawzall? I could not find a way to remove it by twisting etc.

I will do a bit more experimenting with the balancer. Maybe just lighter springs. My new tires seem a bit heavier too so that may be enough.
Christopher Couper

I put the springs back on the balancer. My new tires seem to be a bit heavier than the old ones.

Oddly they also balance out pretty well without weights but I did add a few to get the bubble dead center rather than just within the ring.

I took a Sawzall to the stud post so I removed my shims from the post.

So far I am making progress but this is not my area of expertise.

I drive like a snail so I expect the static balancer to be enough but if not, I think I can get the wheels spin balanced somewhere.
Christopher Couper

Chris, The stud locator on my tire changer had a rivet that made a moveable joint. I drilled it out and replaced it with a clevis pin. Yours may be slightly different. Mine is an older model of the changer.
CR Tyrell

Mine was all welded together as one unit. At first I thought it might have been a puzzle that I could twist and rotate to get it out. It was obviously welded in place.
Christopher Couper

This thread was discussed between 20/02/2022 and 03/03/2022

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