Originally Posted by
miked
I use the manual Harbor Freight tire changer, haven't had any tires I couldn't remove yet, takes some time to get the hang of, but doable. Also takes a lot of effort, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't so bad, I figure it helps give me a workout . Assuming I don't run into any issues, can get a tire off in roughly 3 - 5 minutes or less, that includes breaking the bead, and even letting the air out by pulling the valve stem core. I've had some super rusty steel wheels where the bead just didn't want to let loose, so took longer, but still got it done (this was on my parents old van though, nothing to do with scrap).
I mainly only pick up aluminum wheels with tires, since I can at least make a little on them, not steel wheels unless it is a decent set I could potentially sell, but then I just leave the tires on for the next owner to deal with. If the tire looks good, I may grab a steelie, but most of the time I skip it.
Costs me $3 a tire for disposal, and I usually at least make double that with alloy wheels (depending on wheel size, I think the last wheels I took in earned closer to $10 each), so still worth it "to me". I found a place to dispose of tires by calling around, and one tire shop charges $3, and another tire disposal place the same, $3. The tire shop pays me $5 for any good tires I get, and so far I've actually made money even after paying them to take junk tires.
Mind you, I already had the tire changer to do my own tires, which has been very handy for me since I swap tires around; so since I have it I might as well use it on some scrap wheels!
That said, the HF tire changer won't be for everybody, it is a little tricky to use, but I'm ok with it as I've done a bunch of tires, and it was really cheap, so got my moneys worth long ago. Have it bolted to a composite type pallet, but used a wood pallet before that just fine (the wood rotted from sitting outside, so swapped it out).
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