Well, as some of you may remember... I decided to buy a No-Mar tire changer at the NYC motorcycle show last weekend. I bought the Jr Pro package, and it arrived this morning.
Took about an hour to put it together, and that was no problem... but now I've discovered something that, I'm kinda embarrassed to admit, that I really didn't think about before: floor mounting options.
The thing comes with a floor mount kit (large bolts and cement lag gaskets)... but I live in a rented apartment, and I don't think they'd think too kindly of me drilling holes in the cement floor of my garage. Plus, as space in my garage is at a premium... I knew I didn't want it to be permanently mounted to any one place in the floor anyway.
The thing I really didn't think about was... the offset center of gravity this thing has. That tall post with all of the attachments hanging off of it is HEAVY... and as such, makes the thing want to tip over as it sits on the floor. I didnt notice this at the show because... it was, of course, mounted to the floor! Duh!
So... all of that to ask this:
For those of you who have these things... did you permanently mount it to your floor, or did you mount it to some other type of movable/portable base?
Ideally, that's what I'd like to do. Find or fabricate some type of heavy portable base that's going to be stable enough to remain somewhat fixed when changing tires, yet also be able to be moved out of the way into a corner for the 90% of the time it's not in use.
Tom, Yikes! This is a tough question you are asking. There is so much pressure that is applied when mounting a tire that it is almost impossible to not have it solidly mounted to the floor. However, I don't know what you drive as a vehicle but some have adapted the Harbor freight tire changer to the stinger on their tow hitch of the vehicle. There was a recent post of one recently. You might use search and look for it. At the moment I can't find it right quick. Just maybe NoMar has some kind of adapter such as this.. Someone will chime in with a great fix..opcorn: David
I agree, but would recommend 1" plywood, maybe 2 sheets thick. You'll be torquing big time on the tire changer and will place quite a bit of stress on the plywood.
I have the Harbor Freight tire changer & did drill my garage floor. What I ended up doing is removing the tire changer when not in use. This leaves the floor open and available for any other use.
Following up on Skip's idea. Put 4 carriage bolts pointing up thru a large piece of plywood and use washers and wing nuts to secure the changer. When done with it, remove the wing nuts, separate the platform from the changer and store them.
Option 2 ... I will install it in my 3 car garage and you can come and use it at will.....
Tom,
Hello, I live in Howell N.J, not too far from you. I will not charge you ANYTHING to let you mount your ( I will even do the install myself ) new Junior Pro in my 24' wide X 64 ' long garage.
Rich K (WingSki)
No first hand experience here with the No-Mar changer, but drawing on other somewhat similar challenges, I have a suggestion. The suggestion above about using the plywood is good, but I would make the plywood big enough so that with the changer mounted to the plywood you could park your vehicle with two wheels on the plywood. With proper threaded devices through the plywood, you could easily fasten and unfasten the changer from the plywood. When not using the changer the plywood could just lay on the floor of the garage or be stood up along the wall of the garage.
Just some thoughts.
One option is to purchase the No-Mar hitch mount for using in a hitch receiver. I definitely would not mount it to wood. You have already seen how heavy and top heavy that the changer is. Now add a tire, wheel and leverage. Lot's of forces. I do believe you could mount it in your basement, in a corner, then patch the holes when/if you move. If the holes are correctly drilled they can be easily patched with concrete patch. If it were me and I decided I was not mounting to floor my next option would be the hitch adapter, after that, my next option would be to mount to a 1/2'' steel plate large enough to stand on while working.
I attached my NoMar to a 2' X 4' X 1/4" thick heavy steel plate. The steel plate is then bolted to a 4" X 4" pressure treated wood frame and sits on a couple of rubber cushions to prevent any movement. This allows me to move it around by using large furniture slide pads. Rock solid and heavy enough not to move while changing tires. You can see part of the base in the attached picture.
I just bolt mine to the floor in a location that will give me enough elbow room. When I'm done, I remove the four pedestal bolts and store the changer in a corner of the garage.
When you move, patch the four holes with concrete patch.
I bought a pro model two years ago and I took a 4 foot by 4 foot piece of steel diamond plate and marked the holes of the tire changer and then drilled the plate and plug welded bolts in the holes.I have did alot of tires including 1800 radials and I have no trouble with it moving.
Not sure I wanna go the trailer hitch mount... but that is an option.
In re the floor option, I had just assumed the landlords wouldn't allow me to drill holes in their concrete, because I know they're kinda picky about their buildings & grounds (which, don't get me wrong, is a good thing!).
Anyway... I saw one of the community employees later today after I wrote the post... and in a round-a-bout way, casually brought the conversation around to one of my neighbors that had recently moved out. I asked if they left the place in good condition, spackled any holes in the walls, etc. He replied they had... and I then asked, in a joking way... "What about holes in the garage floor? Any of those?" He replied that he didn't see any holes... so if there were any, they must have been patched too.
I then said... "oh, so that wouldn't be a problem if they did that?"... and he said "no".
So I guess my problem is solved.
Still... i like some of the portable ideas, as they are more along the lines of what I had been thinking. I had been thinking of mounting on a large metal plate (say 4' x 4' for stability)... but unless I can find a piece of scrap that large somewhere, I got a feeling that could run into some serious coin.
I thought about drilling 4 holes into my lift table... but, of course, chances are my bike will be sitting on it when I remove the wheels. So that's out.
:agree: in my last rental, I had a tubing bender mounted to the floor and when I moved out I picked up a small bag of patching cement and filled the holes.
I mount my Harbor Freight Changer on a piece of 3/4" x 4' x 4' plywood. When I am done I can remove the plywood and put it away until the next time. I have done it both ways and this is better than mounted in concrete. Mounted a bunch of tires on the plywood with no problems but you can pull an anchor out of concrete.
I have seen one used at shows that they had a metal plate on top of the floor mount. It was large enough for you to stand on while working on the tire. It seemed to work fine for them and there were no bolts because the metal plate was one top of the floor mount base plate... know what I mean. I liked this idea because you could move it around.
I have the hitch mount by the way. I mounted a receiver hitch to one side of my work bench for in the shop work, but mostly I just stick it on the truck.
Not sure I wanna go the trailer hitch mount... but that is an option.
In re the floor option, I had just assumed the landlords wouldn't allow me to drill holes in their concrete, because I know they're kinda picky about their buildings & grounds (which, don't get me wrong, is a good thing!).
Anyway... I saw one of the community employees later today after I wrote the post... and in a round-a-bout way, casually brought the conversation around to one of my neighbors that had recently moved out. I asked if they left the place in good condition, spackled any holes in the walls, etc. He replied they had... and I then asked, in a joking way... "What about holes in the garage floor? Any of those?" He replied that he didn't see any holes... so if there were any, they must have been patched too.
I then said... "oh, so that wouldn't be a problem if they did that?"... and he said "no".
So I guess my problem is solved.
Still... i like some of the portable ideas, as they are more along the lines of what I had been thinking. I had been thinking of mounting on a large metal plate (say 4' x 4' for stability)... but unless I can find a piece of scrap that large somewhere, I got a feeling that could run into some serious coin.
I thought about drilling 4 holes into my lift table... but, of course, chances are my bike will be sitting on it when I remove the wheels. So that's out.
i have my tire changer mounted on 3/4 plywood... 4x4 and at the edges
i screwed on 2x4's mounted vertically so the whole deal is now 4 inches
thick.... there is plenty of room to stand on the wood platform
and work the tires... and your weight on the wood keeps things
from moving around... ive done large tires used for equip trailer
and all sorts of other tires without any trouble...
but.. if you get a chance to go straight into concrete... might as well
do that and not worry about all the other hassles
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