Old Coats Tire Man manual tire changer

I was given a 60's vintage Coats Tireman 3 star manual tire changer. It's in working order, except the tire iron, or mount/demount bar is missing. It has a hand operated upper and lower bead breaker. I ran across another somewhat older unit, probably from the 50's, that has a bar about 4' long, one end is sort of spoon shaped and the other, I guess the mounting end, has two ~3" wheels and a 3/8" diameter roller to kinda skate the tire on I guess.

It looks like I could make a copy of the demount/mount bar pretty easily, but I'm not sure if part of the bar is supposed to go through the square hole in the swivel at the top of the center post. The older machine I saw, as well as the Coat's current model 310 manual changer don't have this feature.

I called Coats and they were no help. A replacement bar for the new manual changer is $180, so I don't think that's in the cards, and I think I want to cover the ends with UHMW sleeves so I can use it on some of my aluminum rims.

When I used to race my GT2 car in the late 90's the Goodyear and Hoosier tire trucks were still using manual machines at the track and the tire guys could change low profile radial slick in a couple of minutes...with some experience of course.

Anyone here ever use a similar machine?

Reply to
oldjag
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If it didn't go through there, where would the tire iron ride during dismount/remount? If on the threads, avoid doing that and use the square hole.

Newp. I had the pneumatic Coats machines at two different shops I worked in. They had slots in the bar which fit onto the rectangular tab on the tip of the center post, which rotated to remove the tire.

-- Resolve to be thyself: and know, that he who finds himself, loses his misery. -- Matthew Arnold

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Larry, on the new unit Coats sells:

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the bar just bears against the side of the center post...the threads are very course acme, and above that no threads, just a solid bar. In any case the rectangular hole in the top swivel of my unit is about

1/2" wide x about 2" high...kinda small for a substantial bar to go through. Maybe the bar had a spigot on one side that fit in the hole but I'm just guessing.
Reply to
oldjag

I have no idea. I can honestly say that I don't miss changing rims and balancing tires for the body shop, though. Or replacing bashed dashboards. I had fun winding new wiring harnesses when we couldn't get replacements, though. Usually sub-harnesses.

-- One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love. -- Sophocles

Reply to
Larry Jaques

I have a complete working version of this machine with all tools including separate bead breaker and bead expanders.

Reply to
reineggerframe

consider opening a tyre repair shop?

Reply to
DAB

They were a decent machine - I changed hundreds (mabee thousands) of tires with one but I wouldn't want to use it on today's allow rims.

Reply to
clare

My son has this one and I have an old Coates air driven unit. With well over a hundred tires on all the farm machinery, it gets used a lot. Got a bubble blancer. With care, I think they are just as good as the much more expensive dynamic balancers.

But yep, can't do today's new wheels.

Reply to
Karl Townsend

Reply to
jimgoodwin4158

I have a model 3 star tire changer that I'm trying to figure out how to mod ify to work on 13" and 17" drop center wheels. Im thinking about cutting th e rim off of the main platform that the tires sets on, reducing the diamete r by 1.5", then welding the rim back on. Anybody ever modify this model of tire changes to make it work for the newer wheels?

Reply to
jimgoodwin4158

I had a version waaaaaay back. But it came from a junkyard, and I never knew if any of the included bars were original, or if I was using them as intended. It looked like this.

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I built a manual changer for motorcycle tires, and used images from this site as a model for the demount bar end.

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I bought a cheap big screwdriver with a plastic handle and a through shaft. Lathe turned the profile and to fit inside a piece of pipe. Carved a mount end of my own design from a block of nylon or something that I guessed was originally a bumper from a loading dock. Making a bar along those lines would probably be easier and better for you than trying to duplicate the original styles which won't be much good on alloy wheels.

Reply to
Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis

replying to reineggerframe, Jeffrey Bradley wrote: Could you send me a few pictures of all the parts, just got one. I can fab up some of the missing stuff if I see what they look like

Reply to
Jeffrey Bradley

$68.19 changer bar on Amazon.com. Maybe it'll fit.

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I changed a few on an antique 4070 Coats back in the '80s.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

replying to reineggerframe, Richard Bow wrote: still got tire changer?

Reply to
Richard Bow

replying to reineggerframe, Richard Bow wrote: still got tire changer?

Reply to
Richard Bow

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