Mount trailer tires yourself at home?

Save money, not really. Time, maybe. I change most of my own tires. It is 55 miles one way to a tire shop for me.

As another poster mentioned, the Harbor Freight tire changer works pretty well for steel wheels.

I have owned a manual tire machine for years. I mount my car, trailer, motorcycle, truck, and tractor tires.

^Naw, I’ve actually busted 2 different tires in the last year or so, because I was too lazy to take them to the tire shop, lol. Take longer than doing it myself.
But using the trailer hub as a spin balancer And dismount, mount and balance 4 tires is more than I care to spend my day doing. Much less mounting and balancing a set of truck tires without a tire machine and balancer.
Maybe once the kids grow up, I retire and run out of things to do, I’ll start trying to find creative ways to pass the time.

Grit dog wrote:


That’s a great story if you have literally the entire day to “mount and balance “ a set of tires.
How’s that work on your truck or car?
Your time must be worth a lot less than most to go through all that trouble.

And fwiw, balancing to the hub is an act of diminishing returns or more accurately futility.
Aside from the moment of inertia being considerably less due to the small hub/ brake diameter compared to the much larger diameter tire, it becomes useless once you rotate tires unless you re balance each rotation.

Since you cannot or will not do the suggested, maybe there is no need to comment. There may be some that have an interest in doing things themselves and others that may be lazy or clueless, I didn't post the information for the latter.

Grit dog wrote:
This is one of the sillier questions asked recently.

Maybe, but might not be as silly as being worried about someone breaking into your rig thru a 14X14 roof vent and wanting ideas on how to secure it? Or as silly as suggesting installing a fusible link activated fire suppression system behind the refrigerator? I digress :B

I don't know about savings, my guess, would be about $50 to $100 a year depending on how much you do.
The answer for me is that, even as an old man, busting down a tire and remounting it is not a big deal physically. Now I will say if I go in for a new set of tires I get them mounted and balanced. For the tractor, mower, golf cart or any of the trailers I mount them depending on the situation. The bottom line is mounting your own tires is something I've done for many years so its no big deal

Lynnmor wrote:

hugemoth wrote:
The $39 tire machine I bought from Harbor Freight many years ago has saved me many hundreds of dollars over the years. I haven't paid a tire shop to mount tires for about 20 years. For balancing trailer tires I mount the wheel/tire on the hub then find the heavy spot and add weight to the opposite inside until it rotates without stopping in the same position every time.

I do the same. When balancing the tires that way, do it when servicing the wheel bearings. Clean the bearings completely and apply some light oil. Don't install the seal and make sure there is no brake drag and it spins completely free. Mark the wheel and stud to insure it will be always replaced in the same position. You can actually get the balance of the assembly much better that the tire shop with their fancy balance machines that only balance the tire and may not locate the wheel exactly the same as your hub.

I now use an old refurbished on the vehicle balancer. I do find it humorous whenever the balance issue is discussed, because few are ever checked and few are balanced as well as the crude methods mentioned above.

That’s a great story if you have literally the entire day to “mount and balance “ a set of tires.
How’s that work on your truck or car?
Your time must be worth a lot less than most to go through all that trouble.

And fwiw, balancing to the hub is an act of diminishing returns or more accurately futility.
Aside from the moment of inertia being considerably less due to the small hub/ brake diameter compared to the much larger diameter tire, it becomes useless once you rotate tires unless you re balance each rotation.

This is one of the sillier questions asked recently.
What are the savings? Whatever the tire shop charges.
Can you do it at home? Sure, if it’s worth it to you to bust tires by hand.
Still have to go to the tire shop to balance the wheel unless you don’t believe in that, or are attempting to balance with beads/BBs.

hugemoth wrote:
The $39 tire machine I bought from Harbor Freight many years ago has saved me many hundreds of dollars over the years. I haven't paid a tire shop to mount tires for about 20 years. For balancing trailer tires I mount the wheel/tire on the hub then find the heavy spot and add weight to the opposite inside until it rotates without stopping in the same position every time.

I do the same. When balancing the tires that way, do it when servicing the wheel bearings. Clean the bearings completely and apply some light oil. Don't install the seal and make sure there is no brake drag and it spins completely free. Mark the wheel and stud to insure it will be always replaced in the same position. You can actually get the balance of the assembly much better that the tire shop with their fancy balance machines that only balance the tire and may not locate the wheel exactly the same as your hub.

I now use an old refurbished on the vehicle balancer. I do find it humorous whenever the balance issue is discussed, because few are ever checked and few are balanced as well as the crude methods mentioned above.

Tvov wrote:

KMLsquared wrote:
...I read a bunch about balancing trailer tire and came to the conclusion most are not...

Yes, most equipment trailers that travel mostly local, lower speed roads don't "need" to have tires balanced.

But... for my camper, which I tow on highways / interstates at the appropriate speed, I want them balanced. And it is usually very inexpensive, especially when included in a package price of buying new tires.

I have the tire shop add balancing beads when changing tires.