If I were to try to buy a mill/lathe, I would need 3 additional things.

1. The money to pay for it.

2. A place to put it.

3. The knowledge of how to use it.

I am trained in CNC work and can design just about anything mechanical using the inventor software to make the parts in 3D and then generate the G & N codes from the solid parts.

How to do that stuff by hand is beyond me.

I have a manula tire changer and bead breaker at work... it makes me want to hurt someone every time I use it

jeffnick said:

.

http://www.smithy.com/products.php?cid=23

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Wow..... I would love to know how to work one of those.

I have a manual tire changer like that. Don't really feel comfortable using it on pickup or trailer tires that see mostly highway miles, but it sure works great for the lawn tractor-type stuff.

And I know well how useful a mill and lathe can be. Most of what I know about wrenching, I learned from my grandfather. He was an excellent machinist (shop foreman at a world-leading machine tool builder for years) and grew up in the depression, so he didn't like to spend money if he didn't absolutely have to. I can't claim to be a skilled machinist, but I can bang out simple parts with reasonable accuracy.


I got the knuckle off the truck tonight. Dropped it off at my mechanic tonight; he'll press the new joints in for me and I'll reassemble it tomorrow. I probably didn't save any money with the tools I had to buy, but the feeling when that GD knuckle dropped off the truck was just about worth the headache (and backache).

john112deere said:

I probably didn't save any money with the tools I had to buy

Click to expand...

What tools did you buy?!

My boat trailer just went almost 8000 miles on a cross country trip after having passenger radials installed on it by me. My previous passenger radials on the trailer went around 45,000 miles...

more on trailer tires here

Oh, I know you CAN do it well enough to run hard.

I just don't trust ME to do it. I've had some go right, and some go wrong (that I know of) and to me, it's worth the $10-15/wheel to have tires professionally mounted/balanced on the six road-going wheels I own.

All the trailers on my car hauler were mounted with a manual tire changer... and they came from a Buick Regal that a Mexican that I worked with gave me, trans went out so I hauled it away.

smokey said:

THe cheap Harbor freight Ball joint press is all you need. Not like you use it everyday. For a seldom used tool I will buy cheapo depot ones.

Click to expand...

www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38335
www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=4065

Well, I did the math.

I could have bought two hours labor with what I spent on stuff other than the actual parts. With less headache, and less backache. (I bought another grease gun because mine is in Dad's garage, and I also had to buy a 1/2" breaker bar and two sockets, and a ball-joint fork. All things I'm happy to add to my toolbox, except the grease gun.)

But I think it's done and I think it's OK.

The knuckle was pretty damned stiff when I put it all back together and I started flipping out, but my roommate said he figured it was just 'cause they were new. Drove it maybe a mile and the steering is mostly OK but doesn't quite return to center right. I'm hoping it'll loosen up in the next 10-20 miles and be fine.



[insert philosophical ramblings on working on ones own car that I'm too lazy to type]

i dont recall if you did an allignment since you put it together but after ball joints you should do the allighment and it should help the return

jeffnick said:

I wanted to mount passenger radials on my trailer. No one would do it for me, so I bought a tire changer (<$50).

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200349248_200349248
And I've used it to put ceramic balancing beads in the front tires of my E-350.

And for those that want a lathe/milling machine...I waited until I was 59 to get mine and now wish I had done it 40 years sooner. It's soooo handy.

Mine will turn a 10" brake drum or rotor, not to mention all the other stuff I've made. Don't wait, get it now, you'll never be sorry -- I'll bet you save what you spent on it in the first year!
http://www.smithy.com/products.php?cid=23

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That's sweet. I don't have room. Can I come over to use yours?

Just wondering, why passenger radials? The tire people all recommend trailer-type tires. I use the wear-downs from the van.

I have had terrible luck with trailer (ST) tires. Over 1/2 of the trailer tires I used ended in catastropic failure (blowout, tread separation, uneven wear, cracking). Since I've gone to car radials I haven't had one problem in over 40,000 trailer miles. The van tires (LT) would be even better.

Yep!

jeffnick said:

I have had terrible luck with trailer (ST) tires. Over 1/2 of the trailer tires I used ended in catastropic failure (blowout, tread separation, uneven wear, cracking). Since I've gone to car radials I haven't had one problem in over 40,000 trailer miles. The van tires (LT) would be even better.

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Reason I asked was I said much the same as you just did on another forum (which shall forever remain nameless, unless you ask) under either the tires or trailer section and some "expert" kind of went ballistic saying bias-ply trailer-only tires are all that should be mounted on them because of this and that and etc., etc.

Since then I have read that many trailer tires are bought in large lots and often are "well aged" before sold, which might account for the poor performance you have received from them.

My own decision was based on the fact that I have these tires with legal tread, they can carry all the load I care to put on my trailer, and I don't mind taking it easy if I happen to have a near-max load on.