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so I scored an old tire machine

sktchy

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Got my balancer back this weekend and it looks just how it did when it left. Guess they used it maybe twice and buried it in the back of their shop so I got pretty lucky as far as that goes. Should also have the correct belt for the tire machine so I should probably be putting it back together and getting this stuff up and running again.

I'm not super excited to get it lit back up though. Sure it's easy and decent money even if I just have people order online and have stuff shipped here (which is how I intend to go about it because I'll die before I get pinched on thousands in rubber again) but I really don't wanna get sucked backed into bein some dumb tire guy so I'm kinda dragging my feet as far as I can even though people have practically begged me to do it.

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sktchy

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Annnnndd it's alive.

I'd about rather stick a transmission in a car than put this awkward bastard back in again but the table is nice and tight like new and everything seems to work great other than the rotary coupling wants to leak a little air unless it's sitting where it wants to be. Sure I could probably lube some stuff up to get that sorted out without buying a coupling and Im sure I need to calibrate the balancer, but for now I'm pretty stoked to have a couple dated yet very desirable machines goin again for fairly little investment.
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Think I'm gonna bite the bullet on the extendable new style clamps when I get to that point but for now I'm pretty happy just having my stuff back and working as it should.
 
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sktchy

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I know you're all "I don't want to be a tire guy" but fuck man it's time to put those bitches to work.
I don't think its so much that I don't want to be a tire guy as much as it is I don't want to sell tires and get hung on inventory and lose my ass again. I also feel like it was good to drag it out for a while to get a decent foot planted in the other things I've had goin and show there's more goin on around here than just that. Had I not gone about it this way I'd have probably had a pile of junk bullshit tires sitting outside to fight with and not near the cool stuff thats pretty consistently kept my driveway full since reopening.

I'm gonna lose out on some cash flow volumewise and maybe a touch of profit, but that's not necessarily a bad thing and it keeps people from making me sit on thousands of dollars in rubber I don't have. And considering my current credit situation, tryin to get paid for shit before the check hits the bank is a rough life lol. But when shit shows up next day from discount tire or ebay and they've got it paid for then and there I don't see it being an issue and I can walk away with the labor on it and everybody's happy.

These things are absolutely getting put to work I'm just tryin to be smart about it. I'm also very heavily considering getting into the flip game with cars and my friendly neighborhood body shop homies wanna start buying them and bringin em over so pretty likely that comes to fruition quickly.

My biggest problem at this point is likely going to be getting everything done that keeps showing up around here and making sure to spend enough time with the kids. Seems like a lot of people want me back out here doin the thing without bringing the farm tire or mobile stuff back into the mix and I'm starting to feel like my little shops already at a level it's never really been before so I think we're off to a hell of a restart.
 

sktchy

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And my luck strikes again. Ran a couple tires on it last night and sure as hell the tables as loose as the girls on my Snapchat again. And it is indeed in the leaky rotary coupling like I thought to begin with. So that's gonna cost me a couple hundred bucks to get fixed right and I may as well get the cam mounting block while I'm at it. But hey, let somebody else have it for a while and they tear it apart thinkin they know better than you and you'll have that on these big jobs I guess.

But for now it works, and the balancer seems to be flawless. So I'll probably just wait and deal with it until I can get the upgraded clamps and do it all in one shot. I'm not gonna bitch for what I've got in it when I'm happy just to have the junk back to begin with.
 
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sktchy

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So uh, I'm an idiot. And I forgot to tighten the main bolt that holds the cage stand thing for the table to the output shaft of the transmission. Figured it out when I started pulling it apart and realized that maybe we don't work on stuff when we're drinking beer anymore 😂

So I tightened that up and this thing is as legit as any good tire shop machine I've ever used, no more air leaks or wobble. Need to get that cam block yet cuz my zip ties let it go sideways and it doesn't always catch right and then get the upgrade clamps for bigger wheels and I'm good to get in this department
 

sktchy

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Haven't updated this for a bit but the old machines still working great as can be, I burned up another air compressor motor though. Rather than replace it with another 6.5 HP (which was upgraded to begin with because it kept cooking 5s) I went back with a 5 and pullied it down from a 4 inch to a 2.56. It slowed the pump way down and now it takes longer to build air but it's also world's quieter. I'm not sure if it's the right way to go because it'll still get hot and kick the reset on the motor but at least it's doing that instead of killing the motor this time.
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Still waiting on the cam block for the clamp pedal but I get around it by clamping wheels on the outside for now. I think for the time being I'm going to get some motorcycle extensions for it and see if they'll do bigger wheels for now because they're around 100 bucks compared to the whole upgraded x carrier setup with actual adjustable clamps I want that's closer to 900.

I opened one of my more basic wholesale accounts back up for tires so I don't keep missing out on stuff when my customers need it, nothing real fancy, just common brands like Michelin, general, continental, hankooks, cooper and a few others. But it was pretty dumb to keep saying no when it's money being offered and as a small shop I gotta take all I can.
 

sktchy

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I think I'd be worried about not having it balanced and fucking it up that way. I still haven't necessarily decided that the smaller pulley is the way to go as far as longevity wise but it does start up alottt easier than it used to even with the 6.5 and the reduction in noise level was worth it alone.
 

Mr_Roboto

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I think I'd be worried about not having it balanced and fucking it up that way. I still haven't necessarily decided that the smaller pulley is the way to go as far as longevity wise but it does start up alottt easier than it used to even with the 6.5 and the reduction in noise level was worth it alone.
I meant get a small box fan and turn it on with the compressor switch. :rofl:

If the coils aren't burnt up in the other motor chances are the capacitor start switch contacts have melted into slag. Dunno if you pulled it apart to check/it let the smoke out.
 
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sktchy

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It's been through about 5 motors because up until this point it's lived in a 3/4 soundboard box with a couple vents in it. What usually happens is it cooks a capacitor and then it takes the whole motor so I don't even bother replacing those at this point. This time I went with a 160 dollar vevo twin cap motor and a 5/8 shaft instead of the 700 dollar 3/4 shaft 6.5 I tried putting on it and still killed. I cut the top of the box out along with the pulley drop because it kicked the reset when I was trying to do a set of tires and I had to put an air mover towards it to keep it going and not kicking the switch.
 

sktchy

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So the china cam mounting block for the clamp pedal was a bust, must be for a different style as mine is supposed to have some sort of retainer clip that's broken off. Oddly enough it was bent back like at one point the pedal was forced upwards and I wonder if the angle isn't what broke it to begin with. Either way my solution for now was to bend it back and drill a couple holes in the old one and attached it with sheet metal screws. I've got enough meat on the plastic for the washers and it's a hell of a lot more solid than trying to use zip ties.
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If it was a machine in a big tire shop I wouldn't waste my time doing this but where nobody's gonna use this thing but me and I know to go light on it I'm kind of optimistic it might last a while, and if not I'll weld a chunk of angle into that bracket and use the china cam mounted horizontally.

I don't use it alot, but I can say I have a good functioning coats machine for not much money invested at all. Some day if I ever get the 900 bucks loose to throw at the x carrier adjustable clamps it might be pretty badass.
 
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