Harbor Freight Tire Changer Duckhead Mod (Full Build With Tips and Tricks)

Modifying a Harbor freight tire changer to accept a duckhead mounting/demounting tool. This is a little different than most videos I saw on the mod. I try to be as descriptive as possible and go over some of the mistakes I made.
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Want the tools and parts I used in this video? Check out my Amazon Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Duckhead: amzn.to/3NmsWjz
Shaft Collar: amzn.to/3Xp8IKs
Thrust bearings: amzn.to/3Xrn0KH
Digital Caliper: amzn.to/3PqesBP
Centering cone: amzn.to/3NqH5Mv
Similar Tire Changer: amzn.to/3XtyI7I
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[@jamesstanley5503]

Excellent manual tire changer modification tutorial. thanks for taking the time to post. cheers🤩

[@octanedrivendream]

I appreciate the support 👍

[@txgreasemonkey]

Nice work buddy. You are few and far between today as far as young kids go working with your hands in out in the shop. I have no idea why you would drive a split collar on with a hammer instead of loosening the Allen bolts and clamping down. Also using round tubing would have allowed you to rotate the duck head into perfect position but I’ll rack this all up to learning from your mistakes. Keep up the good work! There are not enough young folks like you out there these days.

[@Ihaveausernametoo]

Great guide. Thank you for doing it. It's very useful as a reference even though I'm in Sweden and we have a slightly different one available. Watch the bare skin in front of a welder, very strong UV-C radiation. Take care. All the best.

[@octanedrivendream]

I appreciate it 👍

[@smileymac8017]

I'm impressed with your willingness to do a project like this! It may not come out perfect but you learned so much for future projects. Good job!

[@octanedrivendream]

I try, and I definitely learned a lot. It's crazy to think of the first people who figured all this stuff out.

[@ksavage681]

You don't need bearings. I used a pipe that was just large enough to put a pvc pipe section inside the metal pipe.

[@octanedrivendream]

Good idea, but the bearings really do make it smooth. I've thought about using plastic from a milk jug as a friction shim since it's thin.

[@MrIneffable]

I've been trying to understand why people have been adding thrust bearings to their duck head mods. So far, it appears the bearings make the assembly feel smooth when spinning the duckhead around, but I don't think there's much of a difference once the duckhead is pushing on the tire bead. It seems what's more important is to have a bushing between the two pipes to take up some of the excess slop so that the duckhead doesn't flop around so much. Minimizing the freeplay helps prevent the duckhead from making contact with the rim. Has anyone figured out an easy, effective, but cheap way of adding bushings? A couple ideas I'm thinking about, but haven't tried yet are heatshrinking a used PET pop/water bottle around the shaft or cutting up a 2" copper pipe to use as the bushing.

[@cal48koho]

really nice video, made even more useful by his slight mistakes. Good job.

[@octanedrivendream]

Thank you. I thought I'd leave in the mistakes, no one is perfect.

[@face_in_the_crowd]

Put your set screw through the corner of the square tube. It will push the opposite corners together and make a very tight set

[@octanedrivendream]

I considered this, but I was originally trying a different design. I suppose if you notched it, it would hold the nut and you could get a flat weld. That's what sucks about welding a nut on round stock, heat/wire can move and lift the nut making your screw angle bad.

[@44amanaplanacanalpanama44]

A tip for layout of holes: Center punch the center hole first, and then put one of the points on your calipers (set and locked for your dimension) in the punch mark, and scribe with the other point over the marker center line (like a compass). They are sharp so you can do such things.

[@rpetty]

Great job. Really thorough video and build using materials you had handy. Thanks.

[@mcqueenfanman]

Instead of a shaft collar I use two exhaust clamps. I used 1 7/8 clamps but just used the saddle part with long bolts.

[@octanedrivendream]

If it works, it works. Got a pic so maybe someone else can give it a shot? The shaft collars are kind of pricey, but they ensure the bearing or pipe has enough surface area to rest on.

[@mcqueenfanman]

@@octanedrivendream Amazon has centering cones for around 10-12 bucks. The are made from metal and looked like they are pressed from fairly thick metal. They fit the shaft just fine too.

[@octanedrivendream]

@mcqueenfanman Do you have a link? I ordered one from eBay, and it was too small for the wheel hub. Are you sure it fits?

[@ksavage681]

@@octanedrivendream Fits normal wheels, not those truck wheels with huge center holes.

[@octanedrivendream]

@ksavage681 I have 2 Mustangs and the wheels have a hole for the hub nut. I found an old machine part that is flat on one side and beveled on the other. Since the flat side has 2 tiers and the top one is skinny, I used a conduit reducing washer to make sure the pressure is even.

[@mra2957]

Great job! Welding galvanized anything is dangerous to breath those fumes! Be careful weld outside and upwind.

[@bernie716]

Great job man, this really helped me out with my build

[@georgiojansen7758]

those fluxcore welds are good

[@octanedrivendream]

Thanks, that was only my second welding project.

[@DL101ca]

No gas ?

[@williamhanna5224]

Excellent!

[@WESKIX]

I like the way you think. Ruin a $40 pair of shorts and a $35 shirt welding scrap material to save $50. I do this weekly in similar fashion.

[@mikeskidmore6754]

Shock Colar? The Colar that you have has an Allen screw. If the screw is loose and the color still goes on hard just spread it out a little with a pry bar or large screw driver.

[@Grunchy005]

1:31 it's a 2" bore SHAFT collar. You're right, the two halves come apart and you assemble it over the 2" pipe where it needs to go. I have never seen anybody hammer one of these on!

[@RobertTerrill1]

On your offset of the duck bill, slot one of the two duckbill holes in your flat plate and sou should be able to rotate it enough to get it adjusted properly.

[@octanedrivendream]

Hindsight continues to rear its head. Honestly, I like using a round pipe to adjust the height while using the plate that came with the duckbill. By using the set screws, you can adjust it however you want. Initially, I didn't think the set screws had enough clamping force to keep it from rotating, but it holds well.

[@paulanderson388]

You put a lot of thought into this build and you obviously have an engineering mind. That said, I think you are over complicating your efforts by using thrust bearings where they are not necessary. By eliminating the bearings, you can have a longer vertical tube length of 9-10 inches which gives you the stability needed, and you can easily remove the duckbill assembly from the changer without having to unthread the center piece each time. Also it is easier to use round pipe for the duckbill assembly. Find a round pipe that fits snugly inside the square tube clamp. That way you can position the duckbill at any angle to fit the rim properly.

[@octanedrivendream]

I agree with using a round pipe. Ideally, I would have ordered the 30mm duckbill and used a square pipe a little bit bigger as a guide. You know what they say about hindsight. Honestly, the vertical tube length gives plenty of stability. I think the bearing is a great touch, it rotates super easy with a push of the finger. Ideally, I would have purchased the proper sized bearings and would not have made shims.

[@dubmob151]

​I have a couple old struts that I saved just thinking they might be good for something; I wonder if they could be repurposed for this- maybe the strut bearings if nothing else..

[@bigrod0069]

I could say you could've done it many different ways, but hey I think ya did a great job. Many different ways to skin a cat! I'm really thinking I don't need a top bearing, all the weight is on bottom one. Thanks for the time tho. very nice work

[@nobullshiit5682]

Great job you got another subscriber ,very informative , cant wait to build mine .

[@octanedrivendream]

Thank you. Let me know how it goes. There's other versions out there.

[@nobullshiit5682]

@@octanedrivendream yeah I watched a bunch of vids. I like this version. found some 2 inch ID steel pipe now all i need to do is find some steel square tubing , pipe is super expensive now so im gonna salvage what i can but I ordered the 2 inch ID thrust bearings, ill just grind down the pipe hopefully they will work and willnot be too tight an di will not have to grind too much pipe away . keep the vids going

[@octanedrivendream]

@nobullshiit5682 The price of metal is getting crazy. I was going to make my own hydraulic press, but it's almost cheaper to buy one.

[@kevinsmith3935]

Cracking job buddy, what were the bearings you said you found that were the right size im finding it hard to get them

[@octanedrivendream]

I can't remember, sorry. I think I talk about the sizes in the video, just Google that size. I vaguely remember the ones that I found being around $15-20 a piece. You may be able to get ahold of a transmission shop, they may know of a bearing that is the right size. It's difficult finding what transmission has a bearing that size.

[@steinmetzm123]

at minute 3:44 - can you tell me the thread size of the red part? Thanks and greetings Matthias

[@lwwarren]

Why didn't you use the original plate with the pipe for the duckbill as your template for your new plate for the square tube?

[@octanedrivendream]

I tried, but when I went to mark it through the bolt holes, the thickness of it wouldn't allow my marker to draw all around the hole. To be sure, I just measured and did the math.

[@octanedrivendream]

I filmed explaining why I did what I did, but the video was so long I cut abunch of stuff out.

[@nobullshiit5682]

@@octanedrivendream you need a center punch to mark the holes but good job

[@octanedrivendream]

@nobullshiit5682 I have one and used one before I drilled, but getting it perfectly centered in the hole was the problem. The bolt holes weren't fat enough for a marker, and I didn't want to over drill it more than I had to.

[@dubmob151]

​@@octanedrivendreammaybe spritz the holes with some rattle can spray paint

[@dubmob151]

29:03 couldn't you just slot one of the bolt holes, using the other one as a pivot, to allow rotational freedom for adjustment to the exact angle needed? That assumes your bolts are strong enough to hold the duck bill position locked while in use. Edit- Nevermind, reading down the comments and saw Robert Terill already mentioned it a month ago🙃

[@octanedrivendream]

Hindsight man. What I ended up doing works, and it allows it to rotate.

[@rm5902]

GREAT. VID Love th detail Thx 4 th links

[@octanedrivendream]

Thanks for watching!

[@joehiatt1992]

I ordered one off Lucid, the hardest thing about making this is getting the square tubing,someone totaled it up & it was better getting it built

[@octanedrivendream]

Metal is getting expensive nowadays. If you go to scrap yard, you could probably get some miscellaneous pieces for cheaper.

[@markks2321]

I think you made this a lot more complicated than it needed to be....I'll have to try this.

[@octanedrivendream]

There's a few different ways to do it. They say hindsight is 20/20. Having the proper tools makes a big difference. I also had to correct some mistakes that I had made.

[@salekanayake8416]

Hi mate, very good . Thanx . Just a small question, sorry to trouble is the bead mount demoing duck thing made from plastic? Respect from Australia

[@octanedrivendream]

Yes, the duckhead is a consumable. They make them that way so they don't mare the rims. They do make a metal style duck that has replaceable nylon pads, but after some research I chose the plastic.

[@dubmob151]

​@@octanedrivendreamhow durable is the plastic? Ideally it shouldn't touch the wheel when it's used, so it seems the main attraction of plastic is lower cost, but hopefully it'd hold up reasonably well and not really require replacement from wear and breakage.

[@octanedrivendream]

@dubmob151 It's really strong plastic, almost like what they'd make a valve cover or intake out of. Ideally it wouldn't touch but realistically, you want to protect your rims and tires. If you use it a lot, it will wear from tire contact but lube helps.

[@MrIneffable]

The nice thing about that specific style of duckhead is that if there is rim contact, it's the bottom of the head that will contact the rim bead seat, and it helps prevents contact with the rim face. Someone else posted a video comparing the different styles of duckhead. I suggest looking it if you want to understand which one will work best for your needs.

[@outoftime788]

na. they sell this on ebay

[@steinmetzm123]

hello, do you know which thread is used to hold the cone or rim?

[@suz5733]

Great video, thanks

[@RobertTerrill1]

You need to get yourself a set of Transfer punches and that will eliminate most of your measurements when you have a perfectly good pattern to transfer from. Also DO NOT wear the type of shorts that you are wearing in your video when you are welding! Use cotton or leather for your own safety! If a spark or worse yet, a drop of molten metal should get on them, they will melt and adhear to your skin,

[@octanedrivendream]

I'll have to look into the transfer tape, I've never used it. Trust me, I know about melted polyester, but I have to stay comfortable. Good looking out.

[@oldowl4290]

Uhhh.. these shaft collars have two bolts .. specifically so that you can loosen them. Sooo why didn’t you just loosen them ?

[@rolop847]

I have a saw blade that fits on my 7 1/4 saw and it cuts steel like hot butter

[@garyindiana8037]

I just bought a center cone for about $10 on eBay

[@octanedrivendream]

The one I ordered from ebay was way too tiny to hold the wheel hub down.

[@ksavage681]

@@octanedrivendream Put it under the stock red cross part.

[@carrolbrooks2143]

Millimeters??? This is 'Merica Damnit!?!!😮😅😊😂

[@richardjeun]

I think I should start a business selling these manual tire chargers to have all the mods put in from the factory. Why do they make these changers so cheaply made. It forces consumers to re-engineer it.

[@terrencebruener1844]

Never Ever wear gloves when using a drill press!!!

[@octanedrivendream]

Generally, that's probably a good idea. Since I didn't have a press vice, I had the piece catch and spin. So I gloved up.

[@terrencebruener1844]

@@octanedrivendream I get it but one small chip caught on that glove and Broken fingers or worse. I'm a retired tool maker and seen lots of this...

[@octanedrivendream]

@@terrencebruener1844 I appreciate it, I'll keep that in mind.

[@josephlovell6951]

You don't need the bearing to do this build

[@octanedrivendream]

Technically, you don't. The ones Lucid makes have bearings. I was trying to go for something similar, plus the bearings do make the rotation smooth. There's various designs, but I do think the bearings are a nice touch.

[@nobullshiit5682]

@@octanedrivendream yeah i will build mine with the bearings, i like bearings instead of metal against metal

[@ksavage681]

@@nobullshiit5682 Your pushing sideways though, bearings have little benefit.I used PVC pipe underneath the metal round pipe.

[@rolop847]

Why didn't he just use the round duck head mounting and then just mark it on the new piece

[@PaulVanWormer-pg1cf]

Good video, but you definitely need to take safety seriously, clamp you pieces to be drilled and wear proper clothes to weld in, don't mean to bust your chops, but safety is no joke

[@octanedrivendream]

Safety is important, and I've been bitten a few times in both instances. You know how it is, in the heat of the moment, you just want to get it done. I appreciate the feedback.

[@ridgerunner106]

Seems like it is overtechnicalized.

[@octanedrivendream]

There are more simple methods to upgrade the tire changer. If you don't use bearing, find a pipe that's a little larger, weld on square or tube and grease it. Then you can use the original pole for leverage.

[@duenpuen6862]

Hope you’re dad gave you permission to touch his tools..😂

[@octanedrivendream]

My tools, but thanks for the watch.

[@phildilio]

“Your” dad.

[@owen2.021]

lots and lots of exact millimeter measurements but emphasized it doesn't have to be exact...lol

[@octanedrivendream]

It's not exact. You can build it how you want. I was doing it on the cheap and working with what I had. I was going over my train of thought in case it helped someone. A lot of the measurements were specific to what I used. With hindsight, I'd do it a bit different.

[@orlandodelvalle4054]

I buy one for 150.00 dollars on a bay.😂😂😂

[@octanedrivendream]

You can do it for much cheaper and work on your skills.

[@bkrat5144]

@@octanedrivendream The one for 150 on Ebay doen't have the bearings and collars. This one is nicer!