Vintage Equipment

[jimvannoy]

Saw someone mention starting a thread on vintage equipment so I'll start. Here are some pictures of some of my stuff. A Craftsman/Atlas lathe, Coats tire changer, Sunnen hone, Sioux valve grinder, and a Black Diamond drill grinder.

[ImportTuner]

You have all this equipment at home? :headscrat

[Canadian Charlie]

WOW, I'm jealous

[jimvannoy]

You have all this equipment at home? :headscrat

It's all in my shop next to my house. I restore old cars/build hot rods for a living so thats why I have a lot of it. Here are a couple more shots of my shop.

[eschoendorff]

Wow, that's really cool. I think alot of us are a little jealous. Can we come over and play? :beer:

[wilbilt]

That's a nice shop. I have some old equipment, too. Most of it is in need of refurbishment, though.
I'll post some pics later.

[Larz]

Wow, that's really cool. I think alot of us are a little jealous. Can we come over and play? :beer:

What eschoendorff said!! I wanna come over and play too!!! :bounce:

[Larz]

I overlooked that Coats tire changer first time I viewed your post. Man that brings back memories. I used one identical to that a few times in the mid 70's as service manager for a Western Auto store!!!!

[Canadian Charlie]

It's all in my shop next to my house. I restore old cars/build hot rods for a living so thats why I have a lot of it. Here are a couple more shots of my shop.




You're my new hero

[bmwpower]

OldCarGuy will put you all to shame!! :lol_hitti

[Uncle Buck]

OldCarGuy will put you all to shame!! :lol_hitti


He puts just about everything I have ever seen on this board to shame! :lol_hitti

[wilbilt]

Here's some of my old stuff. It's difficult to try to keep it preserved because I really don't have any dry place to keep anything.
The drill press is a 1950s Craftsman, and is due for another de-rusting. The 6" Dunlap/Craftsman lathe is basically operational, and I have a couple more for parts. The P&H arc welder works great, as does the Emglo compressor (1980s).
The Coats 20-20 is operational, but I need a bar and cone for it. The old Blackhawk 4-ton (1950) works great.

[Flathead Youngin']

Cool thread.....

Will that coats air changers work ok on atv tires?

I have a couple of old things that I'll snap some shots of when I get a chance.......

[wilbilt]

Here's the Lincoln trailer-mounted welder (1949-it does run) and the 4-post lift sitting out in the weeds. I have the lift cylinder shaft wrapped with masking paper and keep it soaked with oil so it will (hopefully) not rust.

I also have an old exhaust tubing bender that needs to be completely rebuilt. I didn't get a photo because it is buried under a bunch of stuff.

[bmwpower]

Here's the Lincoln trailer-mounted welder (1949-it does run) and the 4-post lift sitting out in the weeds. I have the lift cylinder shaft wrapped with masking paper and keep it soaked with oil so it will (hopefully) not rust.

I also have an old exhaust tubing bender that needs to be completely rebuilt. I didn't get a photo because it is buried under a bunch of stuff.

Will, you need to throw a tarp over that lift, man!

[wilbilt]

Will, you need to throw a tarp over that lift, man!

I know...there was one over it, but the wind shredded it. It's actually partially within a semi-enclosed shed, but it's still getting wet. I'm planning to make room in the shed where the compressor is (much drier) to store it.

It is very heavy and difficult for me to move by myself.

[wilbilt]

Wow, I guess the pics of my ugly stuff killed this thread...

[mulepackin]

Wow, I guess the pics of my ugly stuff killed this thread...

I don't think so. Probably just not enough of us with good vintage stuff to talk about. Beauty is only skin deep anyway. The vintage machines have a great feel to them. No tinny, cheap, vibrate apart stuff. In fact I wouldn't say they even had sheet metal guards on them. It was more like slab steel. Got an old Souix valve grinder at the ranch, Heine floor jack, Reed vise, Souix valve seat grinder. Don't have occasion to use the grinders like we'd like.

[Deafautotech]

wow i am never see that old tire change machine since i graduated from high school.... are it still working? it is very old and it would make new tech more diffcult to work on it because most of new techs learned on newer tire machines....

[wilbilt]

I don't think so. Probably just not enough of us with good vintage stuff to talk about. Beauty is only skin deep anyway. The vintage machines have a great feel to them. No tinny, cheap, vibrate apart stuff. In fact I wouldn't say they even had sheet metal guards on them. It was more like slab steel. Got an old Souix valve grinder at the ranch, Heine floor jack, Reed vise, Souix valve seat grinder. Don't have occasion to use the grinders like we'd like.
I agree, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The old stuff worked well for it's purpose because everything was built for the job.

Nowadays, everything is built to last 90 days.

I do have this old Wilton vise as well. It might be older than I am, and will undoubtedly outlast me.

[wilbilt]

wow i am never see that old tire change machine since i graduated from high school.... are it still working? it is very old and it would make new tech more diffcult to work on it because most of new techs learned on newer tire machines....
Wow, I guess I am older than I thought. The Coats center-post machines were the standard well into the 1990s. I learned on them, bled on them, and even ate my breakfast on them while working.

They were the staple of the US tire business for a long time, although rim-clamp machines such as the Corghi were necessary for the occasional import rebel wheel.

These days, I know rim-clamps are the norm, and I admit I wouldn't know which pedal to step on.

[Deafautotech]

i am only 20 years old and i still remember how to use that kind old tire changer machine but when i was in high school where i did took automotive mech class. they did teach how to use but end up when student push wrong pedal and air hose inside of tire changer blew out. so they dont know where to buy new parts for it and school said use new one instead fix on old one... the voc school have old style and new style tire changers.

[Deafautotech]

also i did more quick change and install the tires on old tire machine and new tire machine than other students while i was in high school.

one best memory of my time in high school that i help and fix my good friend and good automotive teacher which he own 2000 dodge ram 3500 with cummin diesel. he had me to work on where he want me to do. my auto mech teacher have problem with back. also i am still working at dealership where my high school auto mech teacher was worked there before. my automotive mechanic teacher got all ASE certified (include LS1, bus, undercar, medium duty truck, heavy duty truck) and he had master tech patch from ASE. also he was name hall of fame for world of automotive technician in detroit, Michigan.

he is chairman of automotive program that include diesel courses at texas.

[Deafautotech]

some of students dont care what they need to do on machines. so my auto teacher just fail them every time when they did not do what they suppose to do...

i always want to learn the machines before use it so i can understand more what i can do with machine.... like tire changer, aligment, else so i dont make mistake on it and ruin the parts or machine....

[mulepackin]

In this area it used to be every full service gas station also carried a line of tires and had a Coats machine, spin balancer and spreader. Then the quickie marts took over and the full services stations faded into history. Many of them sold the tire equip. for next to nothing. Wish I'd have been paying attention, many guys I know picked them up for a song. I spent too much of my youth busting down tires with wedges and bars, including old split rims and lock ring wheels (widow makers).:shocking:

[wilbilt]

also i did more quick change and install the tires on old tire machine and new tire machine than other students while i was in high school.


I'll take you up on that, as far as the "old tire machine" scenario. I can flop tires on those in my sleep. I've done that a number of times, actually. :bounce:

[wilbilt]

I spent too much of my youth busting down tires with wedges and bars, including old split rims and lock ring wheels (widow makers).:shocking:
Me, too.
The boss wouldn't buy a cage, so I aired them up under the service truck. One day, a widowmaker came loose under there and cracked the diff housing.
I was impressed.
:bowdown:

[Deafautotech]

i would do that as race but not in sleep because i dont want hurt my hands. also the good thing is you used it for long times and you know what you can do so you can do it while sleep... same with my teacher that said he can do the rear drum brake replacement while he sleep.... the experince is make you becing familiars with it and you know what you need to do instead rookie did in shop....

[mulepackin]

Me, too.
The boss wouldn't buy a cage, so I aired them up under the service truck. One day, a widowmaker came loose under there and cracked the diff housing.
I was impressed.
:bowdown:

I remember seeing the cages when I was just a kid and wondering about them. Then saw a few guys who didn't walk too good or talk right after catching a ring in the head. I used the front end loader bucket over the top and still was scared s@#%less when airing them up. I still wince when a bead seats on any rim.

[wilbilt]

i would do that as race but not in sleep because i dont want hurt my hands. also the good thing is you used it for long times and you know what you can do so you can do it while sleep... same with my teacher that said he can do the rear drum brake replacement while he sleep.... the experince is make you becing familiars with it and you know what you need to do instead rookie did in shop....

I don't think I will ever forget the feel of the bar in my hand or the pedal under my foot. The smell of tires...I don't think I'll ever forget that, either.

[wilbilt]

I remember seeing the cages when I was just a kid and wondering about them. Then saw a few guys who didn't walk too good or talk right after catching a ring in the head. I used the front end loader bucket over the top and still was scared s@#%less when airing them up. I still wince when a bead seats on any rim.

Most split-ring rims, you could tell if they were good or not. I would often sit on the rim/tire while airing them up. The older center-split "widowmakers" were anyone's guess, though. I treated them with great respect. They are a 1920s design, and unfortunately, lots of them are still on the road today.

Most guys that "caught a ring" aren't talking anymore.

[ba614]

I started using tire machines in '66 ... those machines had a pneumatic bead breaker on the bottom and a thing with a half-moon type thing that you put on the middle of the stand and pulled down to break the top bead ... then you stuck a long steel bar in the tire and pulled it over the rim and pushed it around the rim to get the tire off ... it had a hook on the other end to put the tire back on ... that thing would make a man out of you or kill you

I know what you mean about never forgeting the smell of tires, Wilbilt ... another smell I'll never forget is the smell of old grease ... I love that smell to

[Fast Orange]

I can remember when that Coates 20-20 first came out-mid 70s?.The guy who owned the gas station I worked at in my teens went into the tire business,bought the Coates,a bubble balancer and about 100 Atlas tires.I can remember fall Saturdays, changing about 50 sets of snow tires during the course of the day-$2.00 a tire on and off the car if the snows had thier own rims or $4.00 a tire if you had to mount /dismount the tires from the rims.If you bought new tires,mounting,balancing and new stems were free.
I do remember that that Coates machine could do a nasty job on your wrist if you got in too much of a hurry and didn't get the bar in right before you spun the tire on or off the rim.One of the guys I worked with wore a cast for a while because of that.

George

[Tim G]

Geez,I used a 20/20 today at work to change tires on a customer's Accord!
The Atlas bubble balancer is at home,easier to have the mechanical shop next door balance them {I'm in a bodyshop}

[Down Under Bloke]

It's all in my shop next to my house. I restore old cars/build hot rods for a living so thats why I have a lot of it. Here are a couple more shots of my shop.


Something you may not have realised, that I need to correct you on. You earn your keep, building hot rods in your garage; that’s not a living, that’s a life. :bowdown: