Patent ID: 7343955

Claim:
A tire changing machine comprising: a chassis defining a top, a bottom, a back, a front and first and second lateral sides; a rotatable turntable configured to retain a wheel rim; a tower carrying a mount/demount head movable toward and away from the wheel rim in a plane angularly offset from a back-to-front axis of said chassis extending transverse to a rotational axis of said turntable; a plurality of pedal actuators located on a first lateral side of said chassis, said actuators being operative to control operation of at least said turntable; wherein the tower tilts toward the turntable from a position generally diagonally across the chassis from said pedal actuators; and a tire lift mechanism mounted adjacent to said chassis, said tire lift mechanism including a lift arm having a distal end that moves between a first lowered position and a second fully extended position; wherein the distal end is located adjacent to the bottom of said chassis in the first position and the distal end pivots away from said chassis to the second position, wherein the distal end is located above the top of the chassis and alongside the rotatable turntable.