im tried of having to go to a shop and spend 1/2 day to get a couple tires mounted and balanced. is there anything that works.

Have you checked online for used garage equipment?

hobo fright has a manual tire changer, but after looking at it, i would look elsewhere.
30 some years ago, i got tired of being ripped off at the only shop in town at the time, so i built one.
it wasn't that hard to build. i used to have pictures, but i can't find them now.
the hardest part of the build was to get the right leverage for the bead breaker.
over the years, i have accumulated an assortment of spoons, bars, and bead protectors, as well as protectors for wheel edges.
the biggest problem with used commercial machines, is parts availability if something is broken, as well as the physical footprint needed if space is at a premium.

Find a different shop or drop off and come back later.

I bought and use an old (mid to late 1960 to 1970) all manual tire machine with all the tools to do my and race cars, tires
I also bought a decent bubble balancer and bunch of different lead weights back when they were still available through Summit.
I don't due the tires on my wife car and van or on my Dodge 1 ton 4x4, we have the tire shops due them

I started out buying a used Harbor Freight manual tire changer, I mounted it to a large pallet since I didn't really want to bolt it to the floor.
It did the job, but agreed it was a little flimsy.

The next step was a used Coats 40/40 tire machine I got used, I traded a used garden tiller for it.
It worked great, but you're limited to 17 inch wheels max.

I was given an old Hunter 700 Spin Balancer at one point, it worked but it had to lift the wheel and tire up because it had a vertical shaft.
Poor design IMO, but it was an early spin balancer (70's era).

Now I have a rim clamp tire machine, I wanted one that would clamp 20 inch wheels on the outside.
I bought it along with a spin balancer (combo deal).

Each style of tire machine has it's good and bad points.

Bumper jack and pry bars.

Many many ways of doing it. Do a search on Youtube.

i have a Harbor Freight bead breaker, and an assortment of tire irons. With practice, you get good at it.

I also have an air tank gizmo that catches the bead. I don't know what it's called.

I also use a bubble balancer. I can never decide if that thing works or not.

Of course, you need an air compressor.

I wouldn't want to try anything with a stiff sidewall.

I never spend any time waiting in a tire store. I always drop off loose wheel/tire assemblies, and pick them up when ready. Of course, you need a second vehicle, but aren't we all car collectors?

For me, the easiest way of re-installing a wheel on lug studs is to sit with the wheel between my legs so I can directly see the studs through the wheel. I know the tire shop guys don't do that, but I've never figured out a better way.

I have an old Coats air powered tire changer in my lower garage, I'd have to look at it to see what model it is, I don't remember, haven't used it in probably 10 years. The last time I used it, it still broke the beads fine (up to 16" wheels), but it had enough air leaks the bar that turned to remove and install the tires was getting pretty weak.

The last 10 years I haven't changed enough tires on wheels to make it worth the effort to repair (or fight with) the old machine. Some local guys the run demo derby cars tell me every year they want to buy my old machine for $50, but they haven't showed up wit the money yet.

original called Cheetah, inexpensive copies...

https://www.amazon.com/cheetah-tire-bead-seater/s?k=cheetah+tire+bead+seater

If you drive far off road you should know the tricks of reseating a tire bead.

If you mine with rubber tired equipment, where some of the tires now cost over $40,000 and can take months to get delivered, you need to be taught far more about tires than nearly any mining engineering school teaches. This applies both underground, above ground, or probably in space.

Why did my father give his young 3 sons a USED six tired amphibious ATV with a continuously variable transmission, and then help them increase the compression ratio of the original 12 HP twice before the head gasket kept failing, then help them buy a 40 HP Wankel engine from a wrecked Snowmobile while attending a mining convention in Boulder Colorado. Child Endangerment?

a 2x6 and a truck breaks beads just fine.

That may work if you're going to trash that tire,
but I'd worry about damaging the tread area carcass with that much deformation. Just my 2 cents,

Joe

the old manual machines pop up on CL around here on a semi regular basis.
my first job at 14 or 15 was working weekends at a gas station. I loved battery charges and tires as they were extra $$
SO a guy brings in a tire and rim and wants the tire mounted. COOL!!! said he be back later.
I must've spent 2-3 hours trying to get the tire on the rim. Worked up quite a sweat as it was hot out. Finally my ex BIL stops by. he looks at the tire and rim. He proceeds to tell me it was a 14" tire and a 15" rim I wouldn't put it past him to have set me up LOL

Way back when a lot of tire shops wouldn`t change a tire on mag wheels for the fear of breaking the center hub. I used the car bumper jack to break the tire bead and two large screw drivers to remove the tire from the rim.

I've change many tires with tire irons on rims that wouldn't fit on the old manual machines, especially 16.5 and 17.5 tubeless tires a long time ago

Someone should start a small business making affordable pieces that would enable a 10 ton hydraulic press to safely break the bead of a tire and then in conjunction with a crow bar gently get the old/new tire swapped on the rim.

Moparts members recognize the value of crow bars and hydraulic presses to their hobby/addiction already.

One of my 1st jobs(many years ago)was at a tire store. I started in the truck shop doing semi and tractor tires...all by hand with beaver tail hammers to break the beads and spoon bars to get them off. Used cages to inflate the split rims. They moved me to the auto shop where I learned on a Coats 40-40 and a bubble balancer. The shop I work in now is equipped with a Hunter Revolution machine and a Road Force balancer. Talk about spoiled.....I won't do tire work on anything else.

The Hunter Road Force balance really impressed me.