Centramatic Wheel Balancers

Hal Harvey wrote: Thanks Dan, good to know the stainless balls are quiet in an aluminium wheel, but I would still have some concerns about potential damage to a TPMS sender without first-hand knowledge. I am up to speed with the options in senders (see the third post at www.oka4wd.com/on-the-road/750-tyre-pres...tooth-the-itpmsystem ) but if I can get them, am still keen to try the strap-on type with the longest battery life. If the tyres outlast me and the batteries, we can still revert to the one-year external type that you and I are both currently using (and I'm losing occasionally) rather than pulling the tyres off to replace the internal batteries - best of both worlds.

Great artical you linked to. Interesting whats out there. I haven't lost a sender as yet put that could have to do with the position that the valve stem sits in the rim. Mine are fairly well protected by the centre.

Dan.

I'm only losing the odd one due to stupidity - forgetting to put it back on after I take it off, and leaving it on the tyre or rim. Before using external senders the valve caps used to fit in the pouch the Stauns came out of, so that was fine. I haven't been smart enough to update that system.

I've been communicating with Bruce who does Centramatic in Australia. There are a bunch of options and possibilities so he's going to put together a show bag and send it over to me. We'll work it out but it might take until the end of the month.

We have used powder balance as long as it has been around in Aus in steering axle tyres on trucks we owned with few problems other than as stated the powder can effect the flow of air through the valve, slows the process up a tad ,these days on the OKA any excuse for a cuppa is ok lol, it is my belief that the tyre company people prefer the lead balance weight method simply because any other method is a loss of income.
The first truck we changed to the powder was our Kenworth and to maximise tyre life a balance check was costing us $20 per tyre rebalance half a dozen times a year once we changed over to powder the original cost was $25 per bag one each tyre our yearly milage was in the region of 150000 kms and I liked to get 100000 +kms out of each set of tyres and its not hard to work out the savings. That one bag per tyre will do the life of the tyre.
The lead balance weight has proved to be a method that does work but needs constant attention hence more income for tyre suppliers.As I haven't had a tyre rebalanced for a number of years now I have no idea of cost but a bag of powder cost me $35 early last year.
The Centramatic would have to be worth a look especially if it can be used on tyre after tyre.


Cheers Dave

HI All,

I am glad that Hal has gone ahead with this. I think its great we can also support an Australian Company.


I will be watching this one with interest.

I stumbled onto another company with a similar product. Taabs-INT A Canadian Firm. However it looks like they only do semi trailer sizes. www.taabs-int.com/

Very interesting

I wonder if they make them to fit a standard truck spider?

When do you get your hands on them, Hal?

They are a good thing in the trucking industry in the U S
don't know about spider rims, most wheels are 10 stud now.

Google them, forums give them the thumbs up, hard to find any knockers !!

TH wrote: When do you get your hands on them, Hal?

We'll be away until after Easter, so hopefully between those two long weekends.

Can extra balancing "sand" be added to tyres?
Apparently tyres already have the balancing powder in them and are wondering if adding more would be detrimental or a waste of time and money. At least until maybe centramatic wheel balancers are fitted.
Also are longer wheel studs available for front wheels to accommodate the centramatic wheel balancers.

Good point about the longer wheel studs. I hadn't thought about that - will wait and see how thick the plate is - I would imagine it's pretty thin.

The answer to the first question is yes. It's a fairly 'she'll be right' rule of thumb from what I've seen. The last tyre I had powder balanced was done in Broome, and the TyrePower guy said the stuff came in 12oz packets, and my size tyre needed about 8oz (figures from memory). So he put in "about 2/3 of a packet". And it worked perfectly, but like external balancing, if it had been badly out of balance, the solution would have been to add more weight.

The Centramatic Australia guy rattled off a heap of options when we were discussing these a couple of weeks ago, and his leaning was to put on the heaviest ones that would fit, because they had more balancing power. Makes sense.

Dana 70 rear studs are longer & fit Dana 60 front hubs.

The centre plate on the Centramatics is only 2mm thick at the most, probably thinner than that and makes no difference to wheel fitment.

The studs i got from Snake Racing are much longer than the originals. $10ea posted, nuts i think were $4, plus i got a free stubbie cooler, woohoo.

P/N S796 for the stud

store.snakeracing.com.au/advanced_search...2b806cc15326&x=0&y=0

Any word from anyone who has bought/fitted these.
Any idea of the cost?
Pete

Cost was back in one of the earlier posts there Pete. Might have been $300 for four, something like that.

I received my sample pack yesterday - haven't opened it yet - hopefully get a bit done on it in the next couple of days, figuring out which are the best ones to use. Got a lot on tomorrow though.

Hal have you tried them yet? I'm keen to hear what you've learnt, I'm hoping to put some on the 19.5 with 305s.

Rob

Ralley (and others)

I was recently in touch with Bruce (Centramatics Australian Distributor) and he advises that for 19.5in wheels, the Hummer version would be preferable (but they are more expensive). The apparent spacer requirement needs more investigation.

Note, Centramatics in the US won't ship direct to Australian customers, they redirect enquiries to Bruce.

There's a good write up on Centramatics here .

HI David
The 300-318 will fit the OKA we just open up the holes from 1/2" to 5/8" to
fit your studs, the fronts may need a 3 mm spacer to clear the brake caliper
(same as F250).

There is also a larger capacity balancer that fits Hummers with
same stud pattern, would be better with the 19" wheels, if it fits.( would
depend on how deep the dish on rim).

The 300-318 are $300+GST The hummers are $400 + GST freight would be $25
+ GST

Thanks Bruce
Ph. 1300 822 765

I just finished the trial fittings this afternoon. I had sent Bruce a text a few days ago re availability of the old Hummer ones but he hadn't replied. Anyway it's good news, at least for #260, and surprisingly it was the 19.5" wheels that were the least flexible with fit.

Because of the big flat surface on the back of the 19.5s, that alloys don't share, the Hummer balance tube itself must face inboard (on all my other wheels it could go in or out). On the rear (yes rear) of #260, it was a whisker too tight, but a 2mm spacer plate would suffice (which Bruce supplies). When I say a tight fit, I mean clearance from the disk caliper.

On the front, no problem at all, heaps of room. Ditto for my camper trailer, if it's relevant (Commodore disk brakes).

The same Hummer one fits comfortably inside 16x10 alloy rims. I'll ring Bruce tomorrow and get some more news.

The other one mentioned, 300-318, comes in a stepped or flat version. The stepped version was no use with 19.5s. The flat version went on the front with plenty of clearance, and on the rear was the tightest of fits (clearance from caliper), with brand new brake pads; but once again the 2mm spacer would resolve that. I'll weigh them both later on and put up some photos, but at a guess the Hummer version was a third heavier than the 300-318 versions.

The Hummer ones are heavier to cope with the very heavy split steel rims and the large 37" tyres fitted to them used to be made by Goodyear and weren't renowned for their roundness or the lack of heavy spots, in a word they were a bugger to balance.
When Nankang started importing the correct size tyres to Oz (they were a close copy )) we were amazed at how well they were made, concentric and no heavy spots!!