Centramatic Wheel Balancers
- dandjcr
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Except for rotating to the front, do rear wheels (or spares) really need to be balanced?
Would Centramatics on the front not be sufficient?
David and Janet Ribbans - Oka 148
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- Hal Harvey
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dandjcr wrote: Do rear wheels really need to be balanced? Would Centramatics on the front not be sufficient?
My thought is yes to balance any rotating wheel - if left unbalanced on the rear (or trailer) you're asking suspension components to absorb a lot of extra shock, which will wear components faster, and on the vehicle at least, is bound to contribute some harshness into ride comfort.
Principal advisor to the Minister for Tourism, Liza Harvey MLA
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- Hal Harvey
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Hummer (old style) Centramatic balancers weigh 1.5kg, and the alternative, 300-318A, weighs 1.0kg. Bruce is inclined to go with the 1.5kg rings because they provide the most balancing effect, on our big tyres. But he needs to get more made and the company may be able to do a better job of it; along the style of the 300-318A with the smooth surface, rather than the old-style Hummer ones with the tabs welded on that may be less than ideal with a 19.5" steel wheel. They'll clear on my alloys anyway so I've ordered his remaining stock of old-style Hummer ones.
This is the 1.0kg ones, 300-318A, fitted to the front of the OKA with the balance ring inboard:
... and mounted the same way, the old-style Hummer ones showing the clearance from the front disk calliper (several mm, plenty):
... and the Hummer rings fit inside a 16" split rim, which we got to test on the weekend on Frank Thomas' XT (this also confirmed that the hubs front & rear on an XT are identical to an LT's):
Bruce will be speaking to Centramatic overnight and will have further answers re availability and timeline in a few days. But at any rate, the bottom line is that it can be done, and the one size will fit inside every rim that will fit on to an OKA - and we've tried a heap of different ones. Bruce's phone number (Centramatic Australia) is 0418 285 087.
Principal advisor to the Minister for Tourism, Liza Harvey MLA
... OKA 260 ... "I'm not leaving any sooner than I have to!"
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- Peter Davis
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On a separate note how does one view pictures from photobucket?
Cheers
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- Peter_n_Margaret
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Cost was about $90 for 10kg. That is $3.60 per wheel.
One of those wheels had 250g of lead weights on it.
I am a happy chappy. No more balancing at $30+ per wheel for me.
Cheers,
Peter
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OKA196 tinyurl.com/OKA196xtMotorhome
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- Ralley
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Rob
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- dandjcr
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Peter Davis wrote: On a separate note how does one view pictures from photobucket?
Cheers
Peter, and anyone else upset with Photobucket, see my post here .
David
David and Janet Ribbans - Oka 148
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- Peter Davis
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Do you know what size Centramatics you used?
300-318, 400-448,300-324 etc
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Peter
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- Ralley
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Rob
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- Tony Lee
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Did you feed it in via the valve stem
Tony
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- Peter_n_Margaret
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$90 for 25 wheels. I went 50/50 with someone else.
Used the same method for the ones fitted. Very easy, very quick. No need to jack up.
I found some 4mm S/S balls on ebay for about $70/kg ex the UK.
Cheers,
Peter
Cheers, Peter.
OKA196 tinyurl.com/OKA196xtMotorhome
Mob.0428171214
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- Tony Lee
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Tony
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- Tony Lee
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#4 lead shot - 3.2mm diameter - was out of stock so I've ordered 10kg of #9 shot which is 2.2mm diameter, still well within the size range of commercial products.
Cost landed at my place is near enough to $10 per kilo so if anyone else wants to try it out, the cost would be $10 per kilo plus postage which should be only around $15 for a couple of kilo.
Amounts required for 285 R70 19.5 are 8 ounces per tyre - 226gm and for 305 R70 19.5 it is 12 oz per tyre approx 350g per tyre. For other sizes, quantities are at www.counteractbalancing.com/applications/
Tony
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- PeteFox
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I’m wondering how much lead dust is going to be inside the wheel at tyre change time and how to deal,with it?
I imagine that the tyre fitters aren’t going to be too happy.
Pete
Pete Fox OKA266 MultiCab
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- Tony Lee
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As for the lead, yes, I mentioned that to Peter, but I imagine we (and the others who used lead) will deal with it as responsibly as possible when the time comes to replace the tyres. Talking to the gun shop today, he said for every tin of shot sold for reloading shotgun shells, 10 tins are ordered for other purposes including a lot for tyre balancing
Tony
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- dandjcr
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The shot would only be moving/creating dust at speeds lower than the balance speed but I hadn't considered the problem of lead dust blowing out when lowering air pressures, which we do a lot. More of a problem I think than the once every 2-3 years for tyre changing.
Led shot is a long time favorite for balancing tyres, but not without it's problems it seems.
David
David and Janet Ribbans - Oka 148
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- Tony Lee
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Tony
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- dandjcr
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Tony Lee wrote: Maybe because it is lead and very heavy, and even the oxide is nearly as heavy, there is no dust inside a stationary tyre to be blown out.
Bit of assumption as well Tony?
Anyway as long as we are aware there are potential risks we can make personal judgements, and I think (will assume) your argument has some merit and I'll be careful.
David
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- Tony Lee
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Went for a drive and it "seemed" (that confirmation bias again) smoother so what I took for a little bit of roughness due to the blockier tread might have been a balance problem.
Yesterday, poking around underneath, I noticed that Cleaver tyres had left a 160gm balance weight on the inside of one of the back wheels. Hmmmm. So took it off. Poked around a bit more and as you would expect, they left a weight on the inside of every wheel. Now all removed.
So of course the question is how susceptable is the OKA to out of balance wheels? Given that it is par for the course to arrive back home after a trip and wash off a kg or two of baked on mud from each wheel, I's suggest not very.
Just went for another run and all the way up to 108kmph GPS the ride was smooth, Confirmation Bias of not.
Tony
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- Witchdoctor
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I’m now dealing direct & awaiting Centromatic icing me a delivered price on the 300-318 model
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