Cetramatics or Spin Balancing?

my kelly's are bad about it too.

btw i bought my sterrs centramatics new but the drives and trl i bought from either a salvage yard or someone selling them. about $50- $75/pair

 

So you're saying i DO NOT have to balance the wheels before using centramatics or balancemasters?

 

You best have them balanced. Unless you are mounting the tires yourself and taking the time to do it as semi-crazy explained. I have seen some of my tires take 6 ounces of weight having them mounted at TA's, Love's, etc... That's a lot. And if you don't balance a wheel like that one needing 6 oz of lead, then slap a centramatic on it, then drive through a customer lot stuffing 8 or 10 or more oz's of gravel down in the lugs, well, your centramatics are useless. That is why centramatic themselves actually recommend you get your wheels balanced before installing them... ...if you're gonna do it, do it right.. And I do pick gravel out of my tires all the time but it's a never ending battle...

 

no, i am saying i dont balance them. i would never tell you that, thats your decision to make

 

i have also seen a tech spend a half hour trying to figure out why he couldnt get a tire to balance out befor i walked over and told him he was putting the weight on the wrong side of the rim. he would spin it to the.point where the machine said to put it then hed put it on the rim to the bottom instead of the top. lol

if your picking up a few ounces of rocks then you need to switch tires. my bridgestone steers pick up almost no rocks. the kelly drives pick up a lot but once on the road and spinning theres no way they hold that much.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJp_-6v5r-0&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active[/ame]


I'm not trying to start anything but got a chuckle out of the tire movement deal. We do LOTS of tires, spread axle pole trailers, gravel lots, tight turns, prentice loaders on most of trucks, grossed out....needless to say we are hard on tires. lol. I see them squirm all the time...but they are not going to spin in the tire.

We do our own tires like crazy was saying. Pay CLOSE attention to detail and how you mount...use proper lube. I know that doesn't seem to matter, but we have used a few and some are better than others. We have centramatics on a few steers axle but would like to see them on rest of the fleet.

Tell me more about the golf ball thing...I'm assuming put them in the tire at mounting and they in essence to do the same as the centramatics? They congregate to the out of balance side?


(just for a chuckle)
In the video above...please pay close attention to the wheels moving inside the tires...they spin so fast they are smoking. I think that is why the Red truck wins...the other truck clearly spun its rims at the start. LOL

 

I've only had 1 set of centramatics that came on a used truck I bought. The right side froze up and that WILL bounce you right out of the cab. I know - not a fair test, but kind of soured me on them. I'm also tired of spin balancing, it's no better than the kid who does it. Now trying ceramic beads. Love 'em so far. I also think that pin centering on hub piloted wheels is important.

 

They're 24.5 and I keep 'em to slap 'em on if ever I get a wobble. Just in case.

 

KW34, have had that issue with pilot rims. Some of our hands do not get the brake drum centered before putting the rim back on.

You speak of pin centering and ceramic beads...please elaborate. Where did you get the beads and are they in the tire or housed like the centramatics?

 

Centramatics are to noisy when rolling slow threw lots. You sound like a Mexican walking threw a lot using mirangas cha chas. Look into the mercury filled ones forgot what they are called. Can't buy them at any truck stop or shop have to order the online and shipped to you. If I remember the name I'll get back here.