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Anyone mount and balance their own wheels/tires?

B

Boss

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I'm thinking of starting to do this, since I'll be getting either beadlock wheels or the tirelock system for 16.5" wheels. Don't know of any shops around here that will know how to mount beadlocks or the tirelock, so I'll have to learn to do it myself.

Yall think this will be a good tool for balancing?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41210
Hope someone here has experience with it before.

And this for the tire mounter/changer:?
http://coloradok5.com/gallery/BeforeNAfter
 
I'm no expert on tire balancing...but wouldn't the balancer just give you static balance only? I guess that would be better than no balance...

The tire changer looks a lot like manual labor to me...
smile.gif


Rene

<font color=green>Dyslexics of the world...UNTIE!</font color=green>
<a target="_blank" href=http://coloradok5.com/gallery/project_T2> tRusty pics...</a>
 
My dad sells the actual balancer/changers the tire shops use... I could hook ya up
wink.gif
.

I've heard those tire changers are dangerous. Not sure if it's that exact kind, but I've been warned about them.

89 K5 Silverado
<a target="_blank" href=http://mudfrog.rockcrawler.com>http://mudfrog.rockcrawler.com</a>
 
Come to think of it, he has a used one sitting in his warehouse right now.

89 K5 Silverado
<a target="_blank" href=http://mudfrog.rockcrawler.com>http://mudfrog.rockcrawler.com</a>
 
Oh yeah, I'll be trying this out with 39.5"x15x16.5" too!
laugh.gif
That might be a bit much for these tools.

TRusty, LOL, seems like everything I do is "manual" labor though
laugh.gif


I'll PM you Mud.
Boss

Pic of my truck Before N' After
<a target="_blank" href=http://coloradok5.com/gallery/BeforeNAfter>http://coloradok5.com/gallery/BeforeNAfter</a>
 
LOL...I think 39.5's would be a little tough to mount using that changer.

I'd look for a truck shop, they usually have the equipment to deal with larger tires.

Rene

<font color=green>Dyslexics of the world...UNTIE!</font color=green>
<a target="_blank" href=http://coloradok5.com/gallery/project_T2> tRusty pics...</a>
 
Try this link<a target="_blank" href=http://www.centramatic.com/>http://www.centramatic.com/</a> for balancing, that way you mount the tire and put it on the truck and you're done.

Rob 85K5

<font color=orange>Bleedin' Chevy Orange</font color=orange>
 
Any tire shop should be able to break the inside bead for you, thats the only thing you need a tire machine for with beadlocks. If at home, there's always the 2x8 trick. As for balancing, good luck. You can only put pound on weights on the inside, and be carefull with caliper interference with tape-ons (if desperate, you could always put them on the outside). I tried Equal (balance powder) with poor results, and Centrimatics are high dollar and they still wouldn't promise me it would fix the problem. The biggest issue with the balance is how well you can get the outer bead centered on the wheel/bead lock.

Pete

'83 K5, 350 TBI (ex 6.2), 700R4, NP208, Dana 60/14 bolt, 4.56s, Detroits, 3" lift, 15-39.5x15 TSLs
'97 Dodge 2500 4x4 CC LB Sport, Cummins 5 spd
 
Yeah, I heard about the equal and heard they aren't worth a damn. How much the centramatics run? That sounds interesting.
These are mainly going to be wheelin' tires only. I'm getting a set of street shoes for normal driving. But I like to have them atleast semi balanced b/c I know I'll be driving them on the street some. I was thinking about the tape ons, and putting them inside the outer rim.
Hey, Pete, would you mind elaborating a little more on your 2x8" trick?

Pic of my truck Before N' After
<a target="_blank" href=http://coloradok5.com/gallery/BeforeNAfter>http://coloradok5.com/gallery/BeforeNAfter</a>
 
I use the manual tire machine all the time with no problems. The biggest thing you want to do is buy a slide hammer bead breaker and practice a couple of times on an old tire and wheel. I also use the bubble balancer, mine is a sears craftsman. They work great as long as you don't plan on going over 75 or 80 MPH. Something elso to remember is that aluminum is very soft and only bends one time without breaking, keep that in mind when you are pulling the bead over the wheel rim. If your balance is way off let the air out of the tire and rotate the tire on the wheel before adding weights, this works well most of the time. If you get the stuff from harbor freight you will need to reinforce the beadbreaker on the machine as it will bend with thick or cold rubber. also don't forget to get a valve stem puller/installer and also a valve core puller/installer.
If you have any questions on how to use it feel free to let me know.

John

Like to go sloppin' 'round in da mud in a rapid fashion....=)
cool.gif


<a target="_blank" href=http://community.webshots.com/user/chevyracing>http://community.webshots.com/user/chevyracing</a>
 
..... there's a machine to mount tires? I used to just grab 2 tire irons, a bottle of soap, and slip them on. 16.5's are a piece of cake to get on the rims... the real trick is getting the tire bead to make enough contact with the rim to inflate it. on smaller tires (9.50x16.5's) on stock rims, its no problem at all... mounting my 33x12.50's on some 9.75x16.5 rims was a task that I finaly gave up on, and just took them to a gas station, and gave them 5 bucks a tire to inflate, and balance them. thats the easiest way to mount &amp; balance your own tires... for bead locks, I suppose you could mount them yourself, then take them to a station to balance them, but &lt;shrug&gt; do you really even need to balance them since they're probably going to be used mostly for offroad, with almost no highway use at all?

-Rich

My truck isn't ugly, you have a skewed sense of beauty

<font color=blue>2007 Ford XLS++ intrepid Ram Superduty 7000 R-type's suck</font color=blue>
 
I priced out the Centrimatics a few years ago, can't remeber for sure but I think they were at least $400. I gave up on balancing mine, my brother did a couple of them when he worked a Discount Tire, helped a bit. I can't do tape-ons on the inside since I run 15" wheels. If you try to balace them, make sure they are warm when you do it, or at least that they have been driven on lately. They flat spot really bad.

As for the 2x8: Lay the tire/rim flat on the groud, with valve stem removed. Lay the 2x8 on the tire, with the end of the board at the edge of the rim. Drive truck on board. Rotate and repeat tire/rim if neccesary. Of course this isn't particularly good for the tire. I think this can also be done w/out the board, there are a lot of variables involved. You'll have to use your best misjudgement.

Pete

'83 K5, 350 TBI (ex 6.2), 700R4, NP208, Dana 60/14 bolt, 4.56s, Detroits, 3" lift, 15-39.5x15 TSLs
'97 Dodge 2500 4x4 CC LB Sport, Cummins 5 spd
 
Boss I mount mine, but my machine is maxed out at a 36 on a 10" wide rim. I also have a bubble balancer. It works ok for the truck but I get the ones for the car done at the tire store. You don't need a tire machine if you get the bead locks. The outside bead is the one that is hard to break and that is what gets cut off and replaced with the new parts. Now that I think about it if all I needed to do was break the inside bead I could do as big a tire as I could pick up, as long as the rim was smaller than a 17" diameter.

Jim '80 GMC & '73 Blazer
Body by Tellico
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.tellicok5.rockcrawler.com>www.tellicok5.rockcrawler.com</a>
 
Some buds and me mounted some 33x12.50"s one time. They were old and we were having a hell of a time getting them to stop leaking around the bead. We slobbed on some PVC cement and it worked. The guy ran them on his truck for a couple months with no problems.

I am about to try putting shotgun pellets in my Swampers to balance them. I am too lazy to get out there and do it, but as soon as I do, I will post an update.

Still Poundin' "pavment" after all these years!!!
smile.gif
 
Boss-if you go with the TireLoc system-you'll want to mount them yourself and 16.5 tires are easy. I can place one of my wheels on the floor and throw the inside of my tires over the lip without even using anything. I take my tires to a semi tire place and they line up huge tractor weights on the inside to balance then I cut the metal clip off and tack weld the weights to the inside of the wheel so they can't come off
 
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