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Running BB's in the tires?
- Thread starter MUD JUNKIE
- Start date
Polaris
1/2 ton status
Re: Running BB\'s in the tires?
Here is a post that I got on my Wisconsin 4 Wheel Drive Association group awhile back, that might help:
Equal: Unless you are better than most of us, you WILL get moisture
in your tires and Equal will clump up and lose is effectiveness,
sticking to the tire carcass and not allowing it to move around as it
should. Additionally, I air down to the point of bead leakage (3-
5psi), and frequently need to unseat my outside bead to clean out the
rocks/sand/tree pieces/etc that get wedged in there. Finally, unless
you invest in some sort of special valve core/stem (heard of one
anyways) designed to keep the equal in your tires and not let it "air
out" each time you air down, you will continue to lose more and more
powder....AND finally again, it costs a fair chunk of money to buy
enough equal to balance a large bias play tire.
BB's/Lead Shot: Better than Equal in that it doesn't clump up.
Better than Golf Balls in that you can better weigh/measure the
proper quantity and get a more accurate balance. However, take the
tire down on the trail and your odds of losing some of the weight is
much higher with small shot than with a "large" golf ball. You are
then stuck unseating again, removing the BB's in there, re-measuring
the quantity required, and redoing it. Cost is cheaper than Equal.
Golf Balls: Free. I had some old golf balls at home and made a trip
to the local golf course to search for the balance. Even a bag of
used golf practice balls are what, $10? Install is a breeze....seat
the tire, or have a shop do it. High lift off the outer bead, stuff
in 4 golf balls for a 35-36" tire, reseat the bead. I can now clean
out my beads and reseat a tire in about 15 minutes each...no time
required to rebalance, etc.
Centramatic balancers: These are what are used on Semi tractors and
trailers to balance. It's effectively locates behind the wheel as a
round disc with a "tubular" outer edge, filled with liquid and lead
shot. The lead shot floats, and as the tire spin it locates itself
to balance the tires. These are NOT cheap, IIRC $125 a pair, but
quite effective. The Golf Ball method relies on the same procedure.
I've taken down 4 of my 5 tires in the past couple months after about
18 months with the golf balls installed...every ball was in perfect
condition and the inside of each tire carcass was fine as well.
Do a search on http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ and you find LOTS of
folks who have tried it with success.
Believe me, I was as big a skeptic as you may find, but am a believer
now.
Here is a post that I got on my Wisconsin 4 Wheel Drive Association group awhile back, that might help:
Equal: Unless you are better than most of us, you WILL get moisture
in your tires and Equal will clump up and lose is effectiveness,
sticking to the tire carcass and not allowing it to move around as it
should. Additionally, I air down to the point of bead leakage (3-
5psi), and frequently need to unseat my outside bead to clean out the
rocks/sand/tree pieces/etc that get wedged in there. Finally, unless
you invest in some sort of special valve core/stem (heard of one
anyways) designed to keep the equal in your tires and not let it "air
out" each time you air down, you will continue to lose more and more
powder....AND finally again, it costs a fair chunk of money to buy
enough equal to balance a large bias play tire.
BB's/Lead Shot: Better than Equal in that it doesn't clump up.
Better than Golf Balls in that you can better weigh/measure the
proper quantity and get a more accurate balance. However, take the
tire down on the trail and your odds of losing some of the weight is
much higher with small shot than with a "large" golf ball. You are
then stuck unseating again, removing the BB's in there, re-measuring
the quantity required, and redoing it. Cost is cheaper than Equal.
Golf Balls: Free. I had some old golf balls at home and made a trip
to the local golf course to search for the balance. Even a bag of
used golf practice balls are what, $10? Install is a breeze....seat
the tire, or have a shop do it. High lift off the outer bead, stuff
in 4 golf balls for a 35-36" tire, reseat the bead. I can now clean
out my beads and reseat a tire in about 15 minutes each...no time
required to rebalance, etc.
Centramatic balancers: These are what are used on Semi tractors and
trailers to balance. It's effectively locates behind the wheel as a
round disc with a "tubular" outer edge, filled with liquid and lead
shot. The lead shot floats, and as the tire spin it locates itself
to balance the tires. These are NOT cheap, IIRC $125 a pair, but
quite effective. The Golf Ball method relies on the same procedure.
I've taken down 4 of my 5 tires in the past couple months after about
18 months with the golf balls installed...every ball was in perfect
condition and the inside of each tire carcass was fine as well.
Do a search on http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ and you find LOTS of
folks who have tried it with success.
Believe me, I was as big a skeptic as you may find, but am a believer
now.
MUD JUNKIE
1/2 ton status
Re: Running BB\'s in the tires?
thanks guys,very helpfull
I'm going to run the golfballs because I have a crap load of them at the house,so this is what I came up with...
38"s/6 golfballs
36"s/4 golfballs
35"s/12oz. of BB's
or 39.5"s/8 golfballs
looks like I have some tires too take off /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif /forums/images/graemlins/truck.gif
thanks guys,very helpfull
I'm going to run the golfballs because I have a crap load of them at the house,so this is what I came up with...
38"s/6 golfballs
36"s/4 golfballs
35"s/12oz. of BB's
or 39.5"s/8 golfballs
looks like I have some tires too take off /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif /forums/images/graemlins/truck.gif
Bubba Ray Boudreaux
1 ton status
Re: Running BB\'s in the tires?
I just want to know if I can run highway speeds (75-85) with no problems.
I just want to know if I can run highway speeds (75-85) with no problems.
Polaris
1/2 ton status
Re: Running BB\'s in the tires?
Uhh.... I dunno! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Sorry, that was a post someone wrote to the WI 4x4 list that I'm on, so I just did the copy/paste thing. I believe he does do highway speeds. My 33's are just balanced in the usual way, with weights.
Uhh.... I dunno! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Sorry, that was a post someone wrote to the WI 4x4 list that I'm on, so I just did the copy/paste thing. I believe he does do highway speeds. My 33's are just balanced in the usual way, with weights.
