Tire balancing idea?

[Fordum]

I have been fortunate or unfortunate in that I have not had the balancing problems some of you have had with the big tires.

12.50/33s and a huge PTO winch take me pretty much where I need to go.

I did have strange problems with the 16.5 rims when I first got them, in that the tires would rotate on the rims without losing any air as I drove down the road
But, other than that, all my stuff balances pretty well.

But, I read here often about using airsoft pellets or other things to balance the big tires.
So, I was not too freaked out when I was in a tire place today watching a semi getting new shoes.
As the guy was mounting the tires on the rims, the last thing he did before seating the bead, was drop in three golf balls!
I know the place sells the commercial stuff for big tires, so I had to ask. He said that almost no one around there uses that any more. Most of the log trucks and others just put in golf balls.

He pointed to a pallet sitting over in the corner, and it was boxes of cheap golf balls.
Said that about 30mph or so and above, the ride gets smooth as glass..

So, all you airsoft guys, ever think about golf balls??

 

[tRustyK5]

We chucked a half dozen golf balls in my buddy's 36" TSL's. Worked just fine. This was about 10 years ago...

 

[SUPER'BURB]

Trucker buddy of mine said they can become a serious projectile if you have a bad blowout. Probably not a big issue for my 36"s under the 'burb but under an 80,000# rig that could be interesting. He did say they work great at highway speeds though.

Anyway, that's why I run beads instead of golf balls. Better safe than sorry.

 

[truck-oholic]

3 golf balls is what Trailworthy Fab and Ian Johnson recommended for my 41.5 radial rockers on recentered H1 doube beadlocks

 

[blazinzuk]

Golf balls, airsoft, leadshot, calcium, equal, many variety of ceramic beads. Lots and lots of stuff. Anything that will rotate around. I even know guys who have melted old lead tire weights and shaped them. Still wanna get centramatics

 

[Phil513]

This whole concept is amazing to me. How do a bunch of floating weights end up collecting themselves directly opposite a heavy spot in a tire?

I know it works, I have had buddies that have done it. But it seems pretty remarkable.

 

[Stein]

This whole concept is amazing to me. How do a bunch of floating weights end up collecting themselves directly opposite a heavy spot in a tire?

I know it works, I have had buddies that have done it. But it seems pretty remarkable.

Best video that i have seen on this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eq263AYgyYg

 

[Phil513]

Best video that i have seen on this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eq263AYgyYg

That is pretty amazing right there.

 

[Kay86K5]

This whole concept is amazing to me. How do a bunch of floating weights end up collecting themselves directly opposite a heavy spot in a tire?

I know it works, I have had buddies that have done it. But it seems pretty remarkable.

It's simply Centripetal Force. It's the same exact thing the guys are doing at the tire shop when they put it on the machine. It's just finding where the out of balance is after they spin it and sticking a weight on the rim (either on the lip or the stick on versions on the inside of the rim) to counter act the out of balance.

I put a whole bunch of airsoft bb's in my 38.5's and they worked just fine up to 65 mph. I never really thought about the golf balls cause the bb's work fine and are not that loud. I could imagine that once you come to a stop and the balls fall it would sound pretty loud hitting the rim (as I know I can hear my bb's fall and hit the rim too, but it's not that loud at all)