Balanced wheels?

[bwringer]

Both front and rear axles are plenty long to use the type of homemade balancer shown.

The only sad part is that, in the spirit of cheapness, I had to wait a few months until one of my co-workers changed out the bearings in his Rollerblades. Out of the 20 used bearings, I tossed out 8 or 9 that weren't perfectly smooth.

The jack stands were obviously an old spare set, and the brackets were left over from... something or other. I had two of them anyway. A little grinder work turned the slot into a notch so an axle could rotate freely.

I also had the 8mm stainless allen head bolts and washers sitting around. Since I didn't have any 8mm nuts, I drilled and tapped the brackets. The brackets are held onto the jack stands via old GS valve cover bolts threaded into drilled and tapped 6mm holes. I bashed the tops of the jack stands sorta flat with Mr. Big Hammer.

I think Joe made his balancers from a couple of hunks of 4X4. Use whatever's around. It doesn't matter if the angles or heights are slightly off, other than the axles will eventually walk off the bearings if they're really cattywompus.

Total spent: $0.00 \\/

[mixongw]

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/

Works great for mine.

[duaneage]

I drop an extra axle into my bench vise and level it with a float. No shakes, even at 120MPH\\/

[robert_r_lefebvre]

I second mixongw.

II also use the ceramic beads in my tires and it seams to work great.

[sharpy]

beads

II also use the ceramic beads in my tires and it seams to work great.

??????????????????????????? why? There is no reason to do such a thing. Dont care what they say on the bottle/can/tube. Sorry for being harsh.

[Road_Clam]

I balance my own with this high-tech apparatus:

(Note clever substitution of random object for motorcycle wheel and axle)



These were homemade with old Rollerblade bearings, and the setup is virtually frictionless and VERY sensitive. You can literally move the wheel by breathing on it. If you give too vigorous a spin, you can wait several minutes for the wheel to slow down

I found the heavy spot of the wheels easily, and sure enough, it was about 80 degrees away from the valve stem. After mounting my last set of tires with the dot near the true heavy spot, the front ended up taking just 1/2 of a 1/4 ounce weight and the rear took one 1/4 ounce weight. (You gotta love Pirelli's quality control!)

Dude, those garage door brackets is a SWEET idea! Way to go thinking creatively!

[ScottMc1100L]

So, you got that 4-way balanced too for NASCAR speed lug nut removal :-P ?
Those brackets appear to me also to be garage door track brackets.

Good thread

[Nessism]

I built a pair of balance stands like shown in this thread and the friction in the bearings is greater than the friction in my wheel bearings. Not trying to diss the balance stand but it doesn't work for me - friction in the small skate bearings is greater than that in the larger wheel bearings.

[bwringer]

I built a pair of balance stands like shown in this thread and the friction in the bearings is greater than the friction in my wheel bearings. Not trying to diss the balance stand but it doesn't work for me - friction in the small skate bearings is greater than that in the larger wheel bearings.

You must have gotten a bad set of skate bearings, then. Or mounted them incorrectly. Even teensy-tiny 1/8 ounce or smaller imbalances are readily apparent with my set-up. And yes, my wheel bearings are good -- I replace them every other tire change.

[bakalorz]

You must have gotten a bad set of skate bearings, then. Or mounted them incorrectly. Even teensy-tiny 1/8 ounce or smaller imbalances are readily apparent with my set-up. And yes, my wheel bearings are good -- I replace them every other tire change.

I ended up doing something even simpler, and just as effective.

Just balance using the axle across 2 sawhorses ...

But heres the trick:
Put your finger on top of the axle, and rock it back and forth (just roll it back and forth 1/4" or so each way.

The shaft will roll on the sawhorses, but the rotational inertia of the wheel prevents the wheel from rotating. So the bearings are essentially going backwards and then forwards constantly. The net torque on the wheel is zero, so it doesn't try to rotate the wheel. But any torque from imbalance is still there, and will try to rotate it. Normally friction in the bearings would stop it, but the alternating friction is pretty much independant of speed in each direction, so it doesn't act to stop a slow rotation of the wheel.

The above is a REALLY CRAPPY description of why it works, but it really does work great.
Rocking the axle back and forth reduces the effective friction DRAMATICALLY.
It sounds dopey, but it really works, don't knock it till you try it.
I was also able to balance to within less than 1/8 ounce of perfect.

[Pharkmeh]

I get Sharpy to do mine :-D\\/

no brakes/oil leaks/timing chain needs replacin...

but Sharpies tyres r gr8 lol

thx bro

Phark