Balancing your trailer tires

[Redbug]

Hi Machmeter,
I did some reading and investigating the balancing powder and beads, and learned a lot. Something I had never heard of, until this thread. Your system with the balancing plates which go on before the rim seem the best for my application. This is why...I plug all my tires, when I pick up a nail, etc. (Use Safety Seal). Tire plugs are not compatable with the powders/beads rolling around inside the tire. But they would work with the plates you describe. Plugs are just too useful to give up...

Thanks Pat...er...Pat! The Sunguard sounds like a really good product that I may try, also. I use pieces of truck tarp attached with metal snaps over the wheel wells of my trailers to cut down on the UV damage as they sit, and it's helped a lot over the years. Kinda like the RV bunch.

 

[Dargo]

I'll bet that there is some one on TBN that will claim to balance the tires on his tractor if you ask.
Dusty

Well, sure there are. My rears are balanced with this liquid stuff. They must have really been out of balance though! I think it took nearly a thousand pounds of the stuff in each tire.

 

[patrick_g]

Redbud, I haven't needed to stock up on Sunguard for a few years but the last I bought was from Camping World, a chain store like a Wally World of RV stuff.

I have some cheap covers that you put over the tires of a motorhome. They go on right over the tires and you can bungee cord in the back side to foil the wind. It gives a closer fit which excludes light really well but your approach seems like it would work nearly as well and be simpler and cheaper.

Snaps to allow putting on canvas "fender skirts" would be fine and you could leave the ones on the non-steering tires in place while the vehicle was in motion. HMMMMM

I will take a look at making fender skirts for my tandem axle trailer.

Pat

 

[DavesTractor]

My 1 ton Cummins/Dodge has been upgraded to 19.5 Alcoa Rims and Michelins. They came with a balancing powder in them. I was skeptical but after 60,000 miles the tires are wearing very evenly and I can see that they will certainly rot off before they wear out. ....
Pat

Pat

Pat, you ought to start a thread about the 19.5" conversion. I have 17" on my 2006 Dodge dually and am less than impressed with the wear I am getting. It would be great to hear details about overall height, how they drive, any clearance issues, cost, etc. Just an idea.

Thanks

 

[schmism]

those that run BIG rubber (35" and up) off road have been known to put 16-20oz of bb's in there tires for ballanceing.

 

[patrick_g]

Dave, My conversion is OLD NEWS (late '97) and there are better ways to go now. I have CNC billet steel adaptors bolted on with Dodge's bolts. The lugs in the adaptors then engage the Alcoas. These lugs are torqued to 450 lb-ft which is not easily obtained with any degree of accruacy at the average location. I carry a 600 lb-ft torque wrench which I have named Excalibur!

Now you can just buy wheels to fit the Dodge pattern in the 19.5 size and skip the adaptors. TDR (Turbo Diesel Review), a fine magazine, has had advertisers who vend these wheels. If you are a high mileage driver you will like the 19.5 inch Michelins (like the big brown trucks (UPS) used before downsizing to the Dodge Sprinter (with MB engine.) Folks were getting 200,000 on them. Even with UV and ozone protection mine will be retired on age consideratiion while they still have plenty of tread as I don't do high miles. I am still a bit under 100,000 miles on this early '97.

The stock Dodge 4x4 is raised a tad compared to the 2x4. The wheel wells easily accomodate the 19.5 in size 245. I think the proportions are such that the 19.5 tires look right while the OEM tires look undersized.

The weight rating for the wheels and tires are both so much greater than the rest of the truck that they are no longer a consideration when loading the vehicle. If the truck can carry it and not lose a wheel bearing or axle the wheels and tires will still not be stressed. These tires are rated to carry their max load at 110 PSI. These tires are made to be regrooved but you'd have to be a real high mileage kind of guy to wear the tread off enough to warrant that before they are too old and should be swapped out.

Pat

 

[Joe1]

I drove a schoolbus for about five months a few years back. It was an old 3 axle Crown. One day they switched me to a bus I had never driven but had been in regular service. First day out, I hit a minor bump in the road at about 50 - 55 mph with a bus full of kids. The wheel started shaking violently and I had all I could do to get it slowed and under control. It wasn't just me, because some of the kids started screaming, which of course helped the situation immensely.

I took the bus to the mechanics and I told them the front end needed major service. They told me it was just tire balance and that the 22.5" rims and tires weighed over 200 lbs and that they would cause the shaking. I was skeptical, but they replaced both front wheels and tires with properly balanced ones and it never happened again.

I would think that if nothing else, balancing trailer tires would certainly extend the life of the tires, bearings, and other parts of the trailer suspension.

 

[Bird]

I was skeptical

I'm still skeptical. If it were tire balance, it would happen at a particular speed, regardless of whether you hit a bump or not. I had exactly the same thing happen, numerous times, on a 1973 Winnebago motorhome on a Dodge chassis. And the Winnebago dealer tried to give me the same story you got. When that didn't help, they told me I needed to buy a steering damper. I disagreed and took it to real truck mechanic, who replaced the king pins and bushings and I never had another problem. Incidentally, I started having the problem when it was fairly new, but it was just barely out of warranty when I got it fixed. So I wrote a letter to Winnebago and one to Dodge (Chrysler). Winnebago never even answered my letter, but Chrysler did send a check for half what it cost to get it fixed.

 

[Joe1]

Bird:

I know where you're coming from, but all they had time to do was replace the wheels and tires and that seemed to do it. I believe the problem was made worse by lots of wear on a 200,000+ mile 20 year old bus. Changing the tires did fix the problem. They always balanced the tires. It was probably the worn out front end that made the tires wear unevenly and ultimately cause the imbalance problem. The new tires probably wore the same way and would need to be replaced sooner.

On a trailer or any other vehicle, out of balance tires will wear everything else out faster.

 

[Bird]

That sounds like a plausible theory, Joe; just might be. I never had that problem with the school busses I drove. I started with the school's oldest bus, a 1952 International, but later in the year got the newest bus, a 1957 International, in the days when you had one outside mirror (on the left side), no power steering, no automatic transmission. They did have heaters, although they were barely adequate for the driver if he dressed warmly. I don't think the kids even knew they had a heater.