Wheel balancer

Discussion in 'General Automotive Tech' started by Grizz, Nov 18, 2017.

  1. Grizz

    Grizz Are we there yet???

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    i recently got an accu turn tire machine from a friend’s shop for super cheap. He told me about it maybe a year ago. His shop just a got a brand new one that does the low pro tires with ease so they moved it into a bay that wasn’t being used. I expressed my interest but never acted. He called me about 5 months later and said it has to go. I asked what the “take it today” price is. $400!!! I got it that day and think I got an excellent deal. Now all I need is a balancer. I’ve only used a digital balance machine but I have a sneaking suspicion that wheels have not ALWAYS been balanced with a digital snap-on machine. What could I be looking to pay for a used machine? Can I do it with a simpler method? Spring chicken needs answers! Thoughts, feelings, insults? 815062C1-05D4-49CB-909F-16EF37A61E65.jpeg
     
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  2. OldFox

    OldFox Curmudgeon

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    We used "bubble balancers" for decades before the digital ones came out. Never had a problem with them. However, they do a static balance rather than a dynamic balance and require twice the number of weights.
     
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  3. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Yeah, as far as radial tires go, they need dynamic balancing. If you ever have bias-ply tires, static is fine for them, but they do a bit better with a dynamic balance. But prices are gonna be what you find, and whether someone will haggle or not. I have to say, that machine is in great shape; if I had it, I would get a second air tank, have it plumbed to just service the machine, as your Kobalt air compressor's just a bit small. But that's just me.
     
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  4. Grizz

    Grizz Are we there yet???

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    C’mon now and educate me. What’s the difference between static and dynamic?
     
  5. Thirsty islander

    Thirsty islander Well-Known Member

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    Two different axis?
     
  6. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Static--tire lays flat, doesn't hardly move.
    Dynamic--tire is spun, machine figures out the imbalance location, you read the machine for installing the weights.
     
  7. Grizz

    Grizz Are we there yet???

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    I gotcha. So for static, it lays flat and you sort of counter balance with the weights depending on which way it moves? Yeah I definitely want a dynamic machine. I been looking around think I can get a used one for around $500. It’ll have to wait till after Christmas.
     
  8. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    the center post on a static balancer has a circular 'bubble' thingy (I forget what they're called) which has a circle inscribed in the center of the glass, and like using a level in carpentry, you fiddle with the weights around the rim until the bubble is centered in the circle.
     
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  9. Grizz

    Grizz Are we there yet???

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    Ah yes, we called it a plumb bubble when I was a land surveyor years ago. The fog has been cleared. Thank andrew:thumbs2: yeah I definitely want a dynamic machine. I need to be told what size weight and exactly where to put it or I’d be there all day
     
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  10. WagonKiller

    WagonKiller Well-Known Member

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    I still use one and have no problems. The new wheels however (aluminum) do NOT fit the center of the balancer because they are to small.
     
  11. Grizz

    Grizz Are we there yet???

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    I been doing some research, i can find used dynamic machines all day. For a little more than a new static. The static is tempting just because it would use less space. We shall see. I know your all on the edge of your seat!
     
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  12. Poison_Ivy

    Poison_Ivy Dogzilla Fan

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    I almost forget those even existed. We learned balancing, on those things, way back in highschool. I never used one, ever since. That's when they just came out with the dynamic types. Those portable ones you'd set under the mounted wheel were a pain in the cakes to use, though. I would do anything, to get the vehicle hoisted and then remove the wheels to balance on the stationary type
     
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  13. OldFox

    OldFox Curmudgeon

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    I had forgotten all about those. We had one at the station I worked at while in HS. The boss was the only one who ever used it. We all used the bubble balancer We also balanced radials with it and had no problems.

    I had one of the newer spin balancers in my shop. Tire technology has advanced so far that most tires required little, if any weight. More often it's the rim that is causing the imbalance, not the tire, especially with steel wheels.
     
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  14. Poison_Ivy

    Poison_Ivy Dogzilla Fan

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    Sounds like your boss refused learning modern technology. Bosses can often be weird
     
  15. OldFox

    OldFox Curmudgeon

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    We may not be talking about the same thing. This balancer was modern technology in the 60's. The thing looked like an old Hoover upright vacuum cleaner with a big motor on it. You jacked the wheel up and placed the unit under it. Then there was an apparatus that clamped on to the rim with 3 dials on it. You turned the dials to progressively fine tune the balance. Lots of starting and stopping with the ever present danger of the motor unit accelerating off into whatever happened to be in its way. Not something you let a HS kid fool around with.

    Boss's name was Beanie and he was a well known cocksman. He would often deliver a female customer's car and be gone for several hours. He called everyone Sire.......as in "HHEEYYY, how ya doin Sire. The key man was named Buck and he worked there for probably 30 years. You don't find people making a career out of working in the corner gas station anymore. Yet he was married, owned his own home, and built a motel on his property for when he retired.
     
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