Centramatic Balancers Update...

[SilverCabin]

Would these eliminate the need to have the wheels rebalanced after installation of the tire pressure monitor sensors? The literature for the monitor says you "may" have to have the wheels rebalanced.

[LI Pets]

yes you would not need to because they are being balanced or rebalanced all the time.

[pmclemore]

Once thing that puzzles me about the beads is that the mfr suggests removing wheel weights. Seems to me that they should help. Any thoughts?

Pat

[LI Pets]

I removed all of mine, the 3-4 Oz of beads spinning at about 16 inches from the hub is more than 8 or 10 Oz of lead 10 inches on the wheel because the leads are closer to the center of gravity.

[lewster]

Originally Posted by rgodfrey

Would these eliminate the need to have the wheels rebalanced after installation of the tire pressure monitor sensors? The literature for the monitor says you "may" have to have the wheels rebalanced.

I've been running the Pressure Pro sensors on my van tires for about a year. Never had to re-balance the wheels!

[wanderer1]

Originally Posted by HowieE

Hi Wanderer1

You say you could hear the Centramatic. If the bearing have taken a position to balance the tire at a given speed what is the source of the noise? There souldn't be any movement inside the Centramatic. Is it vibration side to side or squeak between the hub and wheel. Did the centramatic show any wear when you changed tires on your truck?

Hello Howie,sorry so long to respond.the noise I heard was a metallic rolling sound like on a roulette table.The cutaways at the truck stop tire shop also make a slight sound when spun by hand.Centramatics don't wear best I could tell.They mount on the hub/studs with the wheel mounted up against them.The noise seemed most noticed at slow speed,25/40 mph,against a wall (echo back).Mine may have leaked the oil out,who knows.Hope that helps you...Brian

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by pmclemore

Once thing that puzzles me about the beads is that the mfr suggests removing wheel weights. Seems to me that they should help. Any thoughts?

Pat

Hi, if your wheels were freshly balanced shortly before adding the beads, I would leave the lead weights on. But if you have not had this done in quite a while, Your wheels could be off by a few or more ounces, this would counter act against the beads not allowing them to be fully benificial. Then I would rebalance or remove them altogether. Also the statement about the beads being farther out from the center of the wheel therefore less weight needed to balance your wheels is true.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, the farther out from center of wheel the less weight needed to balance. True. Today, at work, we took a freshly balanced wheel that was still on the balancer. [000] We put 2.0 oz weight on the balancer's hub. Then we spun the wheel again to see what the machine asked for and the results were. [050] 0.50 oz on the rim to correct the 2.0 oz on the center hub.

[slowmover]

Posted this originally in the VIntage Kin subforum:

WHEEL AND TIRE BALANCE (Silver Streak 3411 Supreme)

I considered using the method recommended by Andy of Inland RV (lug-centric) but instead opted for CENTRAMATIC WHEEL BALANCERS as they have a good reputation the past 22-years. I dealt with "Tudor" (sp?) a very nice Texas gal at their shop south of Fort Worth. As these wheels (WESTERN, Model 26) are 5.5" bolt circle, 6-bolt, 15", she advised me to use "A" unit, stock number 300-556 (4 ea).

I purchased new tires from my DISCOUNT TIRE dealer as take-outs (they can only install ST tires at the shop):

YOKOHAMA RY-215 in LT 7.00R-15, rated at 2,040-lbs (as per Silver Streak weight guidelines). This was the tire I found in the trunk and would have purchased as I wish to avoid any Goodyear tire, and have no desire for Carlisle or Maxxis. It is a commercial trailer and truck tire with a good reputation. Indeed, it balanced out (on a HUNTER GSP-9700) between 8-lbs and 22-lbs. This tire is a bit tall, but the small amount of paint wear on the underside of the wheelwell tells me that the previous owner had little problem with it. As I have replaced the shocks (and will upgrade) I expect no problem.

In fact, in a 540-mile drive after installation on a 100F day my infrared thermometer never showed above 127F on any tire (same as the new Michelins on my truck), and pressure (65-psi cold) didn't rise above 71-psi. The temperature variation was less than 5F.

And the balance of tires and balancers appear to have worked well. My wife told me she had left a one-third full short paper cup of tea in one of the little corner racks over the bed and that it had not spilled after a long day on the road. The cat was obviously less stressed than in the first few trips.

New lug nuts, heat-treated, were installed as the old ones were looking poorly, as were new steel valve stems.

I believe I felt less at the steering wheel during this trip, that is, a reduction of vibration though this may be wishful thinking.

[Arteacherz]

The main disadvantage I can see with Dynabeads is that Flatfix and related products probably should not be used for roadside emergencies. I don't think it would be a good idea to have all your Dynabeads glued to one side of the tire.

Bill

[crispyboy]

I just bought a set of Centramatics for the trailer.
My trailer has the 205/75/15 inch tires - original rims.
The first set of balancers would not fit inside the factory aluminum rim. I spoke with Jerry Robertson at Centramatic and sent me a second set which were smaller.
The smaller ones fit inside the rim but would not go flush against the drum. There was about 3/16" of a gap. Jerry then sent me a set of spacers to go between the drum and centramatic ring. The spacers were about 7/32" thick. No charge on the spacers. Customer Service is good at Centramatic.
Next problem - wheel studs were too short. There was not enough threads for the lug nut.
I stopped off at the store where I purchased the Dexter axles and bought a couple of longer wheel studs. Took a big hammer to remove two of the old studs from the drum. Set two longer studs in I was back at the proper length for the lug nuts.
It is a PITA job but I will finish the others up next weekend.

I also bought a set for the pickup. I cannot hear the beads when going slow but I believe my truck steering tracks straighter going down the highway and there is noticable less tire vibration. Yes it is an older truck.

[eubank]

Ok, I just ordered Centramatics for our 67. Merry Xmas for the Airstream, which is just buried enough in the snow to keep it stationary until April anyway!

Lynn

[crispyboy]

Wanted to give a quick update on the centramatic install.
The company had to send me spacers (no charge) so that the centramatic would fit properly in front of the drum and inside the wheel. This in turn caused another problem. I had to get the next size longer wheel studs and the spacer holes had to be drilled out to 1/2" diameter. The balancers fit perfect now. See pics below.

[Airstreamer67]

Maybe I should have tried harder to get them to fit, but the Centramatics sent to me would not fit on my 67 International. Instead, I bought the Dynabeads, which were easily installed and work very well.

To the question of Dynabeads possibly sticking on tire plugs, I don't think this would be a problem since the plugs have a relatively small area of stickiness, thus could capture only a few of the many beads that comprise 3 oz. And if one were really worried about it, installation of an extra ounce of beads with the plug would be easy to do. Remember, the beads self-adjust to whatever imbalance there is for whatever reason.

However, if one were to try to fix a flat with the stuff that is injected into a tire from a pressure can that contains some type of sealant, no, the beads would not work in that circumstance. However, I never have found that type of flat-cure to work, and the guys who change flats hate it because they create a great, sticky mess inside the tire that is impossible to get out.

About the worry of tire warranty, I have never heard that to be a problem. Truckers have used this balancing method for many years without problems. I have never heard of anyone having any wear or other such problems related to having the smooth beads inside of a tire.

[Bob Thompson]

I've been using the Centramatics for about 40,000 miles over 4 years on my 25' Excella with BF Goodrich Commercial T/A's and they appear to be working perfectly. I took Centramatics advice and had the tires balanced before installing the Centramatics. The only very slight issue I've noticed is a very slight tipping of some of the lugs on two tires. During this first phase of use, I had not rotated the tires from their original position. Before this last trip, I took the tires off, had them rebalanced and put the tipped lug tires in the position of those with no apparent tipping. That seems to have corrected the problem. I suspect the sight tipping of some of the lugs was caused by being about 1.5 oz. out of balance which developed over time during the first 36,000 miles of usage.

As for tread wear, these tires have fairly deep tread. I would guesstimate that over 40,000 miles, I have worn away about 15%-20% of the tread depth. I expect I will be able to get another 4 years of use out of them and at least another 40,000 miles. At the current rate of wear, age, not wear will determine how long they should be kept in service. In my opinion, the Centramatics can be credited with helping create a positive tire experience on my trailer.

When I first got the Centramatics I noticed the slight noise of the beads rolling in the oil at low speeds, but hardly notice it at all now.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by dscluchfc

There are THREE different Centramatic Balancers used on Airstreams depending on your setup of wheels, brakes-disc or drum, and size tires.

Hi, what are the three different part numbers and applications for Centramatics used on Airstreams? All I see is 300-556. What was the part number of the Centramatics used with 15" Aluminum wheels and 12" drum brakes? [anyone with this set-up have the part number?]

[Airstreamer67]

This is an old thread. I see just above that I commented on DynaBeads relative to whether they would be affected by tire plugs used for fixing flats. Today, I don't have to speculate, I know that tire plugs have no effect on my trailer with DynaBeads. This is because I had two nails (caught by my PressurePro low-pressure alarm before they became flats) that I repaired on the road with plugs on a long trip in April 08. The effect of the plugs on tire balance was not detected by me. As I noted in an answer above, the amount of glued area represented by the plug is quite small compared with the many beads rotating in the tire. So, if any beads were caught by the glue, it wasn't enough to cause a problem.

The reason I began using DynaBeads on my trailer is because the set of Centramatics sent me by the factory did not fit the wheels.

To answer the most recent question, I never did find what Centramatic number would fit my 67 International. However, I didn't send the Centramatics back because, fortunately, they fit my Jeep Wranger. The jeep was having what is commonly called the Death Wobble among Wrangler enthusiasts, and the Centramatics reduced this problem by keeping my tires and wheels well balanced. However, when I tried to remove the original wheel weights after installing the Centramatics, the wobble problem came back, so I replaced the lead weights and kept the Centramatics. This seems to have greatly improved my Jeep's problem.

So, I'm using both DynaBeads on my Airstream and Centramatics on my Jeep. I am sold on the idea of continuous balance of the rotating wheel.

[ArtStream]

Thanks for the follow-up

Michael

[crispyboy]

Airstreamer67,
Hour death wobble on the Wrangler is probably coming worn tie rods, steering damper or ball joints. I would have doubts whether or not the Centramatics could fix the "death wobble" problem.
I have these on a 1986 pickup with old school Saginaw steering though most of the components are new. I will admit that the Centramatics do help with the truck steering straighter down the road.
You may need to have someone look at the steering components.

So why did the Centramatics not fit your 67 trailer? Lug spacing? Rim spacing? Look back in the thread and you can see the pains that I went through to get them to fit. I had to use longer studs and a wheel spacer.

[ZoominC6]

A great product we've been using for five years ever since we discovered that 18 wheelers had been using them and that the factory was located just a few miles from our home at the time in Texas. We towed our baby to the factory and had them installed by workers on site. Good people with a good product.