hey guys i bought a set of used 38 inch swampers from a guy last nite. i put themon a went for a drive and they rode terrible.
so i took them to les schwab today and had them balanced which cost me 100 dollars. Drove it down the road and the balancing did no good what so ever. betwen speeds of 40 and 50 the truck shakes so bad i hate to drive it so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Does equal work good in these tires ive also heard of putting bb's in them to balance then?????

 

I'm using bb's and they work perfect. Equal does work but it tends to clump and sticks in the valves too so it can be a major pain. 1500 bb's is about 18oz of balancing media and should be plenty for your tires. I'm running 30oz but I have more weight to balance due to larger tires and the beadlock inserts. You can't really add too much weight because the centrifugal force will balance it out wherever it's needed so better to put in a little extra than not enough. 1500 bb's would be plenty for your 38's. Keep in mind that it takes a little speed before they'll work, 20-30 is when they're rolling well enough to really make a difference. I would pull the leads off the wheels and add the bb's. If you still have the shakes then your problem isn't tire balance.

Two other things to consider: If you have bias Swampers, not radials, they'll flatspot overnight due to the nylon in them. Cooler weather makes flatspotting worse and it makes it last longer too. Sometimes it can take 6-10 miles of driving for the tire to warm up enough for the flatspots to disappear and the ride to smooth out. Last thing to consider, Interco has a reputation for tires that are out of round. If one of the tires is out of round (manufacturing problem) then you'll have a poor ride no matter what you do in terms of balance. It's not really common but it does happen and at that point you're best to use it for a spare and just buy a new tire. You can experiment with this by rotating the tires and seeing where the vibration is coming from.

On a side note, I have no idea as to the background of your truck, what tires you had before, etc but you may want to consider some other possible causes for vibration. Is it the steering that's vibrating or the whole truck? Worn tie rod ends, drak link ends or balljoints/kingpins can also cause vibrations at speed. These are problems that may not be apparent until you put a larger tire on. Just something to think about.

Btw, stop in and join us in the Northwest Chapter! Where in Oregon are you?

 

I saw a tech article on another website that the guy put in about 3 golf ***** per tire to do the same thing. As far as flat spotting, Ivan, I have the SSRs, and they still get slight flat spotting, but not as bad as the old bias tires I had. Weird

 

I'd use bb's before I tried golf *****. Seems like that would be a bit overkill.

 

A lot of guys use golf ***** but there's several reasons that bb's are a better choice. For one, golf ***** deteriorate fairly fast. If you do a search in the offroad forum you'll find some links to pics of golfballs that have been floating around in a tire for a while. Second, they can't disperse as evenly as the bb's. The bb's will spread very evenly in the tire wherever weight is needed. With golf ***** you have a bigger lump and they need more speed to balance out.

The nice thing about internal balancing media vs the wheel weights is that they'll constantly adjust to balance the tire. As the tire wears, even if it wears unevenly, they'll balance. If you've got a lot of mud stuck in your wheels they'll automatically counter that (unless the weight of the mud is too extreme). And you don't have to worry about them getting knocked off or moved either. Plus you're balancing the tire all the way out at the edge of the radius, not halfway through it so you'll find that it doesn't take near as much wieght to balance there as it would with a lead wheel weight.

 

would this work for tires that aren't swampers, like regular tires or I was thinking more along the lines of a guy with 20's that dosen't want the external weights messing up the look of his rim (i know about the magnetic ones but I don't think of them as much of an improvment)

 

won't those BB'S and golf ***** make one heck of a sound in your tires?It's funny you say they didnt balance them right a place did it to me to and they used Equal and my tires still shake.next time im having a guy I know do it he says he can make my tires not shake and he has lots of big off road trucks.If i were you id see if you could get your money back since they didnt balance those 38's right.

 

No, not at all. When I roll the tires by hand I can hear a quiet "whoosh" noise as they roll around in there. They rarely ever make contact with the rim because gravity keeps them down in the bottom of the tire until centrifugal force takes over. Once you slow down they roll back down to the bottom. It's not like they are flinging around all over inside the tires. Side note: The only way you can balance a tire "wrong" with Equal is if you don't put enough in there or you get moisture in the tire. Bigger tires usually need 2 packets instead of 1. If you have enough Equal in and you've still got vibrations it's not the tire balance.

Yes, it certainly would although if I was running a smaller tire and wanted to balance it without lead weights I'd go with a centramatic system. It's $200, reusable and never wears out. I was looking at using them originally but even the biggest model doesn't hold enough media to balance a 200 pound tire. If you're not familiar with this setup check it out and make sure you view their video: http://www.centramatic.com/ The "how it works" video will also give you a good visual representation as to how bb's and other balancing media work inside a tire.

Here's another thread from last year that discusses the bb's, golfballs and some other balancing ideas: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=292111

One other option that I don't think is mentioned in that thread is polymer. You can get it in ***** (like blast media from a sandblast shop) or if you do a google search there's a company that makes them specifically for truck tires also. They would be an excellent way to go, I just like the $2 price tag on the bb's better.

 

When i had my 79 Bronco i had powder balancing in my 36" Bias Swampers. I rode at 80mph and it was smoother then at 25mph. I havnt tried the BB's but it sounds like a good idea...might even try it next summer. The draw back on internal balancing(powder/bb's/golfballs/ect) is when you blow a tire and whats inside goes out and your stuck with no balancing.(unless youve got a box of bb's which is why it sounds like a really good idea, and fairly cheap). Thanks again Ivan for the great idea.

 

This is really no draw back at all. Unless you turn the tire inside out the bb's or other media will stay in them as the tires more or less act like a cup. If I pull my swampers I can lay them on their side and the bb's stay in there. To remove them I literally have to scoop them out by hand. This of course applies only if by "blowout" you mean losing the bead. If you mean an actual blowout where the tire tears apart yes, you will lose them but lead weights would be worthless at this point too because when you get a tire you'll still need it re-balanced. Also, if you have lead wheel weights on any tire and it were to slip off the rim and turn you would need to re-balance it unless you marked the original position of the tire on the wheel. Remember, you're usually balancing out imperfections in the tire, not the wheel. Anytime the tire position changes on the rim you need to rebalance, unless you use a self balancing internal media. So really, in either case a blowout with a standard wheel weight would still require rebalancing.

 

Same thing when they did mine they didnt use the right amount of Equal.The guy said he was guessing with how much equal to put in.I thought they had some soft of chart to go by.Needless to say he did not use the right amount he used 1 and a half packets.

 

I have been using centramatic balancers for 2 yrs now with 38" Ground Hawgs. They work great!

www.centramatic.com

 

have you jacked each tire off of the ground and spun it to take a look? Maybe a bent rim, or out of round tire. A tire can be OOR either sideways or up and down. I use a screwdriver held against the ground or frame and close to the tire, to get an idea how much it is out.

 

How would I determine the amount of BB's to put in say a 315 BFG MT? Also, I have a set of 305 MT's now and one of them seems to be getting out of whack, could I loose the wheel weights and put in the BB's now? The tires have about 35,000 miles on them but seem to have about 1/3 of the tread depth left

 

If I recall correctly bb's give you about 6oz for every 500 bb's. For a 305-315 I would guess 500-1000 bb's would be plenty. As mentioned earlier it doesn't hurt to add a little extra as it will balance itself out. You could use them to balance used tires too, with or without the wheel weights.