Balancing Bias Ply Swamper Tips/Tricks

Tim88XJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Raleigh NC
I am picking up a set of lightly (thats what they all say right...) used set of q78-15 swampers. (Roughly 35.5x11) And I don't even want to bother paying or having a shop try and balance them. I have done a little research on pirate and seems that people use golfballs, bb's, and water/antifreeze mix. I know Rich and some of you who have had larger tires for a while have dealt with this. I was just wondering what you all tried and what worked best. I know I am not goin to get them to ride like radials, but I just dont want to get any horrible death Wobble or shake my fillings out.

Thanks, Tim
 
I balanced my 33 bias TSL's like normal.. now yes they took like 20oz front and back but they rid just fine...OR you can spend $80 and pad balance them( probably the best way to go)
 
I dont want to Waste/spend money on balancing either, something that would just get messed up everytime I go wheeling or pop a bead.

Im more interested in methods such as water, BB's or "equal"


I know rich used water earlier, but i think he switched to something else. I can't recall his results with either. Anyone have any luck with BB's?
 
A guy at the Honda dealer in Raleigh used sand of some sort in his yota. nobody there believed it would work but it did. The guy I talked to said he used some sort of equasion (sp) to figure out how much sand to use. It might have been special sand so as not to clump or freeze in winter, but I don't know. Don't work at BMW anymore so I can't jsut run over there and ask him anymore. I think he got his info from a off road mag or something. the above websight looks like it might help. Good luck.
 
I am using the BB method. I put 12oz of BB's in each tire. My rear 39.5 Boggers are cut. Not that I run a lot ( or anywhere for that matter right now) on the highway, once the flat spots are gone from sitting, they seem to ride pretty good. Would I do the same again, yes.
 
Been using the water/anti-freeze method since I got the cruiser. Works as well as anything else I've seen, and adding more in a piece of cake, don't have to break the bead.

Truck drivers have been doing it for many many years.

Death wobble really doesn't have much to do with tire balance, though it has been a contributing cause, once the other more major causes are fixed, the DW went away. (Knuckle shimming, TRE's, ball-joints, alignment, etc...)
 
you gettin those from murf?

from what i remember they didnt balance out too bad just using a regular balancer and hammer-on weights...
 
I never had DW. I had a CJ8 with 35X15.50X15 TSL/SX tires. I was going atleast 80+ on my way to raleigh alot of the time. I tried to find some places to balance my tires but with no luck locally(In Mt. Airy). After driving to raleigh I wondered if it would even matter if those tires were balanced. You get a pleasant humm and your nerves go numb. To be honest I don't think you will ever have to worry about people following to close or being anwhere near you if your on the highway at those speeds. Swampers sound like a train going down the road. I loved mine no matter how uncomfortable they were because they are bomb proof. I'd hide in one if a nuclear bomb ever hits.
 
You can probably find one of those manual type balancers. I had one but was to lazy to do it. Those weights that mount on the inside of the wheel work pretty good. I think they stick with tape.
 
fryedaddy said:
I loved mine no matter how uncomfortable they were because they are bomb proof. I'd hide in one if a nuclear bomb ever hits.
Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

JB
 
lomodyj said:
This is my plan:
Innovative Balancing
Click to expand...
Guys have been using them with mostly positive results for a while on the diesel boards, but there are a few who mention they don't work well for them. Mostly those with out of round tires, bent wheels, etc... ya know, like us.

Worth noting that you can spend all that money for the beads, and they physically cannot work any better than the anti-freeze/water mixture.
 
Rich said:
Worth noting that you can spend all that money for the beads, and they physically cannot work any better than the anti-freeze/water mixture.
Click to expand...

Good point Rich ! I'll be mounting the IROKs early next week. Think I'll do the water/anti freeze thing.

J(tight wad)B
 
I went with the pads on my 42 tsl's and first trip Pheery busted my front right bead off on Kodak Rock. We rotated that tire about ten times around the rim before we got it to seat. There is absolutely no way we got it back in the exact spot, and the tire has given me no vibration or any problems.

I would spend the extra loot and never have to worry about breaking axle shafts with added weight from antifreeze or water.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Makes sense... the tire is usually what's really out of whack.. your wheel *should* be pretty round... Good point, Austin!

Using the water/AF, you're only using about a cup or so... we're not talking comp buggy ballast, here.. :D
 
My $.02 worth is skip any balancing that involves external weights (they last a long time offroad :rolleyes: ) or pads (cause once it's moved... :( )..

I know multiple folks that have done golfballs, BBs, powders, & H2O/AF... all with varying results (FWIW, the BBs sounded cool a @#$% when you stop :huggy: ). Once the new parts are back on the Moss, the stupid lead weights are coming off and I plan to use H2O/glycol....

after all Rich wouldn't steer us wrong! :flipoff2:
 
'taint me that came up with it.. OTR truckers have been doing it for many years, and that's who I got the idea from. The way I see it, if it can get Boggers to run round enough to drive 55-60, it's a good solution.
 
I have been using equal balancing compound for ten years my dad owned a truckind company thats all they use. any place that sells big truck tires will have it and the valve stems their are two types one goes in place of the stock has a little screen on it to keep sand in when airing down other is like an extension bad, breaks off. i r4un it in my 38.5 boggers love it also my work truck 285/16 evryone loves the cadillac ride and if the tire spins in the rim its still balanced. cost is 8 to 15 per tire depending on size. one time !balanced for life this stuff is greater than duk tape!
 
first of all hello i'm newgreat site . and now for the first of many questions

if i was to go the water/anti-freeze route how much do you add per tire? they are 38.5 tsl/sx.

Dudley
 
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