Balancing our tires

[chris60]

I was just wondering how many are doing this? I am considering it as I have no way of knowing if I have a wheel that could be damaging a bearing if it is vibrating or shaking at highway speed. I wonder why this is not done at the Heartland end, probably cost, but I think it could be a preventative maintenance thing.. For $12-15.00 per wheel, I think it may be worth it.. Thoughts anyone?

Chris ,
09 3055 BH happy owner

 

[cookie]

Chris, I always have had my tires balanced. Including our pop up tent camper. It helps with tire wear as well as it may be saving a few less loose screws and fittings inside. Not to mention the bearing as you have concerns about. Durring our tour of the factory I saw pallets full of tires mounted on rims. So I believe that they, along with every other camper manufacturer buy the mounted tires in bulk from a supplier and just put them on. So in answer to your question on thoughts, those are mine. And on the same line, I would recommend having the bolt on valve stems installed. New bolt on valve stems and balance should cost aroung $25 per wheel.

Peace
Dave

 

[chris60]

Thanks cookie, (or Dave!) I am just learning how much info is on this forum, I had no idea this BH tech forum even existed, I have been reading the general forum all this time ! Now I have a lot of reading to do to catch up !
& yes, I will get my wheels done,& look into the valve stems you mentioned, before our 3 week road trip planned in late August.

 

[Pulltab]

Make sure they are balanced using the lug holes and not the center of the hub as the wheel does not locate on the hub like a car wheel. If parts are machined right it shouldn't make a difference but we all know that if it CAN go wrong it will.

 

[cookie]

Chris, one more thing to mention is jacking your BH. If you have Lippert axles, go to their web site and read about jacking your trailer. Pay attention the the part that says,"Lift the unit by the frame and never the axle or suspension". Some people do, I wont.

Peace
Dave

 

[chris60]

Chris, one more thing to mention is jacking your BH. If you have Lippert axles, go to their web site and read about jacking your trailer. Pay attention the the part that says,"Lift the unit by the frame and never the axle or suspension". Some people do, I wont.

Peace
Dave

interesting, I just read it...It was new to me for sure.
I have always jacked between the u-bolts, & only taken one wheel per side as the other axle shared the load..and blocked it with a jack stand beside it.
What size jack are you using and do both wheels come off at ground the same time? once, when I had a wheel bearing issue on the roadside, I backed the rear wheel up onto a 4" leveling block & took the front tire off as I had a very light duty jack, but I was in a pinch & had no choice.
I will need a bigger bottle jack for sure if I follow their procedure.
Thanks for the heads up on this !

 

[TXBobcat]

The shocks on our Bighorn were actually not effective. When I had the springs replaced Lippert Tech said to balance the tires and we could do without the shocks.

I agree that you need to use full metal valve stems, not rubber or a combination of rubber and metal.

BC

 

[jmgratz]

Metal valve stems are MANDATORY if you are using a tire pressure monitoring system if the sensors mount on the valve stems.

 

[jimpav]

equal balance

We just had our tires balanced with Equal balance powder on our 35DSRL Eagle Ridge.
"This is suppose to replace the traditional clamp-on weights used to balance tires. The unique thing about this product is that unlike the clamp-ons, this product is blown into your tires via the valve stem through the use of the Equalizer machine, found in 4Wheel Parts or other authorized Equal [COLOR=#ff4400! important][COLOR=#ff4400! important]dealers[/COLOR][/COLOR]. The product moves around inside the tire to correct balance infinitely, while your tires are rolling on the road. The manufacturer also claims that you won't ever have to re-balance your tires again.
Balancing your tires with EQUAL compensates for irregularities found in both the tire and wheel assembly and at the tire road surface contact. EQUAL has the ability to adapt, respond and dampen vibrations at the tire footprint."
and, NO, moisture will not degrade the powder. My Brother-in law who works for Goodyear has seen hundreds of tires that have used this product, especially semi trucks. Best time to "throw in the bag" is when you get your tires mounted, but we just had it applied to the existing mounted tires. Really simple install. here's a link to the product:
http://www.imiproducts.com/equal/faqs.aspx
PS be sure they change out the valve stems with the special EB ones as they have a check valve to preclude the loss of powder upon inflation.

 

[Pulltab]

Jim, that is interesting! How much does it cost to do a tire?