As you all know the wheels on the Rampage XT, MT or MT Pro are pretty big and pretty heavy. They also cause a lot of shake at speed when they're out of balance. I bought a Dubro balancer a few weeks ago, but it proved to be pretty useless for the big rampage wheels. The openings in the wheels are quite a bit larger than the cones on the Dubro balancing shaft. One member of forum suggested disconnecting the axles and using the bearings on the truck itself to balance them. Too much of a PITA for that way I thought. So today I got creative.
I removed one of the threaded hubs and checked to see if the Dubro shaft would work on it. It worked but the shaft, once inside the wheel, is to short to do a hanging balance; the wheel weight is probably too much also and the wheel tire assy is too wide to nestle down between the uprights of the Dubro.
What I came up with was putting a small open end wrench in a vice at an angle for one end of the balancing shaft to rest in, then on the other side of the wheel I set the balancer. It works incredible. The wheel spins so freely it takes 5 minutes to stop rotating back and forth where the heavy side is on the bottom.
I've attached pictures of how I did it. Now just comes the tedious part of actually balancing them. I'm using lead tape used for changing the weight and balance of a golfclub head. I picked up the lead tape from a golf pro shop, but I think it can be found in other stores that have a good selection of golf gear.
I hope it's helpful information for someone.
UPDATE: I just finished trying to balance the first wheel. I added four 3 gram tapes to the wheel and it's still not balanced. I cleaned the wheels with alcohol before hand so they'd stick better. Off to the pro shop for more.
UPDATE 2 Not going with the golf club weights. I found black self adhesive automotive wheel weights on ebay for much less than the golf club weights. They should work even better and I shouldn't have to worry about them coming off as easily.
UPDATE 3 Finished balancing the wheels/tires with the automotive weights purchased off of ebay. Took 7 weights per wheel on three of them and one took 8. Weights are 1/4 ounces each. Being black they blend in pretty well. Should make a good improvement in high speed running since they were so far away from being balanced.
I removed one of the threaded hubs and checked to see if the Dubro shaft would work on it. It worked but the shaft, once inside the wheel, is to short to do a hanging balance; the wheel weight is probably too much also and the wheel tire assy is too wide to nestle down between the uprights of the Dubro.
What I came up with was putting a small open end wrench in a vice at an angle for one end of the balancing shaft to rest in, then on the other side of the wheel I set the balancer. It works incredible. The wheel spins so freely it takes 5 minutes to stop rotating back and forth where the heavy side is on the bottom.
I've attached pictures of how I did it. Now just comes the tedious part of actually balancing them. I'm using lead tape used for changing the weight and balance of a golfclub head. I picked up the lead tape from a golf pro shop, but I think it can be found in other stores that have a good selection of golf gear.
I hope it's helpful information for someone.
UPDATE: I just finished trying to balance the first wheel. I added four 3 gram tapes to the wheel and it's still not balanced. I cleaned the wheels with alcohol before hand so they'd stick better. Off to the pro shop for more.
UPDATE 2 Not going with the golf club weights. I found black self adhesive automotive wheel weights on ebay for much less than the golf club weights. They should work even better and I shouldn't have to worry about them coming off as easily.
UPDATE 3 Finished balancing the wheels/tires with the automotive weights purchased off of ebay. Took 7 weights per wheel on three of them and one took 8. Weights are 1/4 ounces each. Being black they blend in pretty well. Should make a good improvement in high speed running since they were so far away from being balanced.
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