Has anyone seen the Centramatic wheel balancers?

I used to run them on an over the road tractor and trailer. Worked like a champ. This was in the 80's. Can't imagine they have changed much. The idea is good. Would not recommend them on the trail however. Only reason is because the way they fit, they could easily get damaged badly by big rocks etc. Mud getting between the balancer and the tire and wheel might be a problem too, but on the highway they should work fine.

Doug '97 TJ
My Web Site

Anyone know how much they cost? Trail ware & tare shouldn't be a problem as I haven't been offroad in nearly a year.

Thanks,
Jason

I prefer Balance Masters only because they use mercury to balance and not
steel balls. But I agree, I wouldn't use them off-road. It's an old trick but,
try a couple golf balls in every tire. It's the same idea the balancers are
based on. Large off road tires are hard to keep balanced.

C-Ya.....................kh

The golf ball idea may very well work. Never thought of something like that, but this type of balance system has been in use for decades. All sorts of stuff has been used from thick gooey stuff inside your tire to ball bearings and bb's in hoola hoops mounted to the outside of the rim. The Centramatics as I recall were pretty expensive - for 11x24.5's anyway, but they worked quite well. I think Centramatic went from bb's to ball bearings, or may have been the reverse, or it may have been lead dust instead of bb's. Whatever it was seems like the problem with the smaller stuff - bb's or whatever - was that it sometimes tended to stick together and bind up resulting in a severe out of balance condition.

Doug '97 TJ
My Web Site

I have a friend who is running Centramatics on his Tj with 35" Claws. They work great, balance the tires to the point he doesn't even pay to have that done anymore, and are hard to damage off road. I think there is probably some merit to the "getting mud trapped behind them" argument, but for rockcrawling they haven't been a problem. It seems they are filled with lead shot and make an audible noise at speeds lower than 35mph like someone shaking a hollowed out gourd filled with bbs, but it's not really irritating. They cost about $256 for 4 but it seems to me it'd be worth it if you never had to balance another set. The thing to keep in mind though is that my friend's tires are only 35x13.5 so bigger tires may not balance as well. HTH,
Sean

I mentioned the "possible rock damage" because I have seen two different styles of Centramatics. One looks like a frying pan. Built so that the actual balancer, the hoola hoop part, fits over a brake drum. This kind would have the guts inside the wheel pretty much out of harms way. The other Centramatic is just a flat piece of metal with the "hoola hoop" on the outer rim. This kind would get no protection from the wheel and could possibly get damaged. Now, must admit that both these were on my 18 wheeler. The frying pan type on the steering axles and the flat kind between the duals on the tractor and trailer. The kind made for a car - or smaller than an 18 wheeler - may be designed differently although the physics would be the same. Actually, I would appreciate your describing how the "car" kind mounts and what it looks like. Never seen one.

Doug '97 TJ
My Web Site

I havent heard of the Centramatics, but you can buy a powder called equal to put in your tires. We used it in our dump truck tires it seemed to help some.
Have you tried taking your tires to a large truck shop (like for semis) that does tire repair and sales. They have equipment large enough to do your tires.

I tried Equal in my 35x15.5 SXs but it only really worked at speeds under 55mph. On the free way it didn't make any difference at all for some reason. As for what the Centramatics look like on my friend's TJ, they are the plastic hoola-hoop ring that is exposed, hitting them just hasn't been a problem though. The plastic looks like some sort of high impact ABS plastic so I'd think you'd have to really bash one to break it.
Sean