Wheel Balancer Project

kuksul08 · Apr 20, 2017

I'm not sure why it took me so long to invest in a tire changer. I used to know a guy that would mount/balance/dispose of my tires for $15/ea but prices have been going up. The cheapest place I could find was $30, and it was a 45 minute drive from my house. So... I bought one of those No-Mar changers and used it for the first time tonight. It was quite easy to use. On my first try I had the tire changed in about 10 minutes. Apparently big dual sport/touring tires are a very different story than lightweight sport tires. Only 15 more times until it pays for itself

Anyway here's a fun little project that went along with it. I needed a balancer. This guy named Marc Parnes came up with a simple balancer... basically a shaft on bearings Motorcycle Wheel Balancer. Rather than deal with Harbor Freight or eBay junk I decided to make one based on his design. All in all it cost about $20.

Ordered up a precision shaft from McMaster - 14" long with a straightness tolerance of +/- .002" per foot, some cheap shielded r/c car bearings, two shaft collars, a clutch spring, and then made some aluminum cones with a .001" slip fit.

The big difference between mine and his is that mine utilizes a spring to maintain tension. I saw room for error with the set screw design the parnes balances uses. Thought I'd share. It was pretty easy and a fun side project.

mentalist · Apr 21, 2017

I used to get my wheels balanced with a tyre change, but the last few times I've just had the tyres changed and not balanced, never had an issue..

kuksul08 · Apr 21, 2017

mentalist said:
I used to get my wheels balanced with a tyre change, but the last few times I've just had the tyres changed and not balanced, never had an issue..

This one only needed 4 grams of weight. I could have left it

hystco · Apr 25, 2017

I have been using his balancer for a few years, mainly for my offroad bikes.
I concur with your assessment of the cone set-screw, and think that your solution with spring is excellent. Thumbs up

monocog007 · Apr 26, 2017

I bought an ebay stand and swapped out the bearings for something higher quality. I also 3D printed some balancing cones, and they work great.

I don't think balancing a tire requires the low tolerances that your stand provides, but all the power to you in DIY'ing something affordable.

appliance821 · Apr 26, 2017

I used a bead breaker, zip ties, and balancing beads. Still not sure on the beads. Zip ties on the rear tire were tricky due to its low and wide aspect ratio. ( big C-clamp is highly recommended) .The front was cake.

Might invest in the Parnes - but I'm cheap so it might be after the next change when I break even on the stuff I already bought.

It's $90 a pop here since I don't have car to deliver the wheels. The rear was painful, but I'll persevere.

does your balancer also work with the deep dish of the rear wheel?

kuksul08 · Apr 26, 2017

monocog007 said:
I bought an ebay stand and swapped out the bearings for something higher quality. I also 3D printed some balancing cones, and they work great.

I don't think balancing a tire requires the low tolerances that your stand provides, but all the power to you in DIY'ing something affordable.

I really decided to make one after hearing about the issues with the harbor freight and other versions. When you consider we're only adding 5-20 grams of weight, if the shaft is just a little bent, you end up balancing for the imperfection in the shaft and not the actual wheel.

Of course you have a point... it could not even matter. I bet the average rider couldn't even tell unless the wheel was very unbalanced!

appliance821 said:
I used a bead breaker, zip ties, and balancing beads. Still not sure on the beads. Zip ties on the rear tire were tricky due to its low and wide aspect ratio. ( big C-clamp is highly recommended) .The front was cake.

Might invest in the Parnes - but I'm cheap so it might be after the next change when I break even on the stuff I already bought.

It's $90 a pop here since I don't have car to deliver the wheels. The rear was painful, but I'll persevere.

does your balancer also work with the deep dish of the rear wheel?

Yikes, $90 is steep!

I haven't used it on the rear yet. I think I will need to make a larger cone to accommodate the big center hole size. It should work with the single sided wheel no problem, just shift everything over to one side.

zippy49 · Apr 26, 2017

I've used only Dunlop and Pirelli on our bikes, and have had a changer for more than a decade now. I always align the colored dot (yellow on Q3s) with the valve stem and have quit checking balance as it has never varied. There's plenty of weights on the various rims, so I think the tires are pretty true but the wheel needs balancing. Once that's done, it's good.

I've laced a few spoked wheels, with good components so they stay true. The statement above applies to them, too.

srikz · May 2, 2017

Beads anyone?

Finding a place which balances big capacity motorbike rims is a challenge in my city. Sad but true. Wish kuksul lived close by

My bike's stock scorpions are toast and I need to replace them soon and was wondering how to get the wheels balanced.
While researching I came across Dynabeads, has anyone tried this? Any thoughts?
DynaBeads Tire Balancing Beads

I can source Zirconium beads locally for very cheap and am wondering if this works well?

appliance821 · May 2, 2017

I use dyna beads and they seem good. The only way I could really tell would be if I used the same tire with and without - but I didn't. One thing they say is that as the tire wears , and the balance changes, the beads adapt. Sounds reasonable.

The kit is helpful in feeding the beads through the valve (with stem removed). With the 90 degree bend, this is an exercise in patience.

The beads are made of some sort of porcelain or something. I'd think that if zirconium breaks it would be similar to having bits of broken glass inside the tire.

dragoontwo · May 3, 2017

appliance821 said:
I use dyna beads and they seem good. The only way I could really tell would be if I used the same tire with and without - but I didn't. One thing they say is that as the tire wears , and the balance changes, the beads adapt. Sounds reasonable.

The kit is helpful in feeding the beads through the valve (with stem removed). With the 90 degree bend, this is an exercise in patience.

The beads are made of some sort of porcelain or something. I'd think that if zirconium breaks it would be similar to having bits of broken glass inside the tire.

I just toss them into the tire after I seat the first bead, and don't mess with the valve stem.

Lately I've gone away from using them in the front, and only the rear.

zippy49 · May 3, 2017

I found a cooperative auto/truck tire shop that balanced the rear wheel from my wife's HawkGT some years ago. You might ask around. However, they found the balance to be just fine.

I still think that a balanced wheel is all you need, as long as you stick to one of the top three or four brands of tire. Note that Kuksul only needed 4 grams...that's a whole lot less than one segment of stick-on weight. OTOH I might not trust others such as the cheapo Nittos I just replaced with Q3s on our "visiting" FZ-09.

appliance821 · May 3, 2017

dragoontwo said:
I just toss them into the tire after I seat the first bead, and don't mess with the valve stem.

Lately I've gone away from using them in the front, and only the rear.

I'll try that. Was thinking that the seating of the beads would blow them out the rim. Not your experience?

dragoontwo · May 3, 2017

appliance821 said:
I'll try that. Was thinking that the seating of the beads would blow them out the rim. Not your experience?

Not really. I just roll the valve stem so it is opposite the beads, and no issues yet. Just don't whip the tire around and they should be fine.

Monstard · May 27, 2017

Patrick, with your balancer, how would u know which side (left/right) of the wheel ur gonna put the lead weights on? Or it doesn't really matter?

Good job btw

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kuksul08 · May 27, 2017

Monstard said:
Patrick, with your balancer, how would u know which side (left/right) of the wheel ur gonna put the lead weights on? Or it doesn't really matter?

Good job btw

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

It doesn't matter. I just put the weight in the middle.

Monstard · May 27, 2017

Yep that makes sense.
The clutch spring to maintain tension is elegant. You considering to sell some units? I might just grab one

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kuksul08 · May 27, 2017

Monstard said:
Yep that makes sense.
The clutch spring to maintain tension is elegant. You considering to sell some units? I might just grab one

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

I hadn't planned on it. Someone on here who already owns a Marc Parnes balancer asked me for some similar springs and shaft collars which he bought and said it works great. I would probably go that route if I were you

Unless you really want one, it will cost the same price as Marc when it's all said and done!

https://www.mcmaster.com/#6435k14/=17cpmjg
https://www.mcmaster.com/#9434K147

Wheel Balancer Project

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