How to Balance Your Own Tires

Start by jacking up the offending front wheel an inchor so off the ground. Spin the tire gently by hand and if yourwheel bearings are set right you will feel a very light drag onthe wheel. Make sure there is no drag on the brake shoes, andwhile you're at it rotate the tire and gauging it with the groundcheck to see that the tire is not out of round. If a tire is muchmore than 3/8 th of an inch out of round you will probably feelthe effects of it at times on the front no matter the balance.Ok, now remove the wheel bearing cover and notice how the largeretaining nut is locked. Usually it's a bent tab against the nut.Use a not too sharp chisel or a hefty screwdriver to flatten thetab(s) away from the nut. Don't beat it to death, the integrityof this locking plate is important. You're going to remove thenut, hopefully with the proper tool. Some folks use a dull chiseland tap on the corners of the nut to loosen it. Not a good ideabut it works if you don't have access to the proper socket. Irecommend you borrow one or go buy one. Wheel nut sockets arecheaper than paying for the balance on one wheel. With the nutnow removed slip off the nut locking plate and pull out the bearingadjustment locking ring. Now you have to loosen the tension onthe bearings. Don't tap on that round pin that sticks out. Puta punch or something in one of the holes and tap counter clockwisejust enough to loosen the bearing tension adjustment ring. Maybea 1/4 turn or so.. Now the wheel should spin freely and you canlocate the heavy side.

As you rotate the wheel back and forth adjust your eyeballto detect the heavy side. Play with it a bit and you'll get theidea. Mark the center of the heavy side with a piece of chalkand place the mark on the bottom. Then place two equal weightsat the center top about a foot or so apart. Of course the sizeof the weights is equal to how far the tire is out of balance.Start with maybe four ounces or so each. If you get lucky thefirst time the wheel will be close to in balance. If not, increaseor decrease the size of the weights until it's almost perfect.Rotate the tire and take note of where the mark stops and adjustthe weights accordingly. Fine tune it by moving one weight orthe other away from the top center until the tire is in perfectbalance. Try to keep the weights 12 to14 inches apart. Tires balancedthis way will be smooth at any speed. NOTE: Tires that are onlyslightly out of balance may require only one weight but if ittakes more than a 4 oz. weight you should use two weights of equalsize.

Ok, once your satisfied the wheel is in balance youmust make sure your wheel bearings are adjusted right. By theway, now would be a good time to re-pac the bearings if it's beenmuch more than 8 k miles or who knows when. The factory recommendsevery 10,000 miles. A good bearing grease packing job is usuallyok for 20,000 miles or so, but after that you are taking yourchances. It's important to set the wheel bearing tension justright. Tighten the tension adjusting ring up snug and rotate thewheel back and forth to seat the bearings, then back up the adjustmentring about a quarter turn. Put the locking ring plate back on,make sure the locking pin and hole line up ok. Next the nut lockingtab washer and the big nut. Tighten to 100 to 125 ft pounds. Thenut will snug the adjustment down when you tighten it. Now turnthe wheel. If the bearings are too tight (the wheel shouldjust barely drag) take the nut back off and set the adjustmentto the next hole and tighten the nut again. After you're satisfiedit's set right bend the locking tabs up to lock the nut, put thecap back on and you're done. Don't forget to adjust your brakeshoes.

Now that the fronts are done and you have gotten thefeel of what you're doing you can do the rear tires if you like.This is not as easy as the fronts, so be prepared to work at it.Pick a cool day in the shade... Chock the wheels so your rig can'troll as you need to release the parking brake. Jack up the dualsand remove the outer wheel. After a short rest remove the nutsthat hold the axle to the hub. There are some tapered spacersunder the lock washers that you can usually remove with pliers.Remove them if you can before the next step. Ok, now whack thecenter of the hub smartly with a 4 pound hammer and it will poploose. Be careful not to hit the bolts. Pull the axle out. Havea pan under it as some gear lube is going to run out. Releaseyour parking brake then rotate the wheel and if you hear the brakeshoes dragging get under there and turn the slack adjuster tillthe brake is completely free. Ok see that big nut in there? That'sthe lock nut and you half to back it off. Again if your bearingsare properly adjusted there will still be a slight drag on thewheel and it won't balance until you loosen it up. Just turningthe lock nut slightly will free up the bearing tension enoughto let the wheel rotate freely. Again use a socket if you can..

From here on it's the same procedure as the front wheels.Balance the inner tire first then put the outer tire back on anddo another balance. Watch where you put the valve stems. Theyshould be opposite each other. Be sure and place the outer wheelso you can get to the stem to air your inner tire. If the weightneeded on a wheel is less than 4 ounces you can use only one weight.This applies to the fronts also. Tighten up the big nut to 150ft pounds or so and put the axle back in. No hub gasket neededhere. You can use Blue RTV silicone gasket maker, and be sureto put some on the spacers and bolt threads. Before you hit theshower be sure and check your rear end gear lube and adjust yourbrakes. Just one more thing... Usually the cast steel brake drumswill be out of balance with no wheel on them and you are balancingthe tire and drum at the same time with this method. If you shouldhave to remove a wheel be sure and mark the wheel position onthe drum so you can put it back on as it was and maintain youroriginal balance.

Bud Hoover. Copyright1997