Balancing Act

Submitted: Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 08:40
ThreadID: 77248 Views:3197 Replies:7 FollowUps:4
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While I had the Caravan Wheels off yesterday, I noticed that the wheels wern't Balanced re: lead weights ect, just wondering if it's normal, and not having them balanced would eventually contribute to bearing damage in the future?, I realise you must have them balanced for motor vehicle steering ect, yeh just a thought.


Cheers
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Reply By: Member - Mark G Gulmarrad - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:05

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:05
Daza

cant see why you wouldnt have them balanced?
if you took those wheels off your van and put them on the car then you would need to have them balanced.


AnswerID: 410739

Follow Up By: Member - DAZA (QLD) - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:14

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:14
G/Day Mark

Just wondering if the majority of vans and camper trailers have balanced wheels or what.

These wheels wouldn't fit the Patrol, but I'm thinking about getting Patrol Wheels for the van.
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FollowupID: 680656

Follow Up By: Member - Mark G Gulmarrad - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:18

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:18
Daza
i'm quessing not but its something that couldnt hurt to have them balanced.

make you wonder of all the trailers you see with wheels off on the side of the road,just how many of them are wheel bearing problems due to lack of grease OR wheel balance issues??

hmmmm.

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Reply By: Fred G NSW - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:12

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:12
Good point Dazza. Just checked mine and no balance weights.
Maybe it's because most of us just take the wheels in for new boots and not the whole van, and the tyre fitters just don't bother when they know they're for a van or trailer ???
Interesting to find out how critical it is to have them correctly balanced.

Fred.

AnswerID: 410740

Follow Up By: Member - DAZA (QLD) - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:16

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:16
Yes I'm going to follow it up.
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Follow Up By: Member - mazcan - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 12:09

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 12:09
hi all
it's just as important to have your caravan /camper trailer or 6x4 wheels etc balanced as the wheels on your tow vehicle balanced
because the unbalanced wheels put tremendous thrust on the bearings in every direction while revolving at speed and cause premature tyre failures as well
i have made a practise of always having every wheel that turns on the road balanced

i've never had to repair wheel bearings enroute yet imho unbalanced wheels contribute largly to bearing failures together with failure to regularly grease and adjust them
as well once a bearing gets a bit of play in it imagine what the out of balanced tyre then does to the bearing

yes that's right
it vibrates the proverbial out of them

when i request the tyre dealer to balance my trailer /camper etc wheels the common reply from them is oh ! or nobody worries about doing them its only a trailer etc or they dont wont to pay the extra
penny pinching can and does override the benefits

unbalanced wheels will also transmit a huge amount of vibrations right through everything
to me it's just common sense to have them done
think about it in this way

a lot of people have second hand tyres fitted to there trailers

there's hardly a tyre thats fitted even on a new vehicle that does'nt need some balancing
and often needs re- balancing after so many thousand km's so why wouldnt you balance all wheels ?????????????
would you drive your vehicle if the wheels were vibrating
but because it's on the what -ever being towed behind most dont give one ounce of thought to the facts i've mentioned above
it's the out of site out of mind policy who gives a sh----
just my honest opinion based on my lifes driving practises
cheers and hope this helps you all along the way
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FollowupID: 680696

Reply By: Member - Ian H (NSW) - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:28

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 09:28
Daza,
Just because the wheels don't have weights doesn't mean they weren't balanced. Could be the were balanced without any weights BUT that is very unlikely.
Best guess is they were not balanced when tyres were fitted but I think they should be. Cheap insurance against losing a tyre at speed.
Ian
AnswerID: 410743

Reply By: Member - MUZBRY(Vic) - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 10:04

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 10:04
Gday Daza
I have always had my trailer wheels balanced . They do the same work as the vehicle towing.
Murray
Muzbry
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AnswerID: 410745

Reply By: vk1dx - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 12:21

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 12:21
We did and that was just on a small Chesney wind up.

Depending on your car's suspension you may even feel (maybe sense is a better word) the difference if they are out a reasonable way. As you would if a tyre was deflating. But that was on the old Kingswood when you did not have all this "help the driver stuff". I doubt it if I could feel it in the Toyota now though.

Well worth it Dazza. What's the cost anyway, in comparison to a bleep tered bearing or rim and the damage that can happen from them.

Phil
AnswerID: 410756

Reply By: Member - Duncs - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 16:40

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 16:40
I have 8 identical wheels between the car and camper.

When I buy new tyres I replace the most worn tyres and put the 4 best on the car. The next best pair get rotated to the camper and the last pair become the spares, the best one on the back of the car and the other on the camper.

Obviously because I buy the tyres for the car the wheels are fully balanced.

Having said that I have just taken some tyres off the old Camry that died recently and swapped them to the old box trailer. I did the tyre swap myself and don't have the facilities to balance them. I debated whether or not it was worth having it done. I decided that because it only ever travels locally I wouldn't worry. I think if I was to be using it on a long trip where it would spend time at speed I would be getting the wheels balanced.

Duncs

AnswerID: 410779

Reply By: GerryP - Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 18:03

Sunday, Mar 28, 2010 at 18:03
Totally agree with Mazcan above - just as important for trailer tyres as it is for the car.

I was following a truck just the other day. He was towing a fairly large trailer and one wheel was bouncing up and down like you wouldn't believe! It even made the trailer rattle quite audibly as I pulled alongside. The driver probably couldn't tell because he was in a truck.

As mentioned before, wheel bearings will suffer premature failure, probably at the most inconvenient time, if left unbalanced.

Cheers
Gerry
AnswerID: 410791

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