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Wheel balancing--no local place can do it
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Ted in Tallahassee
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:26 pm    Post subject: Wheel balancing--no local place can do it Reply with quote

I just bought new tires and it turns out that the place I bought them from, and every other place in town, can't balance them because the center "hole" of the Thing wheels are too large for any of the adapters those high-speed balancing machines use.

Does anyone know where I can get some sort of adapter to allow a Thing wheel to fit a high-speed balancing machine?

Thanks.
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Towel Rail
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Ted, get one of these: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=373915

They're worth every penny! Cool

- Scott
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Towel Rail
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Also, it pays to have your wheels checked for straightness before mounting tires on them. I had to find out the hard way that a couple of my wheels were unusable, *after* sanding, primering, painting, and having tires mounted on them. Sad
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1974 Thing -- under the knife
1967 Beetle -- spring/summer/fall driver
1996 Subaru OBW (EJ22, 5-speed, AWD) -- winter car, 3-seasons "don't feel like biking today" car

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Ted in Tallahassee
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks--right after I posted I used the "search" feature and found that same ad. I also found a ton of stuff on my headlight hi/lo beam issues.

The next time I have a question I'll use the search function FIRST. What a great resource that is.


One thing I found out was that the lower circle should be clicked right before the search is run, not the default upper one. I got good hits when I tried the lower circle option (I forgot what parameters it says it is), but the upper one seemed to pull up a lot of posts that were not on point.
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Towel Rail
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Isn't this place awesome? Cool
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1974 Thing -- under the knife
1967 Beetle -- spring/summer/fall driver
1996 Subaru OBW (EJ22, 5-speed, AWD) -- winter car, 3-seasons "don't feel like biking today" car

049 > 070 > 053 > 009
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sam_w
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 5:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The wheel balancing machines are being replaced and the new ones do not have the wide adapters, In San Jose Ca, there is one wheelworks place on Prospect road that will do 'old' VW wheel balancing, even if you did not buy the tires there! They have to look around for the adapter but if you are patient and persistent, they will find it.
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74 Thing
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can also get a used drum and clean out the grease, remove the bearings and races and then bring it down and have the person chuck it up on their balancing machine and balance the drum with adhesive weights. Then you can use the drum as an adapter in the future.
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Pinky
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just get a static ("bubble") balancer and do it yourself- Wink

They're cheap- you can get a decent one for well under $100. I've used them plenty of times and never had a problem-
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ztnoo
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:49 pm    Post subject: TimGud where are you? Reply with quote

TimGud where are you?
Post some pics of your Thing drum adapter set up.
Slick!!!
Idea
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xeno
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 5:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just go to a place that does on vehicle wheel balancing. It's much better & is preferred for lug-centric wheels anyhow.

X
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TimGud
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used a 69 bus drum as it had the largest outer bearing size I could find. Had the side of the drum turned off, then had it chucked back up and the rear side of it turned flush with the front. Removed a bit of the inner race area to clear the balancer. Works perfect, and very durable. I cant see this one warping or stripping out the threads.

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thinghunter
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My tire shop guy who used to rebuild wrecked VWs in the 70s and 80s balanced mine by setting up the machine to balance dual wheels. While every tire shop might not know this will work if you mention it to them they might be willing to try it and they should all know how to balance dual wheels.
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ronnie braden
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks for your reply may check into this ron
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blsthng
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:08 am    Post subject: Balance wheels Reply with quote

I went to an RV service station. They were able to balance with no problem.
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chris914x181
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I bought a lifetime alignment plan from Sears in the 80’s. They have always been able to balance my tires when I bought new ones from them.
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hamrendan
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 11:12 am    Post subject: Ballancing Beads Reply with quote

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/index.php

Dyna beads, or similar ceramic beads
I have used these on my motorcycles for years. Cheap to buy, easy to use...work flawlessly in tubes or in tubeless.
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Bashr52
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 12:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Ballancing Beads Reply with quote

hamrendan wrote:
http://www.innovativebalancing.com/index.php

Dyna beads, or similar ceramic beads
I have used these on my motorcycles for years. Cheap to buy, easy to use...work flawlessly in tubes or in tubeless.


A friend runs something similar in his truck with 50" tires. No one could balance the things being so big, so he went to a truck place and had something like this added to them. Ran smoooooth, but he would have an issue when slowing down to quick, the beads would all drop to the bottom and give it a hell of a wobble for a few revolutions. This was 8 or so years ago though, so I'm sure this technology has improved greatly over the years. Laughing This would also help with getting rid if those ugly ass wheel weights on the outside of the rims
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citroen
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

her is is what the factory one looks like that the domeck brothers use
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cecil
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

At least here in the Big Valley, America's Tire and Discount Tire have the adapters. I think they are nation wide.
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Bashr52
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 5:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got an old school wide 5 adapter for a bubble beam balancer hanging in my garage. My great grandfather gave it to me years ago, said he used to use it for his bug.
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