Cheap Bastard Approach for Equal Add

[Lutzgaterr]

Can?t recall the original amount of Equal I put in my BFG MTs, but above 65 she begins to vibrate due to tire balance.
So, buddy of mine shipped me some more, 5 bags of 3-oz.
Now my choices in this area are only ?2?. Remove tires, add original + more Equal (because you will probably loose your original amount) or do the Cheap-Bastard approach.
CB for me!
The CB approach:
1 ? Raise tires off ground
2 ? Remove valve stems
3 - Use McDonalds straws (2) duck-taped together, one-end duck-taped to the open valve stem
4 ? dump Equal bag into measuring cup
5- Tin Foil as a narrow funnel to fill the straws full of Equal
6 ? Air compressor bit inserted into straw to blow Equal into tire.

Time per tire, 15 minutes!
Time experimenting with different straws, wax-paper, filling-approach, etc? 1-hour.

Now, that is cheap huh?

 

[Lutzgaterr]

Correction,
Remove valve-core, not the stems.

 

[marc olivares]

bruce bruce bruce....your still using equal?
that's soooo 2001
i hear all the boys are doing dymanic balances on steel wheel...
next thing you'll say is your gonna try golf balls too

lol

nice tech..

 

[Steve Rupp]

that's soooo 2001

 

[p m]

some people use lead shot.

 

[Eric N.]

Couldn't you have just broke the bead on one side of the tire with a highlift ( or whatever ) and dumped it in? That worked well for me when I was using equal.

 

[Lutzgaterr]

Marc Marc Marc, yea, still using Equal but next set of meats, no-thanks. That 2001 comment, ask my wife and I bet she will give you a later date than that. Ask my kids and it gets even more dated.
Eric, hell ya I could have popped-off the tire and busted the bead and dropped-in the Equal, but it did not come to me as I stared at those damn bags of Equal that were sitting on my bench for over a year.
Hell, I could have just used some beach sand instead of Equal and probably obtain the same results.
Call me a suka!

 

[Nomar]

Equal? in your tires? I much prefer Splenda

 

[DiscoNomad]

I dont mean to take all the fun out of this thread but I am about to mount up some 16s and 265-75R16 BFg MT's on my 04 Disco. I wasn't planning on using steel wheels... What should I use as a tire balancer. I was reading about the wonders of Equal but does it really work? What is the best sollution?

Thanks,
DiscoNomad

 

[DiscoS2]

Equal? in your tires? I much prefer Splenda

Ya, that aspartame in Equal causes dain bramage.

Mark

 

[marc olivares]

...does it really work?...

no


get a dynamic balance (ie weights on both sides of the wheel)
no it's not the most "elegant" look but it works.
even w/ tough to balance tires like truxxus and SSR's.

 

[D Chapman]

Local shop here in town is putting steel patches inside the tires now....It's pricey, but cool. and it works.

Equal sucks monkey balls....

 

[Markyd]

Just get your wheels balanced man!!!!!

 

[Eric N.]

Local shop here in town is putting steel patches inside the tires now....It's pricey, but cool. and it works.

Equal sucks monkey balls....

Damn, so every time your tires start to wear you have to unmount them and get the patches moved.. Hell with that..

 

[RichardS]

I used plastic BBs (as used in BB guns) inside my 255/85/16 Trxus. Variation on using steel BBs which apparently loose their plating and corrode from moisture inside the tire. Basically a CB approach to the Equal/Counteract theory.

This works OK up to about 65mph, similar to what Bruce said about Equal in the original post. Above that I get vibes and I believe the vibes are from tires as I have pretty much ruled everything else out when building up the truck - new bushings and tie rod ends, new u-joints, adjusted swivels and wheel bearings. The only other thing I can think of is I did not have my driveshafts balanced so maybe I need to pull them and get that done.

I rarely drive above 65mph in the Disco so I am OK with this. Could be that more weight is needed or could be that dynamic balancing via stuff in the tires just does not work that well. Breaking the beads on LR wheels is a PITA but maybe one of these days I will do that and add some more BBs to see what happens.

But based on my experience so far I'd say just get them traditionally spin balanced using lead weights. Look for a place that does lifetime balancing. That way you can get them redone as they wear and/or if you pop some weights off road.

 

[D Chapman]

Damn, so every time your tires start to wear you have to unmount them and get the patches moved.. Hell with that..

Yea, that's about right. But it's nice when you use your truck off road in the rocks cause the weights don't get ripped off....

Friend of mine is doing it now with 38" swampers and beadlocks. The truck only see's about 5k miles a year, but so far it's worked well for him.

 

[Eric N.]

Yea, that's about right. But it's nice when you use your truck off road in the rocks cause the weights don't get ripped off....

Friend of mine is doing it now with 38" swampers and beadlocks. The truck only see's about 5k miles a year, but so far it's worked well for him.

Understood about the benefit of not losing a weight on the trail ( which is why I tried equal in the first place ) but, if you drive your truck around alot on the street then you'll be getting that patch moved around lots of times during the year.. Your friend only doing 5k a year (I'm sure mostly dirt and rocks at that) doesn't need to worry about it.. However, someone using their truck as a daily driver would be in the tire shop all the time getting that re-done.. Even more so if their tires don't wear correctly and cup alot since you'll loose more tread faster.

Still cool though but, not enough that I'm going to try it.. Although my truck doesn't see that many miles any more either. I think I drove it maybe 3k or 4k last year.

 

[edthediscoman]

OK, So I am a nieve idiot......but WTF is the equal for? (or more modern substances...splenda....etc...) I am not sure how that works, and I am pretty darn mechanically inclined (thats a good thing for a mechanical engineer).
Balancing? - I don't see it.
For when you drive your truck through the wall at Starbucks? - perhaps....at least you brought your sweetner of choice.
Enlighten me how this works.

 

[Eric N.]

http://www.imiproducts.com/equal/tire-balancer.aspx


I like John's write up too on his website..

http://www.expeditionexchange.com/equal/FAQ.htm

Hope that helps..

 

[edthediscoman]

Ahhhh...and I thought it was a sugar substitute.....boy, I always wondered why my coffee tasted funny.
Thanks for the enlightenment.