question Is this a balancing hole in a wheel?

[fv1609]

Been looking at some Pig wheels & note that one has a hole on the direct opposite side to slot for the tyre valve. Is this hole an attempt to try to balance the wheel by creating a similar weight reduction on the opposite side?

 

I have seen just a few of these wheels on Pigs. I can find no EMER or other reference to explain this. If it was effective why was it not done to all wheels or was it done only when a wheel was badly out of balance?

 

 

So why does this other one only have a hole on just one half of the wheel? Was it to only compensate to a lesser degree or was it just that the wheel halves got jumbled up & assembled with different halves?

 

Do any other vehicles have similar modifications?

 

[andyroo]

Clive,

 

that hole allows the brake ajusting tool to be used on vhicals that have disc brakes such as Saladin.

 

Andy

[fv1609]

Andy, ah wasn't aware of that didn't realise they had the same rims as Humber.

 

The query was triggered by the quest to cure my steering wheel wobble at 30+ mph. I know that flats on tyres are going to be an issue. I cured it on my other Pig, by replacing the shockers as previous owners had not greased the bushes & there was bad wear.

 

I've done all that on this Pig & checked all the steering joints & replaced a couple to no effect, readjusted the hub bearing nuts, checked the suspension pins, steering relay mountings & bearing tension, tightness of steering box & adjuster. But just thinking if there is a modest imbalance then that isn't going to help.

 

I was thinking of using these:

 

http://www.dynabeads.co.uk/index.php

 

Although you can use them on tubed tyres, they say no to runflats. But I might ask them about my particular situation. Anyone used these sort of beads?

[andyroo]

Clive,

 

Put Dyna Beads forums in google, see what come up. I've just done that and cannot find any bad comments about them. However, nor can I find any info to convince me that they are any good.

 

I think your pig wheels are too small for Saladin, but they could fit the Daimlar armourd car which I beleve have the same type of disc brake that Saladin has.

 

Andy

[fv1609]

Andy, I'm just going to try swapping the rear wheels to the front & see what happens. But if it is no better (or worse!) then I'll explore the use of the beads. The spare wheels with the holes had been possibly candidates to swap, but I won't mess with them now you have explained the function!

 

I had been confusion by the Saladin wheel as I was reading from the Mk 1 UHB, picked up the Mk 2 UHB & see what you mean.

 

Richard F may well come on & recount his experiences with the beads which seemed very favourable.

[Richard Farrant]

Richard F may well come on & recount his experiences with the beads which seemed very favourable.

 

Thanks Clive,

 

I was discussing with Clive, about his Pig problem and suddenly remembered that about four years ago, I was working on a GMC at a customers. He had the local tyre company out at the same time, to apply one of these balancing bead mediums, into the front tyres. His friend had also had it done sometime before and was impressed with the results. Other than that, I have not had any other experience of it, but am sure it is a practical way of balancing large wheels and tyres.

 

As an aside, many years ago, Bedford MK trucks in service were suffering steering shake at a particular speed. In Workshops, we had a rig to balance the front wheels on the vehicle. What always worried me was the amount of weight that had to be applied to balance, and if it were to fly off. By blowing the beads into the tube, it is a much better idea.

[fv1609]

Still not tried the beads yet.

 

But today fitted two replacement wheels on the front & a dramatic difference. Up to 30mph 99% better, above 30 mph 90% better & 40 mph 85% better - not that it goes to 40 mph very often.

 

So much easier to handle nearly cured, the other 2 Humbers I've got them so there was no wobbling at all, would just like to get this one to that stage. The others were cured with replacements track rod ends & new shockers. Done all that & trying to cure this last bit is going to be more difficult.

 

Maybe the beads will sort it, but maybe it is not a balance problem at all & a cumulative effect of track rod ends or the steering relays wearing? I can feel no noticeable play feeling the joints when someone rocks the steering wheel.

 

Anyway grateful for the improvement that came today.

[Richard Farrant]

But today fitted two replacement wheels on the front & a dramatic difference.

 

 

Hi Clive,

 

It might have been that you had a distorted wheel. I can recall having to remove a Pig tyre from a rim, due to shrapnel through the tyre wall. We had a huge hydraulic machine for pressing off tyres, and this tyre was so tight, been on for years I reckon, that it bent the centre of the rim, had to turn it over and press the other way to get it back straight again, so just shows that it could happen.

 

regards, Richard

[fv1609]

Richard yes who knows that could be an issue. I couldn't cope with jacking the vehicle up & jacking front & rear wheels stations as well. So I just fitted the front ones from my reserve stock. Due to the weight of them I jacked up one wheel at a time just sufficient to clear the ground. When I fitted the replacement on one side it needed several strokes of the jack to get the hub up high enough to engaged the studs. The other side was about equal.

 

Although I would have thought if one wheel was more worn there would have been a tendency for the steering to drift to that side, which I did not get.

 

So presumably one side was more worn than the other although they all look only 15% worn. I suppose I should have tried on wheel at a time. But it was easier to get on with doing both rather than a test drive & get set up again.

 

These fronts are set at 25 psi on the basis that it is a Mk 1 as per schedule, Mk 2 should be 30 psi. I had assumed this was on a weight basis, but as I'm using Mk 2 tyres I wonder whether I should put 30 psi in. Can't see how it produce wobble though.

 

The tyres I took off & fitted all had a flat area I could detect by spinning then just scrapping the ground & observing when a clear patch arrived. The magnitude was the same for all.

 

One thing I've been conscious of is the vibration of the 4WD lever as it droops just a little as I chug along & when I lift it fully up of course it has no vibration. There is a ball catch that holds it up, I might replace the top part of the gearbox with this on. But before I changed the wheels, I noticed that the steering wheel wobble seemed to be less when I lifted the vibrating 4WD lever. Doesn't seem to make any difference to the slight wobble in the improved set up but clearly trying to droop into the edge of 4WD is not a good thing, whether that has been an aggravating factor I don't know.