Factory wheel balancing

[harleytoprock]

Did Ford balance the wheels when these Model A's were new?

[harleytoprock]

So they never really had any weights attached to the rim?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by harleytoprock

So they never really had any weights attached to the rim?

Correct, no weights were added.

[Big hammer]

My dad's Western Auto store, we never balanced tires when installed new. We told the customers drive your car a few hundred miles then maybe balance your tires(no balancer)
I can only remember one customer coming back for balancing. Lucky or good tires ?

[Kevin in NJ]

The model A is not like modern cars.

The axles have a lot of unsprung weight. This will dampen the imbalance that would noticed on modern cars.

The quality of the tires will drive your level of problems. I have the Goodyear tires and when I put them on the rims they were darn close to perfectly round. I have heard some lower cost will be more out of round.

So I put the dot on the tire opposite of the valve. Well it turns out the dots today do not mean the heavy spot it depends on the color. I put my wheels on a front spindle with oiled bearings and tried moving the tire around the rim until I got the best balance. The dots ended up all over.

I put the best balanced tires on the front and worst on the rear. I may put the dynabeads in if I think I have a problem.

[100IH]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

My experience is that the beads do an excellent job but extremely difficult to install with metal stems and slow leakage afterwards when before there was almost none. Possibly dust or grit on the valve seat.

[jeep44]

Back in 1928, would anyone have noticed a vibration from their tires, driving 30 mph down a dirt road?

[Bob Bidonde]

AT 55 mph, the stock front wheels on my Coupe will noticeably tamp, and if left uncorrected, the tires will cup. The rear wheels will noticeably tamp at higher speeds because they have more unsprung weight.

You can do a rudimentary wheel balance like this:
> Chock the rear wheels, shift the transmission into 2nd gear and jack the front axle so one wheel is free to spin;
> Remove the free spinning front wheel and loosen the wheel bearing just a tad. The must spin freely;
> Mount a wheel using all 5 lug nuts;
> Spin the wheel, and when it stops make a chalk mark on tire at 6 o'clock and place a corresponding marker on the ground, using a strip of tape;
> Spin the wheel at least 2 more times, marking the tire at the tape strip on the ground each time;
>The marks on the tire indicate the heavy span causing the out-of-balance, so add weight diagonally across the rim, hypothetically at 12 o'clock;
> Repeat the process and adjust the amount of weight added until the wheel spins and stops in random positions.

There are 3 kinds of wheel weights available, clip-on, stick-on and beads that go into the inner tube. The above process is not applicable if you will be using the beads.

Harbor Freight has an inexpensive bubble type wheel balancer, but the hub caps need to be off the wheels to use it. Harbor Freight also has the stick-on wheel weights.

Considering the speeds at which we drive our Model A's, it does not matter which side of the rim you add wheel weights. I prefer the inboard side of the rims, so the weights are not obvious to onlookers.

[Bob Johnson]

Here is how I balance Model A wheels/tires. Click on link below. Please have patience since my server is not real fast. It may take some time for the video to load.

Bob


Wheel Balance Video

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

I don't remember Chief having a balancer at his station in '44 & '45. When he had to put a BOOT in a tire, he would put another one, 180 degrees around, to keep it "in balance"! Sometimes, some thief would even STEAL a tire from a kids' ROPE SWING!!!
Once, Chief bought a wagon load of tires from a farmer, who found them in his BARN!---THINGS WERE TOUGH, DURING RATIONING!
Sometimes, when a farmer had a car that was beyond repair, he would SOMEHOW?? adapt the tires & wheels to his wagon, for a COMFY ride to town. I wonder if ADAPTORS were available??
I remember once, when a wagon & mules was parked behind the station, while Chief repaired a FLAT tire on it !
Bill W.