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Landing gear wheel balancing

JackinMichigan

Well Known Member
We are right on the cusp of taking our RV-10 on its first flight (plane is done, just collecting the paperwork needed for the airworthiness inspection). The airport's A&P paid us a visit and asked us if our wheels had been balanced, which they hadn't. He had the tools to do the job, but then left for out of state and is going to be gone for several weeks.

How necessary is wheel balancing? Is this something I can take to a local tire shop, or does it need the services of an A&P? I watched a couple Youtube videos and it looks like I will need a number of specialty tools. At this point I'd really rather just take them to someone.
 
Landing gear balancing

I balanced the original Aeroclassics from Vans and had vibration on landings. Replaced the tires after a few years with Desser retreaded tires. i tried balancing them but in the end I gave up and left them unbalanced as the lousy balancer (different than one I used for original ties) wasnt working right, the takeoffs and landings are smooth with no vibrations at all. I was going to eventually try rebalancing tires, but will leave them alone at this point.
If the tires shake, balance them, otherwise not worth thinking about during "fly off".
 
I had my dressers balanced prior to mounting them. I haven't flown yet but it seemed like a good idea.
 
Pre balanced if mounted correctly

Just remember to mount the tires with the red dot next to the stem. The factory did the balance on manufacture. The red dot is the light spot so the valve stem goes adjacent to that. I have never balanced a tire beyond that and never had one that was anything but smooth.
 
I bought a cheap motor cycle wheel balancer from HF: https://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-wheel-balancing-stand-98488.html I machined a couple new cones a bit larger for a better fit/support.
It worked great for balancing, and as a bonus you will see how out of round the tires can be. :eek: It made me wonder how effective the balancing was with the tires so out of round.

Yeah, that one works great. I used mine out of the box, the cones that came with it seemed OK.
 
I've got the tires as supplied with the kit installed, no balancing. Decelerating through 32-27 kts I have a brief shaking. Nothing on takeoff. I also have the gear leg stiffeners installed and it shakes in spite of the stiffeners. Will definitely balance the wheels at first time the wheels come off. Not sure if it is the mains or nose wheel. Tire pressure adjustment does not seem to have an effect on the shaking. No directional changes during the shaking.
Johan
 
Just remember to mount the tires with the red dot next to the stem. The factory did the balance on manufacture. The red dot is the light spot so the valve stem goes adjacent to that. I have never balanced a tire beyond that and never had one that was anything but smooth.

Kinda -- what they did was determine the heavy side of the tire. Just lining up your tube's valve stem, supposedly the heavy side of the tube, does not necessarily "balance" the entire wheel assembly. Sometimes it does, sometime it doesn't -- there's no guarantee.
 
Well, we went ahead and balanced them

We went out and bought a Harbor Freight motorcycle tire balancer (thanks for the lead, 9GT) and balanced the wheels today. So glad I did. The right wheel needed seven 1/4 ounce weights, and the left wheel needed a whopping 13. The nose wheel needed only two.
 
In the last 20-years and 3,300 hours flying my RV-6, I have NEVER balance the wheels or tires. I have used retread tires the for more than the last 10-years.

Do not waste your time or money on balancing the tires / wheels. Fly the airplane. IF there is a wheel / tire balance issue that needs balancing, you can then start thinking about balancing.

This is not the first time I have heard someone talk about balancing but is the first time I have seen more than one person say they think it is necessary.
 
We went out and bought a Harbor Freight motorcycle tire balancer (thanks for the lead, 9GT) and balanced the wheels today. So glad I did. The right wheel needed seven 1/4 ounce weights, and the left wheel needed a whopping 13. The nose wheel needed only two.

Another way I've used on a Long EZ that doesn't require a balancer is to run a tub or sink full of water and float the tire. You would be amazed at how accurate of balance you can get be adding weights to the rim till it floats perfectly level in the water.
 
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