centramatic wheel balancers

[nukegm]

comrades! i followed the TDR issue 109 article on centramatic balancers. after reading article, bought them. great results. 2018 ram 2500....i wish i had been using these for past 30 years... smooth as glass now. biggest pain was removing the rotor " retainers " that hold the rotor snug to the wheel assembly. highly recommend. cheers!

 

[HPSimpson]

Sure took you long enough to decide on a super product for your tires mite last extra thirty thousand miles!

 

[C M McCormick]

I ordered a set for my 2018 2500 long bed 2 wheel drive earlier this week. I haven't received them yet but should be here shortly.

 

[Conifer]

I've been using them for a long time based on the recommendations of https://roadtraveler.net/, and have had great luck with them. Highly recommended.

 

[SSchang]

I have a 2020 Ram 3500 crew longbed. I put Cooper RM 253 19.5" tires & Vision wheels on the truck, and had pretty bad vibration at 40 and 70 mph. Put on Centramatics, and they were maybe a little better. Had the tires rebalanced, reinstalled with the Centramatics, and they are quite a bit better, but still have vibration at 40 and 70 mph. Did the Centramatics help? Maybe, but rebalancing helped a lot more.

 

[Wiredawg]

I have a 2020 Ram 3500 crew longbed. I put Cooper RM 253 19.5" tires & Vision wheels on the truck, and had pretty bad vibration at 40 and 70 mph. Put on Centramatics, and they were maybe a little better. Had the tires rebalanced, reinstalled with the Centramatics, and they are quite a bit better, but still have vibration at 40 and 70 mph. Did the Centramatics help? Maybe, but rebalancing helped a lot more.

Are you sure your tires arent out of round, IMHO, and I'm no tire expert, if proper balancing doesn't remove vibration, something else is likely wrong. I had similar problem as yours when purchasing a new set of tires and had a similar problem. They said they balanced fine, so I asked to watch on the balancer.. I noticed one tire seemed to be slightly out of round, which they didnt notice... sure enough tire was slightly out of round. Short of shaving the tire, nothing will fix it as it sounds in your case.

Cheers, Ron

 

[EZeis]

Had them on my 07 2500 and have them on my 18 3500 SRW. Plan to put them on my 12.5K 5th wheel camper.


Earl

 

[Wiredawg]

Forgot to mention put them on my 09 Ram 4500 not long after I purchased it in 2009 and never had to have 19.5s balanced. Before trading it in on my 17 5500 in 2018, I moved them to the 5500 and likely we never need them balanced either.

Cheers, Ron

 

[SSchang]

Are you sure your tires arent out of round, IMHO, and I'm no tire expert, if proper balancing doesn't remove vibration, something else is likely wrong. I had similar problem as yours when purchasing a new set of tires and had a similar problem. They said they balanced fine, so I asked to watch on the balancer.. I noticed one tire seemed to be slightly out of round, which they didnt notice... sure enough tire was slightly out of round. Short of shaving the tire, nothing will fix it as it sounds in your case.

Thanks Ron. I'm no tire/wheel balance expert (Although I did work for Cummins for 37 years), but what keeps throwing a wrench into my thought process is why do they only vibrate at 40 and 70 mph? And they did take a ton of weight when the guy rebalanced them. I stood and talked to him while he was balancing them, he had to stack a row of weights on top of another row of weights to get them to balance. I hoped that the Centramatics would provide the final little bit of balance, but it didn't work out as I had hoped. All that said, the vibration isn't bad enough to spend a couple thousand on a different set of tires. Drove to Florida and back a couple months ago (I live near Buffalo, NY), and it didn't drive me crazy, so I guess I can live with it.

Scott

 

[AHutson]

You may have a defective tire. My company put 3 re-caps and one virgin tire on the drive axle of my 2019 LT International at work. It ran just fine for 5 days, then it stated vibrating, then shaking really bad. Turns out the mismatched pair was different in size slightly, which overloaded the taller tire. The shaking and vibration was it slowly starting to come apart. Wasn't noticeable below 45-50 mph, up to 60 was vibrating and any faster to 65 it shook bad.

 

[TFucili]

I have known several people, including my BIL, who had Coopers that were "square".

 

[JR]

The Centramatics for our Ram trucks were not designed for such a large and heavy wheel as a 19.5. They would have to be pretty darn close to begin with....

I have known several people, including my BIL, who had Coopers that were "square".

Put me in that category. My AT3 XLT were horrible with just my Centramatics. This is the first tire I've ran that required balancing on top of the Centramatics.

 

[C M McCormick]

I have a 2020 Ram 3500 crew longbed. I put Cooper RM 253 19.5" tires & Vision wheels on the truck, and had pretty bad vibration at 40 and 70 mph. Put on Centramatics, and they were maybe a little better. Had the tires rebalanced, reinstalled with the Centramatics, and they are quite a bit better, but still have vibration at 40 and 70 mph. Did the Centramatics help? Maybe, but rebalancing helped a lot more.

I'm still waiting on my Centramatics. I'm good with no vibration up to 65MPH. At 72 I have a little shake that I believe is coming from the rear. We have just bought a new 5th wheel camper and are taking it out for the first time next week, only going about a 100 miles up the road. To get to the point I have found in that area a tire shop that does Road Force balancing. This is suppose to match your wheel with the tire. This should take the shake out but still plan on running the Centramatics.

 

[JPM]

The Centramatics for our Ram trucks were not designed for such a large and heavy wheel as a 19.5. They would have to be pretty darn close to begin with....

I believe that is wrong, and they do make larger Centramatics if you need them, as the article mentions.400-409 are the larger ones
I was running 300-318's on my 2017 with steel 19.5" Ricksons. They worked good. Funny thing is my 2003 truck ( pretty much the exact same truck )didn't need the centramatics with the exact same wheels/tires . Sold off the steelies and got forged aluminum Ricksons, mounted brand new Toyos on them , they all balanced well, with normal amounts of weights. However the first drive out without the centramatics were disappointing . The forged aluminum Ricksons , are true and the tires seem to spin with very little runout, same as oem.

 

[EDankievitch]

I had a set of centramatics at first they seemed to help later on they seemed to hurt. Finally removed them and ride actually got better. I think the beads an oil they use loose their fluid ability as they get old. In my case well over 300k miles between 3 trucks. If the cost wasn’t so much I would go with a set of Balance masters as they don’t use oil and beads just like the new style crank damper on our trucks.

 

[JR]

I believe that is wrong, and they do make larger Centramatics if you need them, as the article mentions.400-409 are the larger ones
I was running 300-318's on my 2017 with steel 19.5" Ricksons. They worked good. Funny thing is my 2003 truck ( pretty much the exact same truck )didn't need the centramatics with the exact same wheels/tires . Sold off the steelies and got forged aluminum Ricksons, mounted brand new Toyos on them , they all balanced well, with normal amounts of weights. However the first drive out without the centramatics were disappointing . The forged aluminum Ricksons , are true and the tires seem to spin with very little runout, same as oem.


View attachment 123493

300-318 - SRW application on 8 x 6.5

400-409 DRW application on 8 x 6.5

600-629 19.5" wheels application on 8 x 6.5

According to Centramatic the more rotating mass the more balancing material is needed. The 300-318 designed for OEM sized SRW tires may have worked well for you but it isn't the intended application when running 19.5's.

 

[DHayden]

I dont know what they have now but when I bought my set in mid 2000's they were specifically for 19.5's.

 

[Wiredawg]

I dont know what they have now but when I bought my set in mid 2000's they were specifically for 19.5's.

mine too made for 19.5s, 2nd truck they are on. I had posted earlier in this thread I din't have to balance the tires on my 4500 while I owned it.

 

[JPM]

300-318 - SRW application on 8 x 6.5

400-409 DRW application on 8 x 6.5

600-629 19.5" wheels application on 8 x 6.5

According to Centramatic the more rotating mass the more balancing material is needed. The 300-318 designed for OEM sized SRW tires may have worked well for you but it isn't the intended application when running 19.5's.

I do indeed have the 300-318's, and they were specifically bought for my rig using the 19.5" Ricksons on my 3500 2017 SRW 4X4 two years ago . I do not know if I should had have a different set and will call Centramatic tomorrow to find out.

 

[JR]

JPM if they work for you I wouldn't fret. That info is on Centramatic website.

https://www.centramatic.com/wheel-balancer.rhtml?modelNumber=600-629